>> clayton: is this web address new to you? >> steve: see you tomorrow. gregg: strong holiday numbers offering big relief to the retailers out there. the shopping season much more successful than anybody had expected. good morning, everyone. i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer here in "america's newsroom.". >> good news to start us off. i'm heather childers in for martha maccallum. a good chunk of it done on-line. ibm tracking online sales reporting a 16% jump on christmas over last year. gregg: so is it a sign the economy may be on the right track? fox business network's stuart varney joins us. stuart, good morning to you. so what do you make of this? >> it was obviously a solid holiday shopping season and there is now some modest growth in the economy but the real headline from the

consumer's point of you view of this holiday season is the explosion in online shopping. we got some numbers from ibm which is beginning to track what's going on line at the holiday period. they show yesterday, monday, until 3:00 in the afternoon online sales were up 10% from a year ago. christmas itself up 16%. look a little closer and you see the real headline is how we shopped online. we are now using our smartphones and tablets much more than we ever did. smartphone, online computing sales online, up 172% this year compared to last year. gregg: that's incredible but what about the brick-and-mortars? >> ah, there is the contrast. news this morning from the old line, brick and mortar company, sears and kmart, they will close 100 stores. as we now start to use technology we shop online, we're closing a moving away from the old line bricks and mortars.

one more real fast detail for you. gregg: okay. >> 7% of all online sales are now done using the ipad. ipad was introduced only 18 months ago. has 7% of all on-line retailing this holiday season. gregg: hey, i've got one. they're great. what happened to sears? bad management, bad products, what is it? >> okay. they are of course a very old line company, over 100 years old. taken over a few years ago for their real estate value. the guy who came in and took over sears and kmart was valuing the company on a real estate basis and that was just fine up until 2005, 2006. he failed to sell off that real estate leaving sears with a ton of stores which people are not using like they used to and real estate assets which are going down in value. result? an american icon is very much in retreat this morning. gregg: stuart varney, thanks very much for being with us. >> gregg.

heather: a fox news alert for you. al qaeda in iraq now claiming responsibility for a deadly wave of attacks that ripped through baghdad last week. nearly 70 people killed in one day in a series of coordinated blasts leaving some new concerns about the country after the withdrawal of u.s. troops. senior foreign affairs correspondent amy kellogg is live for us in london with the details. amy, what did this terror group say? >> reporter: well it is the islamic state of iraq that claimed responsibility to be technical here, heather, on a website. it is an umbrella group for all the al qaeda-affiliated organizations in iraq. it is a sunni extremist group and it said that the waves of attacks that happened last week, 14 of them in a coordinated series of explosions that rocked the capital as well as the attack on the interior ministry yesterday were in

solidarity with sunni prisoners in iraq. also taking a swipe at the shiite-led government of iraq saying, quote, the mujahadeen would never stand with their hands tied while the pernicious iranian project showed its ugly face, unquote. heather? heather: amy, what is contributing to this surge in violence, do we know? >> reporter: yep. this is a very noticeable surge, heather, that follows a relative calm that began around 2007. of course the last of the u.s. forces with drew just over a week ago. so these attacks happened in the wake of that but also as sectarian tensions flare up again in iraq and this in large part due to the fact that this unity government has never really jelled and the shiite prime minister has issued an arrest warranted, heather, for the sunni vice president accusing him of being behind death squads. these are claims that the iraqi sunni vice president has said are completely

false and fabricated and also asking, the shiite prime minister is asking for parliament to kick out the deputy prime minister as well. back to you, heather. heather: thank you very much, amy kellogg reporting live for us. we'll have much more on this from a lieutenant colonel who has just returned too iraq a little bit later. stay tuned for that. gregg? gregg: the white house is mulling whether to allow the embattled leader of yemen to come to the united states for medical treatment treatment. he was injured after mass processes in yemen calling for him to step down. it's a tough spot for the white house. allowing, saleh to come here to undercut support for pro-democracy movements in the middle east. kelly wright is in washington. based on the report what position is the obama administration taking on allowing the yemeni president to come here? >> reporter: gregg, so far this is what we're learning. there are reports in

principle that saleh's visit has been approved they tell fox that it is still under consideration. when i talk about approval. yemen president abdullah saleh has been under fire since the protesters filled the streets with violence and bloody clashes with security forces. demonstrators have been demanding that he step down. saleh, as you mentioned, gregging was injured in a near fatal bomb blast in june at the mosque on his very own presidential compound. "new york times" further reports that the arab leader is seeking additional treatment of the medical problems stemming from those injuries. the article further stating that president saleh could arrive at new york presbyterian hospital as soon as the end of this week. if he is allowed to come to america, he would be the first arab leader to request that and be granted that admission to the u.s. since the rise of protests sweeping through the arab world a year ago. gregg: kelly, is the white house talking about this? >> reporter: so far on this

matter we've heard from the white house press secretary, deputy press secretary josh earnest, who issued the following statement. he states, and i'm quoting, u.s. officials are continuing to consider president saleh's request to enter the country for the sole purpose of seeking medical treatment. but initial reports that permission has already been granted are not true. so for the obama administration there is lot to consider here, gregg. do they accept the request of a leader embroiled in a political crisis which has brought his government to the brink of collapse? even now reports of his army battling al qaeda-linked militants in the region. back to you. gregg: a difficult subject. kelly wright, live in washington. kelly, thanks. heather: back at home police in maine now offering a $30,000 reward for any information, any at all in the disappearance of ayla reynolds. she is the 2-year-old missing for 10 days.

