>> juliet: happy saturday. welcome to a brand-new hour inside america's news headquarters. i'm juliet huddy. >> rick: topping the news issue the president wrapping up his trip to asia. we'll get a live report from japan. >> juliet: the great white north is still waiting to know who is its senator going to be. sifting through write in votes. >> rick: the wreck of the edmund fitzgerald mark ago milestone this week. how families of those lost are relying on their faith to get them through it. >> juliet: the upcoming lame duck session of congress promising to be anything but lame. internal party debates on both

sides of the aisle sparking a lot of attention. but now a new development in the leadership battle in the house caucus. democratic caucus. molly henneberg live in washington. great seeing you. so what did nancy pelosi do today? >> hi. she sent a letter to house democrats trying to iron out that battle between congress and steny hoyer and jim cliburn, hoyer is the number two guy, the majority leader and cliburn is number three, the majority whip. they've been vying for the number two position in the next congress, that will be the minority whip. pelosi says she wants hoyer to stay as second in command and wants him to be the minority whip and she will create a new position for cliburn so that he stays in the number three spot. in a letter to democrats, pelosi wrote, quote, i will also ask the caucus to designate that position as assistant leader. meaning cliburn would report to pelosi and not to hoyer. >> juliet: we also hear about competing orientation events for freshmen republicans tomorrow. what's that all about?

>> one organized in part by the claremont institute, a conservative think tank and incoming gop freshmen lawmakers, quote, to discuss how we can work together as a group in general. but the tea party patriots, national tea party group, they have an event around the same time on the same day and they see the claremont gathering as competition. in an e-mail the tea party patriots wrote to supporters, quote, dc insiders, the rnc, republican national committee, and lobbyists are already trying to push the tea party aside and co- opt the incoming congressmen. tea party patriots say they offered to merge the two events, but say the claremont institute was not interested. juliet. >> juliet: 24 hours in a day, people. come on. thanks very much for that report. >> rick: speaking of these two events for incoming freshmen republicans in congress, the battle for those lawmakers' loyalties could come down to these two events tomorrow. let's talk about that. joining us is fox news contributor susanest ridge who is a former mike dukakis

campaign manager and tony saig is here. normally when i have susan on, i go to her first. since you're the republican, let me start here with you. i guess anybody who thought that the tea party movement and tea party lawmakers were going to quietly blend in with the gop establishment, i guess that's out the window? >> with due respect, rick, i don't think anyone who has ever dealt with the tea party this election cycle on the republican or democrat side ever thought they were going to kind of blend into the background. they made a very spirited effort in this election season and the republican party was a principle beneficiary of that effort. we have to give that point. however, i think what they're doing, picking on this issue, especially in washington, d.c. where you'll always have a competing event or cocktail party, i think they're going to detract from their overall power, which is to keep the republican caucus focused on cutting taxes and spending and the size of government. and if they focus on stuff like this, they really run the risk of doing what newt gingrich did,

by whining about having to deplane on the back of air force one. it's going to minimize their broader impact. >> rick: it's the tone that struck me. i wasn't so surprised that there would be tea party -- even talk of the tea party caucus within congress. but the taupe of this e-mail, molly had a little bit of it. let's put another chunk of it up here. this is from the tea party patriots and an e-mail to its members. it says, do you want your incoming freshmen congressmen to attend an event where they'll get the emergency they need to restore our constitution or attend a event where they can tend to corrupt them? they need to know where you stand. susan, what is john boehner's reaction to this? >> just a taste of what's to come. look, i don't blame the tea party outsiders or whatever they

are, organizers. if you look at the way washington sort of behaves, like a vacuum and just sucks people in and they come, they've got all these great intentions and they're realizing how much money they've got to raise and how terrible their office space is, you know, all of a sudden washington works its way. so i could see it makes it sound very silly obviously to be fighting about whose hot dogs you're going to eat or whose cocktail you're going to drink, but i think they're really scared that these guys are going to get co- opted, guys and girls, and they have every reason to be. >> rick: tony, i asked susan what she thinks john boehner's reaction is. what do you think barak obama's reaction might be? let me just put this out here. i could be completely nuts, but i'd love to know your thoughts on this. i think a lot of people are expecting some kind of a game changer from barak obama after the mid terms.