police officially declaring the case an abduction adding both of her parents are cooperating with the investigation. a group of concerned citizens putting up the reward money. >> i offer a $30,000 reward to the person or persons who provide us with information leading to the location and return of this young girl to us. i ask and i plead that the person or persons who have young ayla reynolds, that they please keep her safe and return her safely to us. heather: $30,000, police say it is the largest reward in a missing persons case in maine history. gregg: well, it's all hands on deck right now in battleground iowa. the republican presidential candidates making a final campaign push in the state just one week before the crucial caucuses there. ron paul leading the gop

pack in the "real clear politics" average with mitt romney in second place and newt gingrich in third. tom bevin is cofounder and executive editor of "real clear politics".com. you've got a book coming out, election 2012, the battle begins. you're all over this one. let's talk about ron paul. he is narrowly on top in that poll we just showed and he has a got a pretty strong ground game in iowa. that is important there. rabid supporters. will that pay dividends for ron paul? >> well, gregg, excuse me, i think it will because iowa is still about organization. these are caucuses, remember. they are different than primaries. they require a two-hour commitment. the weather may be fine so that may not be a factor. there are early projections that turnout might not be that large because republican voters in iowa may be a bit dissatisfied with some of the choices that are out there. if that is the case that helps ron paul because again

he has those kind of rabid supporters who will turn out and that could be the difference in the end. gregg: mitt romney has been, i think it is safe to say, trying to temper some expectations in the state of iowa but he is making a late push there. in fact he arrives tonight. has a bus tour tomorrow. launching a new television ad campaign promising to shrink government and jettison the new health care law. how do you handicap mitt romney in iowa? >> well, romney is an interesting spot. if he wins iowa, it will be a big boost for his campaign. it will really solidify him as the frontrunner in this race. if he loose as close second to ron paul, that's okay for romney. it's in some ways it may help him because it will diminish some of the other candidates like gingrich. the problem for romney is he has now invested in iowa. he will be out there sort of blitzing in the last week in the bus tour. if he underperforms, finishes third or fourth behind gingrich or behind one of those second tier candidates like perry or

bachmann that will be a real blow to him. remember in 2008 romney was only one of two candidates in iowa who underperformed their final polls in the "real clear politics" average. the other was rudy giuliani. he was not even competing there. the romney folks feel confident where they stand but there is some risk involved. gregg: a month ago newt gingrich opened up a pretty commanding lead in iowa. he has dropped back since then. here's what "the hill" wrote in yesterday's edition. quote, gingrich has been the primary target in a flood of negative attack ads and he lacks the funds to properly combat them. polls also show he has the softest voter support among the iowa front-runners making him the most likely of the top three candidates to underperform on caucus day. you think that's a fair assessment? >> well, it's certainly fair he has been on the receive end of billions of dollars of negative ads from mitt romney and rick perry and ron paul and that has definitely hurt him. his support in iowa was cut

in half in the span of seven to 10 days. he sort of gathered his footing now. he has regrouped and seems to have stablized things. gingrich is one of those candidates who really was scrambling to put together the organization. he does not have it there in iowa. he claims he is running a different kind of campaign and he didn't need the typical traditional organization but, we'll find out. he may actually underperform if he doesn't have that support turning out on caucus night. gregg: among rick perry, rick santorum, michele bachmann, who would you put in the category of maybe pulling off a surprise? would it be santorum who spent so much time there? >> i actually, well, santorum is a possibility. all of they will. the race is wide open. out of those three rick perry has the best chance because he has the most money. he has been running ads. he has some of the organization that's necessary there and he did have that wave of support back when he first entered

the race. rick santorum has never caught on as of yet. this is the expectations game. if one of these lower tier candidates manages to surprise people and overperform and finish third that could be the story coming out of iowa. gregg: got to go. tom bevin, "real clear politics". thanks very much. >> thanks, gregg. gregg: fox news is america's election headquarters. tune in for complete coverage of iowa caucuses january 3rd, 6:00 p.m. fox news, your front row seat for politics. heather: we're not done with it yet. more on mitt romney and his chances in iowa. a member of his team says this is done deal, mitt will be the nominee. gregg: this search for missing girl in indyana. police find the 9-year-old dead. who they are now charging and why the family is so surprisedded. heather: new numbers show a growing financial divide between lawmakers and the rest of us. the capitol hill millionaires coming up. ♪ . are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement

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gregg: california police arresting the man suspected of a shooting a u.s. soldier at his homecoming party. christopher sullivan survived a homicide bombing in afghanistan but he is now in a hospital paralyzed after an argument over a football game ended in gunshots. police say 19-year-old reuben gerardo turned himself in yesterday. the victim's family is in shock. >> he was not attacked. he was in the wrong. he bring as gun to a welcome home party. he shouldn't even be there. that was his first thought was bringing a gun? gregg: sullivan was on leave when the shooting occurred. heather: new concerns about the future of iraq this morning after a terror group known as al qaeda in iraq claims responsibility for a

slew of attacks that killed nearly 70 people in baghdad. republican senator john mccain says the timing of the bombings says it is no accident. >> on the issue of iraq clearly these bombings were planned to could he inside with american withdrawal and that takes a long time planning. the government sun ravelling. while the president take as victory lap and said that other day one much his victory speeches that iraq is now stable, secure and democratic. really? heather: retired u.s. marine lieutenant colonel bill cowan just returned from iraq. he is a fox news military analyst and first of all, welcome back, and thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me on this morning, heather. heather: i want to hear about your observations from iraq first-hand but first tell us what you can about this group, al qaeda in iraq. what do we know about them? >> well again they're one of the sunni insurgent groups,

really terrorist groups. we have a lot of sunni insurgents but there are a couple of defined core terrorist groups as we remember al qaeda in general to be. that's what these elements are. senator mccain is dead on the money. they have been waiting for the u.s. to withdraw. they have been waiting for opportunity to get out and strike. we might remember the u.s. was responsible for much of the intelligence that helped pinpoint these radical groups. that helped suppress them and kill or capture members of them with the iraqi forces. once the u.s. intelligence apparatus pulled out they have a more free hand to do what they want to do. these bombings are an example. >> claim of responsibility, it made no mention, of my understanding of the u.s. with drawl. instead it focus the its rage on the country's shiite-dominated leadership. where do you see this going from here? >> it is important to remember to frame the picture. 20% of iraq is sunni. saddam hassoun any. he ran a brutal regime.

most of the key leaders in his regime hassoun any. 40 to 60% of the regime is shiite. many shiites are aligned with iranians and 20% are kurdish in the north which has been relatively free from sectarian strife. we have the opportunity for sunnies to start striking at shiites. much is pay back. much is the nature of not wanting iranians to have a closer grip on iraq than they already have. truthfully, heather, the iranians have a very firm grip on much of what is going on in iraq right now. to some point, iranians, believe al qaeda sunnis are responsible for some of these bombings. heather: you were there. you spent your time. you didn't speak with any americans on this particular visit. you've been there multiple times. you spent your time talking to the iraqis. what is their take on the u.s. with drawl? should we have stayed longer? >> absolutely. there's a real sense of bewilderment, a little bit of a sense of betrayal on some part, that many of

these iraqis together with us, the u.s., our military forces there really gave an awful lot to make sure that there would be a stable iraq and they're astounded that we wouldn't at least leave some troops there, not to fight, just to be there as a stable presence much like a policeman on any street corner at night, is probably a pretty good assurance there will not be a fight on that street corner. so many of the iraqis with whom i spoke, shiite and sunni, said, why couldn't you at least left some people so we could have some kind of stable environment here? people would be afraid to do things knowing you were around. heather: why wouldn't we done that? i have to wrap-up but very, very briefly why couldn't we have done that? >> politics, pure politics out of the white house. there is no reason we couldn't. the iraqis in fact wanted it. the military asked the white house many times let us leave people. intelligence agencies military and civilian said, let's leave people there. the white house made a political decision. that is sum and substance of

it. betrayal of everything we did. heather: thank you so much for your insight. once again, welcome back. lieutenant colonel bill cowan joining us. >> thank you. gregg: congress cutting a deal on the payroll tax cut but this fight is far from over. we're going to tell but the next big fight brewing upon capitol hill. plus an american soldier travels halfway around the globe for what he calls the best christmas gift ever. the heart-warming story you do not want to miss. >> it was just unbearable. i didn't even know what i was going to do. went through so much trial and tribulations for him to get here it was almost surreal. i couldn't believe he was actually there.

heather: welcome back. we have some new details this morning on that horrific christmas shooting in texas that left a family of seven dead. investigators say that the

victims identities, they will likely be released today. now the shooter who was a member of the family, allegedly opened fire just after everyone opened their presents and then turned gun on himself. we are told he was wearing a santa outfit. no word yet on the motive. gregg: a heart-breaking end to the search for a missing girl in indiana. police finding the body of aliahana lemon after the suspect told them where she was ending any hope that the 9-year-old could be alived. adding to the heartbreak, the suspect was considered a family friend. he was baby sitting her and her two sisters when she vanished. >> this is the individual that she had been living with for the last week. he was friends of the family. many different interviews. we can't say too much more right now but it was third interview detectives and fbi and fbi did an excellent job talking to him and getting him to work with them and

bring us to the conclusion we've come to. gregg: david lee miller has more from our newsroom. david, seems police in this case might have had a number of potential suspects. >> reporter: absolutely gregg. that was a good point. we just learned moments ago, the man now charged with this murder, michael plumadore is in a court in allen county in indiana. it is misdemeanor court. we're told if the judge finds probable cause within 72 hours then plumadore will appear in felony court for his arraignment. as for the point you make what is astounding to many people that the trailer park where this little girl lived had as many as 15 registered sex offenders. one of the residents who lived there told a reporter, it is scary, i don't know how a parent could leave a child alone. plumadore had been taking care of aliahana because her mother was sick and complicating things, this little girl was partially deaf, she was partially blind. she had attention deficit