he's got two more years left in this first term of his presidency. what if president obama decided to try to make some inroads and forge some ties not with the gop establishment, tony, but with the tea partiers? >> that's a very interesting perspective. i think that if you were perhaps dealing with president clinton in the white house now, you could very well see that kind of tri angulation, that he was so effective in doing it to get the republicans to work for him and get the people to give him credit for that. listen, you saw this, and i know democrats are delighting at the thought that the establishment republicans and tea party fight. i think it will be healthy to fight because the republican party has to understand that this was not a mandate for the republican party. it was a mandate to change the way washington works. i just don't think changing cocktail parties is the right first step for the tea party to take. >> rick: susan, let me ask you about barak obama, again, if i'm nuts, tell me i'm nuts. but is there any chance that --

and my co-anchor is nodding her head. is there any chance that maybe we see politics makes for strange bed fellow. is there some way -- wouldn't barak obama benefit with independents two years from now if he were able to even symbolically come to some kind of compromise or agreement with the tea party movement? >> i think what the democrats have done with the tea party movement and you can debate whether this is wise or not, but i don't think there is any doubt that democrats have demonized the tea party movement in order to frighten people into marginal districts successfully into voting for the democrat they don't like as opposed to a tea party candidate that really scared them. so i don't think it's likely, even though it would make for interesting politics that you'll see barak obama reach out to the tea party. i think what he will do is take

the fight as indication to say, look, while these guys are working it out, let me see if i can find a few grownups to talk to, or the american people to talk to, but somebody to talk to, but not the tea party. >> rick: tony what, do you think about that, can the president capitalize on whatever division may or may not exist within the republican party? >> sure. it does ultimately detract from the more important issue, like extending the bush tax cut, not raising the debt ceiling, making sure we act responsibly with the people's money. yes, it can give the president a small opening. but i think ultimately, it is going to be the policy that rules the day. it's not going to be the psycho side-bar issues. i don't see the president fundamentally getting the message of this election in a way that will allow him to pivot and work with the tea party movement or other like minded people in the tea party movement

to make any sort of progress. i think he's too stubborn and tone deaf to the message that was sent to him was. >> rick: what do you think of that, because a lot of people came away from the 60 minutes interview thinking exactly what tony just said, that he didn't really get it. what do you think -- do you think he got it and just in the bigger picture, do you think that there is going to be some kind of a game changing decision on the part of the president, whether it comes to some changing in his administration, changes in the ticket for 2012, or even what our friends doug and pat goodell are suggesting in tomorrow's "washington post," an editorial saying the president should announce right now for the good of the country and the party, that he will only serve one term. [ laughter ] well, i don't think that is going to happen. i remember back in the day when getting one of these polls was so bad, you know, you say to your pollster, find out what's

wrong and he comes back and says, the good news is wonderful. what is it? he said, the problem is they just don't like our candidate. no matter what he says, they don't like him. so i have to deliver this news. what am i going to say? they don't like you? no. i say like any loyal lieutenant, they don't know you. i said, we have a communication problem. so i will admit that it makes me nervous to hear barak obama say, we have a communication problem. i don't think the people are stupid. i just think it's going to take him a while to do the pivot. >> rick: thank you both. >> thank you. >> juliet: that alaska senate race is still in limbo as election workers gather for day four of combing through the write in votes. republican senator lisa murkowski is expressing confidence. but tea party favorite joe miller's campaign, they are now suing the state wanting access to election registers from

dozens of precinct. dan springer has been following count. what's the latest? >> juliet, this is like the energizer bunny, it keeps going and going. we are on day four of this count. this is what happens when the candidate called write in ends up winning the election because now we have to find out who write in actually is and we've got this battle over whether murkowski's name misspelled can actually count as a valid vote for her. a short time ago, joe miller made his first stop here at the counting center in juneau to rally the troops and tell them to challenge any ballot that does not have her name spelled perfectly. some of the challenges have been, well, let's say it was spelled correctly, but didn't look like that great handwriting or maybe a comma was between the names. we asked miller if that was an appropriate challenge if they're having a strategy to bump up the