disorder as well as emotional problems. the local law enforcement brought in the fbi in for the search. they had hope up many almost to the very end that she would be found alive. gregg: david, what do which know about the man charged? >> the conclusion we hope that we would find her alive but knowing in the back of our mind as time went on it would be more and more difficult and hope begins to wane. >>. >> reporter: authorities have found the body but have not disclosed location or any details how she died, gregg? gregg: the man who is the suspect, he is in court what do we know about him? >> reporter: he has not been mentioned on any of these lists of registered sex offenders that we know of but he does have a criminal history in both florida and north carolina. convictions there for trespassing and for assault. he was questioned by authorities in this case three different times. the story that he apparently was telling people publicly is that on friday he got up at 6:00 in the morning.

left the three girls at home. aliahana and her two 6-year-old sisters. he went to buy a cigar. improbable story but he was seen on videotape at the store where he bought the cigar. he went home. went to sleep and awoke and aliahana was gone. it wasn't until that evening that the police were notified. search got underway. under lengthy police questioning he told them what happened. gregg? gregg: david lee miller. thanks. heather? heather: it is a wide-open race in iowa just days away from the first in the nation caucuses. why the candidate with the best ground operation may have the best chance in the hawkeye state. we'll have a live report. gregg: plus, easy, breezy. drew brees, breaking an nfl record that stood for more than 25 years. the new orleans saints quarterback breaking the single season passing yards record that was held for a long time by dan marino. >> touchdown.

there is the record!. >> that's unbelievable. >> drew brees in rare air. the all-time single season nfl passing record. what's this? it's progresso's new loaded potato with bacon. it's good. honey, i love you... oh my gosh, oh my gosh.. look at these big pieces of potato. ♪ what's that? big piece of potato. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to 80% of your part b expenses. if you're already on or eligible for medicare,

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but what does it take to organize a campaign there? steve brown joins us live from des moines, iowa. so, steve, campaigns, they run on money, of course. so it must take some to get an iowa campaign rolling, right? >> it does. it does take some money. in campaigns the two most valuable things we have are money and time. in iowa, much more important to spend your time and by far the person who has spent the most time in terms of the republican presidential candidates has been rick santorum. we were out there yesterday while he was out pheasant hunting with republican congressman steve king in western iowa yesterday. we did have a chance to talk with some of his campaign staff and consultants and they like the way that their guy has spent his time, has spent his time well in iowa. >> precious resource is time because it takes time to meet and make a connection with all these iowa caucus-goers. if you want to do it the right way you better get

started early. >> reporter: and santorum has been to all 99 counties in iowa and did so earlier this year. michele bachmann currently on a bus tour will accomplish that goal. santorum did it a little bit earlier. those sorts of things do count quite a bit out here, heather. heather: who has the caucus campaigns that are working in iowa? >> reporter: i think you have to put santorum in that group. most certainly michele bachmann based on how she did in the straw poll winning that event earlier this year definitely has a core group of very effective campaign staff but you also have to talk about ron paul. by acclamation, iowa republicans say the paul campaign is the one that has been out there in the fields working. the campaign working the caucus field the most and the longest and the hardest. that is in part and parcel why many folks believe that ron paul is a contender out here in iowa. not just to finish in the top three but potentially to win it. front page of "the des moines register" yesterday, can ron paul win this?

part of the reason why people think he can is the work that his volunteers and his staff have been doing trying to make sure everybody shows up at 7:00 on january 3rd for the iowa caucuses. heather? heather: boots on the ground, thank you very much. steve brown joining us from des moines, iowa, thank you. gregg: president obama's approval rating is surging for the first time since july. according to the latest "gallup poll" 47% say they approve but 45% of voters still disapprove with how the president is handling his job. here to talk about it co-hosts of "the five", bob beckel and andrea tanteros. good to see you. >> you too, gregg. heather:. gregg: is the president benefiting from the standoff at the payroll tax cut? >> i think to be honest about this is not necessarily obama surge as much as it is a reaction against a republican congress. they badly misplayed their hand on the payroll tax.

you can argue that, you can argue the details of it and rest of it but the fact is the president cornered them. they didn't get out of the corner. they tried to the wrong way and got in trouble and has a lot to do with his ratings. gregg: andrea, maybe there is something else afoot here. unemployment during the obama administration has dropped from a high of 10.1% down to 8.6%. we are seeing some positive movement on economic growth. is that also perhaps helping improve the president's ratings? >> yeah, i think that probably has something to do with it. you do see a little bit of a boost each year around holiday time because of holiday employment but i think actually to agree with bob for one the of the rare times we come together and agree, i think this has a lot to do with the fact that congress was visibly at each other'ses throats last couple weeks. the president was pretty quiet and allowed to espouse his trumannesque strategy of blaming congress.