number of challenges that they had. here is what he said. >> there is no strategy in the sense that other than we want to make sure it's fair. and i made that very clear to my team and i think they are absolutely employing it the best they know how. >> he says the state law is that the write in vote has to match what is on the candidacy form when they filled out the form to become a write in ballot and that was lisa murkowski is spelled correctly. >> juliet: when can we expect this to be over? take your crystal ball out for us. >> i try to tell my family when they'll see me again. we're talking about this process going on behind me for at least another four days. so we're looking at wednesday when they're going to be done getting all the ballots from all parts of the state. some of these places have to have like not dog sled, but some of the votes are being brought out by snowmobiles, then flown

here to be counted. then the issue is does murkowski have enough unchallenged votes to top joe miller? looks like if the trend continues, she will have that. murkowski is not so sure and here is what she had to say about the count. >> if what we're arguing over is whether the o is completely closed at the top so that maybe it could be an o, maybe it could be a u but everything else is correct, i do not think that most alaskans would agree that the intent of that particular voter is not clear. >> the election's director, the final arrest by tore believes that if it's close, it should count and that means when this vote count is all done, murkowski will have, according to the state, enough votes probably to become the u.s. senator from alaska.

we shall see. juliet. >> juliet: the lovely springer family -- don't hold your breath. daddy is not coming home any time soon. >> maybe christmas. >> juliet: thanks for that report. >> rick: alaska's race is not the only one still in limbo around the country. there are house races in illinois and in texas, north carolina. there are two in new york and two out west in california. republicans took back control of the house in the election. according to the latest report, the gop may end up when all is said and done, securing even more seats. >> juliet: former white house chief of staff rahm emanuel making it official. he is running for mayor of chicago. the announcement coming at a school in the city's north side. he represent that had area in congress before taking the job at the white house. and he said the strong ties to chicago brought him back. >> only the opportunity to lead this city could have pride me away from the president's side because he knows and loves chicago. president obama supported my decision for which i am

grateful. >> juliet: the election to succeed mayor richard daley will be held in february. six other candidates are expected to run. >> rick: switching gears, word of a possible restart to the stalled middle east peace process. fresh off a five-day visit to the u.s., the israeli prime minister, netanyahu, is talking about ways to resume talks with the palestinians. reena ninan following this story from jerusalem. >> hi. netanyahu's expected to neat mete with his top seven cabinet members on saturday evening to discuss his trip to the u.s. and efforts to renew peace talks with the palestinians. u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton met with netanyahu for seven hours on thursday stressing the importance to move forward with the palestinians on a final peace agreement which stalled since the israelis allowed a housing freeze on settlement construction to lapse. just before netanyahu arrived to the u.s., it was announced that 1300 new housing projects were

approved on land palestinians would like for a future state. the white house has been pushing for construction freeze which expired at the end of september and editorial from this weekend's newspaper was headlined, quote, netanyahu exploited his u.s. trip to embarrass obama. it appears netanyahu may be trying to take advantage of president obama's perceived weakness following the democrats defeat in the house. some worry that this could jeopardize israel's interest. rick? >> rick: reena ninan, thank you. >> juliet: this weekend marking the 35th anniversary of one of the greatest mysteries of maritime mystery. the night in 1975 when the s.s. edmund fitzgerald disappeared from radar and sank during an intense storm on lake superior. all 29 crew members killed. no bodies ever recovered. now that report from michigan. >> does anyone know where the love of god goes? >> at the annual memorial service in white fish point,

michigan, reverend ingle's words precomfort to family members mourning the loss of their loved ones who perished in one fortunate greatest mysteries. the 729-foot freighter sank during a horrific winter storm on lake superior in 1975. to this day, no one knows what really brought an end to this massive ship, killing the 29 crew members on board. (bell tolling). >> the ringing the fits jailed's bell recovered in 1995 echoed another, 35 years ago, by ingle's father at the church in detroit. after the fitzgerald was confirmed lost at sea. >> whenever he was informed of loss of life, he would chime the bell for each soul. >> launched in 1958, the fitzgerald was the largest, fastest iron ore carrier and in 1975, an intense storm pushed it beyond its limit.

>> the last time i talked with him, he said he was holding his own and that's the last time i lost contact after that. >> the edmund fitzgerald went down about 17 miles out here on lake superior. the storm was so bad that night, 30-foot waves, 80 mile-per-hour winds knocked out the beacon at white fish point, as well as the fog horn. add to that the fitzgerald lost both radars. the ship was essentially sailing blind into the night in the worst storm in three decades. >> everything that could go wrong did. we may never know what really put the final death blow to this ship, but it didn't have time to even call for help. the ship disappeared off the radar, sailed into the headlines and history books. >> the legacy of the fitzgerald lives on in the haunting ballad, ten days after the church bells rang. ♪

>> lauren green, fox news. >> rick: solemn anniversary for a lot of people. when we come back, indonesia's most active volcano roaring back to life today. what a new cloud of volcanic ash means for people there and international travelers. >> juliet: and casey stegall is live in tucson, arizona with a look at life after war through the eyes of the troops. >> hey. it's called operation in their boots. up next, find out why some receipt rans are trading in their battle gear for movie cameras in a live report right here on america's news headquarters.

>> rick: welcome back. in myanmar, the credit formerly known as burma, the military government releasing democracy leader from house arrest. thousands of per supporters cheering her freedom. she's been locked up for many, many years. the president calling her an inspiration. new danger from a volcano in indonesia. unleash ago new cloud of searing gas as rescuers pulled bodies from a village smothered a week ago by the volcano. amazon.com bringing william come news.

promising to add 15,000 temporary jobs across the country. >> juliet: it's called operation in their boots. a group empowering veterans giving them the tools to tell their own stories on film. opening a window on this lives to soldiers, restarting the lives they put on hold. casey stegall is live in tucson, arizona. what's this new program all about? tell us about it. >> the group is called brave new foundation, basically about three years ago, they received a $4 million grant and started selecting veterans from all around the country who had interesting stories to tell and were also interested in showcasing them in a documentary format. only a few are selected and for the lucky one, they go through a basic film training class where they learn how to produce and direct their own 15 minute documentary. some of the topics are pretty heavy. they range on everything from veterans dealing with addictions

to reintegrating back into civilian life once they get back from the battlefield. clearly the films are very, very personal and they're designed to not only teach the public and educate average joe citizens about some of the sacrifices our veterans make, but it's also very therapeutic for the film makers themselves because this has a chance for them to showcase their talents and also talk about some very disturbing topics. >> juliet: they put them all together, but where can we see these documentaries? >> you can check them out in a couple of different places. since the inception three years ago, more than 20 of these 15 minute documentaries have been produced. they're airing all throughout the country on various local television stations, public television stations, and they're also streamed on-line. so in order for you to find out what channel it's going to be airing on in your city, you can go on-line and check the listings and if you want to check them out on the world wide web, go to www.intheirboots.com.

they have links and television listings. i watched one last night, absolutely interesting and also again very heart warming to see these veterans really showcasing what it is all about that they're dealing with after they come home from serving our country. >> juliet: i imagine it would be difficult going through the process, but it is cathartic for them. thank you. >> absolute israeli. >> rick: when we come back after a quick break, president obama is wrapping up his tour of asia right now, meeting with the president of russia, medvedev, the two engaging in tough talks. details on what they discussed coming up in a live report. >> juliet: plus, ge is getting into cars. g.e., not gm. buying them. the company is making the largest ever single purchase of electric vehicles. going to have a closer look at what all of this means for you, coming up next.

>> juliet: bottom of the hour, time for top of the news. police in north carolina deciding whether to file additional charges in connection with the death of a ten-year-old. they confirmed yesterday that her remains -- they have found her remains. >> rick: very sad story there. a whiteout in minneapolis. look at this. heavy snow snarling traffic, it's not even december, causing road accidents and power outage outages. causing the postponement of college football games. when was the last time that happened? up to 11 inches of snow on the ground in the twin cities. >> juliet: former white house chief of staff rahm emanuel makes it official. he's running for mayor of chicago. he has been actively campaigning in the city since he stepped down from his job in the obama

administration. >> rick: president obama prepared to sit down with the president of russia, medvedev, during his final hours of this ten day trip to asia. they will talk about a nuclear arms reduction treaty that is now facing a tough post election fight in congress here back home. wendell goler live in japan. wendell? >> rick, the president hopes the senate will ratify that treaty during its lame duck session, which starts next week. but it takes 67 votes to ratify the treaty. republicans are demanding billions more in spending to modernize the arsenal as the price for name vote. the president agreed to some of that. but they'll have a tougher time with a smaller democratic majority next year if not ratified this year. there was entertainment for the 21 leaders gathered here last night. kabooky is a japanese dance dr. practice from the 1600s.