bob is right, republicans did hand him another victory on this payroll tax cut. they also handed him a victory on the super-committee. this was designed to benefit the president. that is two in a row, gregg. that would explain a small up tick that you see. >> just one detail here. obama has not been quiet on this he has been out on the campaign trail busting on congress over and over on the payroll tax. keep in mind, manufacturing is up six months in a row now. consumer confidence which is a key indicator, has finally begun to grow over last couple months. >> here is what is so disingenuous about whole thing. you really think short term payroll tax cut will help the economy. >> doesn't matter what i think. >> it is so disingenuous for the president to say he is actually taking steps. gregg: i also want to hit on another subject because there's an exhaustive university of michigan study that shows there is an increasing wealth gap between lawmakers on capitol hill, members of congress, and their constituant went. in fact, let me quote from

"the washington post.". between 1984 and 2009 the median net worth of a member of the house more than doubled from 280,000 to 725,000. the wealth of an american family has declined slightly with median figure sliding from 20,000, to 20,500. can it be said, bob, that congress may not truly understand the economic experience of the average americans? >> that's a good question, gregg. i think that's something they need to ponder but i can tell you why it is what it is. that is because a number per of self-financed millionaires ran for the house and senate in the last 10 years. these are the children of the great depression and the great generation who are inheriting a awful lot of money. so i'm not surprised to see this. let me put it this way. they got it. they didn't necessarily earn it. gregg: andrea, what do you think, is congress arguably if you just look at those

figures are they kind of out of touch with economic realities that average americans have to wrestle with day in, and day out? >> i think bob took my notes again because i was going to say actually in the past couple of years a lot of what they call self-funders have run for office and they have actually been actively recruited by the congressional committees to run. that is less money they have to raise. they can write their own checks for their campaigns. yes, if you look at the current salary of members of congress, 174,000, if you run only for one term, and serve, gregg, you get the benefits of a member that has been in office for a long time. particularly the senate, it is filled with millionaires. still a lot of people who worked hard for that money. we shouldn't demonize a lot of those folks in the house who have worked and their families have worked very hard. gregg: you guys have to stop agreeing with each other. >> we're going to stop by 5:00. how is that? >> it will just not last long. gregg: bob beckel, andrea tanteros. good to see you both. >> you bet.

heather: see if they agree on "the five" tonight when we tune in for that. chance of houses of new jobs in an area struggling with slow recovery. companies from the u.s. and beyond apparently eyeing ohio's former rust belt as home for a potentially booming oil industry. critics say the dream could turn into a nightmare apparently. mike tobin is in chicago with those details. hi, mike. >> reporter: heather we're talking about the exploitation of shale oil. to get at it you need to use the a process called fracking. mere mention of the word fracking will motivate opponents saying it is devastating to the environment. proponents with massive deposits of shale oil under ohio, pennsylvania and indiana say this could be a game changer not just for the areas the entire u.s. economy and the big quest for energy. >> we're the saudi arabia of natural gas. this single-handedly can change the u.s. economy

forever. >> reporter: exploitation of shale oil promises to create 200,000 direct jobs, six time as many indirect. new technology makes it possible which allows pipe to be drilled thousands of feet down, then horizontally. water and chemicals are pumped through to break up the shale. the water is with drawn pulling with it oil and natural gas. the potential of five 1/2 billion barrels of oil and 15 billion cubic feet of natural gas has companies like exxonmobil investing in impoverished eastern ohio. >> that tells me people making very rational decisions spending shareholder money are coming to the conclusion that this is worth chasing. >> reporter: proponents complain that president obama chooses to emphasize renewables. >> instead of investing in this, this gold mine of natural gas, he has been wasting a lot of money on solar, win and low-return energy sources that don't creates a many jobs. >> reporter: the environmental lobby is deadset against fracking. critics claim it causes everything from contaminated

groundwater to earthquakes and oil companies don't care. >> they contaminate the water with their process. they destroy the land and people's properties. and then then they leave. >> reporter: an epa analysis of fracking says the risk to groundwater is minimal. although you have a lot of people blaming earthquakes on tracking there has never been a definitive scientific link. heather? heather: thank you very much. mike ob bin -- tobin joining us live. gregg: facebook, lifesaver. a woman's desperate plea after she and her son were held captive tiff and a status update led police to her. heather: payroll tax cut delayed for now but by no means is it offer. could we be in store for another political showdown? congresswoman marsha blackburn is here live and we'll take her next. stay tuned.