this annual summit known for showcasing the culture of the host, the host next year will be president obama. the summit to be healed in hawaii. it's back to work on this last day of the trip. it centered around ways to boost u.s. exports and cut into china's huge trade surplus and says it's about rebalancing a global economy that has come to depend too much on american consumers. >> we see the need for rebalancing as an opportunity to rebuild our economy on a new stronger foundation for growth, where we save more and we spend less, where we're known just for what we consume, but what we produce. we want to get back to doing what america has always been known for, discovering, creating and building the products that are sold all over the world. >> chinese president says his country will gradually scale back its exports and consume more at home and adjust gradually the value of its

currency which the u.s. believes is kept artificially low in order to boost its exports. but the president of china says they will work at their own pace and not be pushed. >> rick: a long trip. great job reporting back for us. wendell goler live in japan. >> juliet: pressure to extend the bush erica tax cuts now growing on capitol hill. lawmakers must first find common ground with the white house on which cut also stay and which will go. before the entire package of cuts expire at the end of the year, of course. jewel will he kirtz has the story. >> the tax cuts battle followed the president on his trip. president obama telling reporters he is willing to compromise with newly empowered republicans, but how much and when, he's not saying. in japan, he seemed to enjoy a theater performance as he prepared to jump back into some political kabooky in washington over those bush era tax rates. the president said it would be an irresponsible mistake to extend the highest of tax rates

permanently, but here is where the political dance comes in. he adds, quote, there is a whole host of ways to compromise on taxes. >> i continue to believe that extending permanently the upper income tax cuts would be a mistake and that we can't afford it and my hope is that somewhere in between there, we can find some sort of solution, but i'm not going to negotiate here in seoul. >> the president meets next week with democrats and republicans to try to hammer out a deal. republicans want a tax break for everyone. so the pressure is on to avoid a jam. if there is no action by the end of the year during a lame duck session, the current tax rates expire across the board. remember, on wednesday, david axelrod, a obama advisor made headlines essentially telling the huffington post obama was ready to give in on temporarily extending the tax cuts for wealthy americans.

not so, says the president, as he gets ready to fly home. huge question at this point, how far is obama willing to move on a very real money issue for millions of americans. juliet. >> juliet: thank you. >> rick: this week, the ethics trial for charlie rangel is set to begin monday. the long-time harlem democrat faces 13 counts of violating house rules which include failing to report assets, pay taxes on a vacation property, and using congressional stationary to raise money for an academic center to be named in his honor. congressman rangel, who won his reelection, insists he's innocent and he is rejecting any offers to settle the charges. the trial is expected to last about a week. >> juliet: if you're in a hybrid car, listen up. general electric is planning to spark the market by buying a fleet of electric vehicles. 25,000 actually, including 12,000 chevy volts. is it a show of confidence in the product or perhaps just the

opposite? here to talk about this is the managing partner of chopped wood capital investment manager. great to see you again. so what do you think, smart move by g.e.? >> it's a smart move. it's obviously going to give a lot of people talking about it, as we are right now. i also think that the market is ripe for this. let's remember something, they're buying electric cars. hybrid cars, this is the perfect time for hybrid cars. electric cars, i still think we're a little ways out before electric cars really become main stream. >> juliet: why? >> i will tell you without any -- because of the cost. the cost is still very high and they're not as official. but hybrid cars are in the market right now and they make a lot of sense. >> juliet: what kind of effect do you think this will have an the auto market, which obviously -- >> long-term, hybrid cars and electric cars are going to be out there and we're going to see them every day on the road and they're going to be very main stream. what's going to dictate this is higher oil prices. right now to put a car and make

a car a hybrid car costs $4,000 more to make it hybrid. now, to really look and see where the >> juliet: let me ask, you why now? technology has been on the market, why did it take long for a major company like g.e. to make this type of commitment? >> it comes down to dollars and cents. same thing for me. i'm looking right now at a new car and i'm trying to figure out do i go with a hybrid or a traditional gas car? i'm really looking at the balancing act between how much it's going to cost me and the fuel efficiency. right now the time is right for hybrid. for electric cars, with general electric, i don't know exactly what kind of deal they got, but it did make a big splash and i think more people will talk about it. but the technology on electric

isn't there just yet, in my mind. >> juliet: i agree with you. do you think americans are going to look at this and well, this is definitely a vote of confidence for these cars or are they going to say, we like our traditional gas guzzling high performance cars? >> they're going to look at it in respect to everybody i think, when it comes down to their core, wants to be eco friendly. but the question is, just at what cost will they be eco friendly? at this moment, that eco friendliness is costing about $4,000 more a year. with oil prices coming higher, you will start to see more and more people look into those. i don't think any kind of pr move. i think it's a smart move in respect to getting the information out there and people starting to talk about it. again, electric, we're not there yet. hybrid, i bet i'll be buying a hybrid in the next few weeks. >> juliet: what does your wife want? that's what will dictate what you're getting. >> yes. >> juliet: it kind of seems like americans are a bit in the dark

about hybrid, electric, basically the market in general. is it the car companies that should be educating us a little bit more? >> i think so. ultimately that's who is going to benefit from us buying those cars. i think there needs to be a much better effort in that because when i started looking at cars and my son actually said to me, dad, what about buying a hybrid, i thought, well, what is a hybrid? 'cause i really didn't know that much about it. as i dove more into it and learned a lot more about it, i realized it's very -- it makes sense. it could be eco friendly, which it is, and right now, i think the time is right for it. but are the car companies doing a good job educating us? no. they're just saying buy a hybrid. you see a lot of ads, but i don't really know what it is. i think they do need to do a little better job of communicating and educating all of us. >> juliet: i'm with you on that one. thanks very much for joining us. >> rick: quick break. when we come back, unprecedented look back into u.s. history.

>> rick: featuring documents related to some of the most famous military figures of our past. where you can find this treasure trove of information when we come back.

>> rick: west point's early years laid bare on ancestry.com. this is the genealogy web site posting more than 115,000 u.s. military academy application documents. they're putting it up on-line, highlighted by some of the most famous names from the civil war. here with more, peter. >> george a. custer was one of the most famous graduates, he was famous for things he did on the battlefield and not being ranked last in his class at the million tea academy. but we know how he and some other cadets who applied to west point between 1805 and 1866 actually got in, because like you said, ancestry.com and the national archives teamed up to

put their applications on-line, preto view until tomorrow. an ohio congressman wrote in his recommendation letter that custer, quote, reads well, spells correctly, writes a fair and legible hand, and is able to perform with fa sillity and accuracy the ground rules of arithmetic. everyone who applied back then needed to be nominated by a member of congress, just like now. but sometimes the candidates wrote things about themselves, like george picket who wrote, quote, i'm a young man, 19 years old, six feet tall and moderately good looking, as i am told. other famous figures whose applications are on-line include stonewall jackson and mcclellan. amazing how easy it is to pull up all these historical documents from your living room when you consider how many there are for the national archives to comb through. >> that's a lot of boxes. we have 80 million items.

spanish american war, records are all permanent records. never to be destroyed. so our mission is to preserve them for posterity, but make them available for people who need them now. >> it's very cool. check out the applications or your own ancestor, go to ancestry.com or do it for free until tomorrow. >> rick: very good. i wonder if they had to write student essays. i would love to read custer's personal statement from his application. >> what more can you say other than i'm six feet tall and moderately good looking? >> rick: that sums it all up. peter doocy, thanks. >> juliet: they have all military collections, that's neat. >> rick: check it out. >> juliet: digital cameras are all the buzz this season. whether you're looking to upgrade or searching for the perfect holiday gift. "consumer reports" is here and join us next with what to spend your money on what, camera is best for you.