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♪ . heather: big van halen fan, gregg, are you? it is time to jump because veteran rockers, van halen are returning to the stage with original lead singer, that's right, david lee roth. van halen headache -- making announcement on the website. tickets go on sale january 10th. don't let gregg fool you. he is excited to go. a new album is in the works as well. the band's relationship with roth a stormy one to say the least. he left the band in a bitter breakup in 1985 only to rejoin and abruptly quit a decade later. roth's last tour with van halen, four years ago. gregg: i liked them with

sammy hagar. if it hadn't been for some last minute wrangling on capitol hill right before christmas about the 160 million americans would be lighter in the paycheck beginning next week but the deal on extending the payroll tax break is only for two months. so could we soon see washington go to the brink yet again? congresswoman mash that -- marsha blackburn joins us from nashville today. looks beautiful behind you. how do envision this thing being resolved? can it be resolved without the kind of animus that seemed to mark the most recent standoff? >> gregg, i think we can get this resolved. what we conservatives in the house are pushing for is to make certain that individuals are going to keep more of their paycheck. they're going to keep more of their money. at the same time our focus is on jobs. as we look at the entire jobs agenda it is let's make

certain that we are having less litigation, less regulation, less taxation and get to more innovation and more job creation in this economy. so you're going to see us right down to this, getting it solved. gregg: but look, many of your fellow repabl cans in the -- republicans in the house opposed to extending it 10 more months. i talked to one of them last friday. don't you run the risk of having the president successfully portray your party as against tax cuts? >> i think that is going to be difficult to do but we know that the president has the megaphone and we don't. but here's the deal, many of us want to make certain that while individuals are paying less and that washington is taking less because washington wastes a lot of what it takes and it takes too much money. we want to make certain that we are protecting that social security trust fund. gregg: sure. >> and the medicare trust fund and individuals are getting their money. so we've got some good bills. i've got a bill that would

prohibit taking that money out of the social security trust fund and spending it in the general fund. gregg: explain something to me. if you care so much about the social security trust fund then why is it that the 33 billion that will be taken from freddie, fannie and fha loans goes into the general fund and not into the social security trust fund to pay for the cost of this which is $33 billion for two months? >> right. it is part of that robbing peter to pay paul. you're exactly right, gregg. what many of us want to do is get to more accountability and transparency in the budget process. regardless of whether it is dealing with some of these affiliates like fannie and freddie or you're dealing with out of control bureaucracies like the epa or these megabills like obamacare that we're trying to defun and repeal. but what we want to do is get to more transparency so when government takes your money, you the taxpayer can follow where that money is being used and how it is

being used and more accountability through this entire process. gregg: but look, 10 more months will cost roughly $100 billion. how are you going to pay for that? are you in favor of, for example, freezing the pay of federal workers through september of 2013 to pay for it? that is one of the ideas. are you in favor of that? >> i am in favor of freezing all federal pay and all federal spending. actually there's a bill that i have that would freeze spending at what we passed in august. we froze it in the minute my bus that we passed at end of this year. let's freeze it through 2014. that saves $27 billion just by closing the checkbook. gregg: sure. >> taking the blank check away from the president and saying this is going to be the high water mark. we are not going to add to the spending. we're not going to add to the federal debt. gregg: representative marsha blackburn. great to see you. happy holidays to you. >> great to be with you, thank you. heather: let the mud fly.

the top press he isdentialal candidates ramping up attacks just a day before a decision in iowa. coming up larry sabato, on whether going negative works. gregg: christmas miracle for one u.s. soldier. the emotional story of his journey home. >> all the stress of being away from them, was lifted. and made me feel good.

gregg: a fox news alert. just received some new numbers on home prices. they are down in most major u.s. cities for the second straight month. particular weakness seen in atlanta and the u.s. of the

20 major u.s. metropolitan markets covered by the indices, they report 19 have lower prices from the month of september. so not good news in the fifth year of what has certainly been an historic housing slide. heather? heather: how about some good news? we all need it. here's a good story for you. a soldier making it home in the nick of time to receive what he calls the best christmas present ever. christine percotte with our fox affiliate, wwor has the story. >> reporter: he was halfway around the world just days before his only son was born but this army sergeant was on a mission to be here for the birth. >> hey little stinger. >> reporter: all it steaks is a little adorable baby to bring a big, tough looking soldier to tears. >> that is dad. he is doing push ups on my chess. >> reporter: army staff sergeant colin craig who has been stationed in afghanistan since the summer almost missed his little boy's birth. he was granted leave.

first one flight was canceled, another delayed and he almost missed a connecting flight. >> i said now i'm pushing it. will i get home? >> reporter: his wife susan knew the clock was ticking. >> it was unbearable. i didn't even know what i was going to do. >> reporter: it took five days to get home to new jersey but made it exactly a day before his namesake, little colin was born. >> all the stress of being away from them was lifted. and made me feel good. >> we went through so much trial and tribulations for him to get here it was almost surreal. i couldn't believe he was actually there. >> reporter: susan and their two daughters are thrilled to have dad home even if it is just for a quick visit and dad is thrilled with his eight pound, 15 ounce christmas present. >> i couldn't ask for a better christmas. heather: ah, they even have the same hair. gregg: or lack thereof. heather: that was christine percotti for our fox affiliate, wwor.

gregg: all right. there is a massive winter rainstorm bearing down on much of the eastern united states today bringing up to an inch of rain in many parts and first significant snow in some other areas. meteorologist, maria molina in the fox extreme weather center. >> hey, gregg. good to see you. we have a storm headed in our direction in new york city. if you have flights see delays. especially later on today we'll get heavy rain and thunderstorms and also some windy conditions. we're expecting some wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour at times or even past that at times so that's what we're looking at here, a massive storm system that already brought in quite a bit of rain across parts of the south and mississippi. we saw four or five inches of rain in some spots locally and there's already a switch over to some snow also with colder air is mixing in further off to the north across the state of indiana. also out of illinois and starting to move out of illinois and also moving into northwestern portions of the state of ohio.