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may entitle you to pay little to nothing to own it. one company that can make it all happen ... your power chair will be paid in full. the scooter store. hi i'm doug harrison. we're experts at getting you the power chair or scooter you need. in fact, if we qualify you for medicare reimbursement and medicare denies your claim, we'll give you your new power chair or scooter free. i didn't pay a penny out of pocket for my power chair. with help from the scooter store, medicare and my insurance covered it all. call the scooter store for free information today. >> juliet: welcome back. it's that time of year, holiday family get togethers. you should know, you have 7,000 children. it's going to be fun this time of year. winter vacation, all that stuff. like most folks, you probably want to capture all those

memories. >> rick: especially if you have 7,000 children. "consumer reports," our friends, hit the stores, testing some of the newest released digital cameras on the market. we get the lowdown on the best buys. thanks for coming in, paul. these cameras are so cool. they've become affordable. pretty much anybody can get a pretty decent digital camera these days. >> right. prices have come down and there is still a wide range. we'll be looking at from 100 to $600. >> rick: let's start with the canon power shot, the least expensive of the ones you like. >> right. this is a really good basic camera for $100. it actually takes very good videos, believe it or n. videos pretty standard on every camera. and this is decent enough and if your budget is 100 bucks, you could do worse than this. >> juliet: that's 100 bucks. moving to the next one. >> this is really a step up. this is one of our top rated sub

compact cameras. you're taking a step up in every way. it has a ten times zoom. one of the really amazing things in a camera this thin now is that you can get ten times zoom which a year or two ago even would have been a much thicker, much bulkier camera. this is really good. >> juliet: that's a nikons 8000. >> it takes decent high definition video. >> rick: it's a step up also in price? >> $250 for this one. you're paying more for the thinness, the extra quality, the extra features, zoom particularly. >> rick: very cool. let's move to the next one. this is also by canon. this looks like a fancier one. >> this is a camera if you want a bit more flexibility in how you compose shots, gives you a lot more control. if you're more ambitious a photographer. what we found is this gives the picture quality of those big slr camera, many of them, but it's

much smaller than that and much lighter. has cool features. it has an articulating lcd, this which is nice to take shots over your head or something at a concert. and it's a very, very high quality camera in a pretty small package. >> rick: the lens doesn't come on it. you can't switch it out? >> the lens doesn't come off. no. this is still a point and shoot camera. >> juliet: $470. all right. and then we have finally, this big beautiful, blue camera. >> right. >> juliet: it looks like a video camera. >> this is what's known as an slr-like camera. this is sort of like the ones that are really big and allow the lenses to come off. the lenses come off from this, but strictly speaking, they're not slr's and not quite as big, but they give you the same quality and this has some pretty cool features on it. you can actually tap the lcd here and it automatically focuses the camera.

really a step up in quality even over this camera in terms of image quality. excellent pictures. you're going to get a lot of control over your images if you're really into making photos that are art rather than just snapshots. >> juliet: for somebody who has half a dozen children like rick -- >> rick: i do not. >> juliet: would you recommend having a camera like this, one that actually takes still pictures as well as video over one of your more expensive video cameras? >> it depends. it's nice to have a video camera for the flexibility, particularly if you have kids. one of the great things about these cameras now is you can't always run and get the camcorder. so something like this gives you the option to have pretty good video right then and i think a lot of people, the moment passes unless you can take that camera quickly switch it to the video mode. i think for a lot of people, something like this, this nikon, is kind of the sweet spot for

really good pictures and the ability to take pretty good videos. >> rick: paul reynolds with "consumer reports" magazine, you have no excuse. lots of different -- every price point. you can get yourself or loved one a digital camera. thank you very much. >> juliet: we always love your segment. >> rick: we'll be right back. we're cracking down onedicare fraud.

the new healthcare law gives us powerful new tools to fight it.... to investigate it... prosecute it... and stop criminals. our senior medicare patrol volunteers... are teaching seniors across the country... ...to stop, spot, and report fraud. you can help. guard your medicare card. don't give out your card number over the phone. call to report any suspected fraud. wre cracking down on medicare fraud. let's make medicare stronger for all of us.

hi hi ♪(whistling tune) ♪("don't worry be happy") >> welcome back, a bernie bonanza, the government auctionings off thousands of belongings of