the good news with the storm system even though it packs a punch with a lot of rain it is relatively quick move vir. by tomorrow it will be gone leaving behind some blustery conditions. so storm you could still see some isolated weather-related delays at the airports because of those gusty winds but the rain will be gone. already raining across the state of virginia. also across west virgina. we are going to get snowfall across some of the higher elevations of west virgina. that is good news for the ski resorts. western pennsylvania and western portions of upstate new york will get hit with some snow. not a whole lot of it though. we're only talking about snow accumulations across interior portions of the northeast of 2 to 4 inches. generally a rainmaker like you mentioned, gregg. it will be inch of rain at most in some spots. we're looking for risk of severe storms further off to the south along long coastal areas. south carolina, and southeastern portions of georgia, watch out storms

that could produce gusty winds and even isolated tornados. gregg: maria molina. thanks very much. heather: if you didn't know it, the gloves they are off between mitt romney and newt gingrich seven days before iowa decides. gingrich calling romney, a massachusetts moderate. we get reaction from the romney camp. gregg: a status update that navy saved the lives of a mother and her son. a cry of help her friends saw on facebook. >> people were talking about what is wrong with me? i never met her personally. i chatted with her in facebook. so it was sort of bizarre. >> it is a sad deal that had a great ending. [ male announcer ] you have plans...

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average putting ron paul at the top of the pack in the iowa state -- or be the hawk-eye state. mitt romney and newt gingrich are right behind them. welcome to a brand-new hour inside "america's newsroom." i'm heather childress in for martha maccallum. gregg: i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer. mitt romney unleashing attack ads targeting his biggest rivals. heather: it's not a don deal for romney just yet. carl cameron is live. they are spending incredible amounts of money in iowa. who has the most cash to burn? >> reporter: well what is really important to note here is that when you look at most aspects of the 2012 iowa caucuses, it's actually been slower and more low key than in caucuses pass. the spending on tv ads they are actually breaking a record this month. all told there will be over

$10 million spent which does break the final month's pace of preceding caucuses in the past. mitt romney is spend baggy a million and a half dollars a month. a super pack will be adding another couple million dollars to his ad campaign. some of it is negative, some of it is positive. that is standard. newt gingrich is only putting on a half million dollars worth of ads. there is no super pack, an outside independent group augmenting his mention. ron paul is spending a million-missouri this month. you see his ads all over iowa and have for a couple of months. the rest of the campaigns, particularly rick perry there are varying degrees of ad campaigns. he is spending more than anybody else. a couple million dollars from his own ads and a couple million dollars from a super pack helping him out. lots of ads, but in iowa for the caucuses this contest that will only have 120 to 150

participants, tv ads are not the most tech tiff way to get people to participate. it's hard, old school retailing. lots of money on the air can actually turn iowa citizens off. heather: the negative ads can turn a lot of voters off. it doesn't just take money, it takes organization. who has the right organization, carl? >> reporter: right now the talk goes something along these lines. ron paul leads the polls, he's been campaigning here for a longtime. this is his second time around the track. he was in the kaus her caucuses in 2008 here e. has a good organization with a loyal following. mitt romney who was here a couple years ago, he had 25% then, that's about where he is now. his organization remains strong. newt gingrich, his polls have gone up and down. his organization wasn't started in time. he's been playing catch up this entire caucus campaign.

there is a pw-l battle for evangelical people, that is between rick perry, and michelle bachmann. rick santorum has gone to every county in the state. he has a very, very deep, albeit small organization. they are loyal and it's statewide. he has done it the old school way. if anybody has come close to running a huckabee-like campaign it's santorum even though he's been far back in the polls. then there is michelle bachmann. can't rule her out. she ann the ames straw poll. whether she is able to sustain it during pretty enough times in the polls remains to be seen. we only have seven more days to figure it out. heather: the countdown is on. thank you very much, carl cameron, joining us live where

it looks like it's live in iowa. gregg: a cold wind is whipping eug i in iowa. rick santorum going pheasant hunting in iowa donning a hat and shotgun appealing to the conservative base while having a little fun as well. >> i don't know, like i've said, my feeling is if you're sitting last if you can do better than that that's good. as you look at the polls and feel here on the ground we are picking up momentum, we've got over a thousand caucus captains. there will be around a thousand caucus locations. we'll have location at not every one but almost all of them. no other campaign is going to have someone there who is going to get up and speak on our behalf. gregg: santorum was joined by his 19-year-old son and by iowa congressman steve king. he's still seeking king's official endorsement. heather: remember fox news is america's election headquarters,

and your front row seat to politics, all politics. tune in for complete coverage of the iowa caucuses on january 3rd, starting at 6:00pm. you can also log onto foxnews.com/politics to get all the latest news on the candidates and from the campaign trail. gregg: lawmakers keeping a close eye on president obama as he takes some time off in hawaii. the national labor relations board needs three memorandum pwhers to run and onneeds three members to run and one will be out of mix later this month. they are worried that the president will try to fill in the gaps on his own, with or without the senate's approval. doug is live with here. hi, doug. >> reporter: hello, greg. the president in hawaii is feeling a lot of pressure on this to make these recess appointments. the national relations board will set down unless the president makes a recess appointment. he'll hear all kind of how long

link from unions. there is the new consumer protection bureau, no one at the helm at that bureau. he is feeling a lot of pressure from the left to make an appointment there. senate republicans want to have more input in this process, they are trying to prevent a recess from happening. the senate is technically staying in session through the rest of the year so they don't give the president an opportunity to make these kinds of appointments. the white house, though, said before the president left on vacation that every option is still on the table. >> i don't have any announcements to make or speculation to engage in on that front. i mean we are not relinquishing any rights here, that is certainly the case. >> reporter: so the white house is still mulling this over trying to figure out what their options are. one republican strategist that we spoke with thinks this is going to happen. >> i can't see any reason or any leverage that the congress would have that would prevent the president from exercising his

executive capacity to make recess appointments. so i think he's going to do it. there isn't any reason politically why he shouldn't. >> reporter: now president obama would certainly not be the president to make recess appointments. there are legal questions exactly what the parameters are exactly what the president's powers are to do this. they are in the constitution but there are questions as to what constitutes a recess. gregg: thanks very much. heather: taking you to russia now a new act of defines from russian leader vladimir putin, the current prime minister that is now trying to reclaim the presidency says he wants elections in march to be quote, absolutely transparent. meantime vladimir putin's re-election effort is sparking massive displays of public anger. we've showed you this. thousands of people have already taken to the streets in moscow following allegations that last month as parliamentary reelectrics were rigged in his

favor. vladimir putin has denied any wrongdoing saying there is no reason to review the results. gregg: the trial begins today for an american man who was arrested in iran. he's seen here on iranian television. he is accused of trying to infiltrate iran's intelligence service. his father says he was working as a translator when he was arrested back in august. his family says the khraeurpls, quote, absolutely, positively wrong. the united states has already commanded his release. heather: here is something rare, a rare show of support in north korea mourning delegations from nearby south korea arriving in the north to pay their respects as the country prepares for the funeral of their late leader kim jong-il. greg poll cat is following this live from are seoul, south korea. what is the significance of this visit of the south korean delegation to the north?

>> reporter: heather, the son and apparent successor to late dictator kim jong-il, kim jong un has been named as the head of the military, the head of the people's communist party. he is playing diplomat. he is posting the former first lady of south corey ark the widow alssouth korea, a widow. but this is about as far as he is going in marking the death of kim jong-il. still that has got people upset here in seoul, antinorth korean activists staging another one of their noisy protests against even this show and marking of the death of kim jong-il. heather: do we have any idea what the state funeral is going to look like? >> reporter: well, heather in classic style we still don't really have much of an idea of what is going to happen tomorrow. we think it is going to be much like the 1994 funeral of kim

jong-il's father, kim-il s u.n. g. we are expecting thousands of mourners, military, a motorcade, i can tell you the regime knows how to get the people out. it is going to be a bit early cold. we have reports of sheeted buses surrounding the city. everybody will be watching who is where to figure out who the peck order is in the new north korean regime. we the foreign media will be watching from the outside, foreign media and foreign delegation -rs not invited to the affair which begins tomorrow. by the wait is a two-day affair, there will be a memorial also on thursday. heather: it will be meticulously planned with a purpose no doubt. thank you very much. greg palkot reporting live for us, thank you. gregg: a bold statement from a senior member of mitt romney's campaign. his prediction and whether it's a bit premature after the break. heather: forget about superman, mother nature more powerful than

a loc location location a motive. gregg: how a woman's five day ordeal finally came to an end thanks to facebook friends. >> i never met her personal lease, i just chatted with her through chase back, and so it was sort of bizarre. >> it was a sad deal with a great ending. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

heather: welcome back. two men in australia are lucky to be alive after a train was derailed by a cyclone. several carriages were swept off the track by flooding. the extreme weather also stranded several drivers including one couple. they survived by climbing to the roof of their car. >> i initially reported that they were on the roof of the car. as the water came up they were washed off. thankfully emergency services

got there in time to get them out. heather: no reports of serious injury in either incident. forecasters say the cyclone has already been downgraded to a tropical storm. gregg: a senior member of mitt romney's campaign in a rare, candid moment reportedly telling politico, quote, i don't see any scenario where we're not the nominee. newt gingrich not so sure, calling romney a massachusetts moderate. andrea saul is mitt romney's campaign press secretary and joins us live. thank you for being with with you us. >> thanks for having me. gregg: isn't it a bit premature to be claiming victory? >> i don't know who said that. i doubt that it's anyone involved in the decision-making process of this campaign. no one here thinks or talks like that. we are not taking anything for granted. we are prepared to go the distance. that's why we worked so hard to get on the ballot in states like virginia and missouri and some of the other nominating

contests. we are going to fight for every single vote. we are absolutely not taking anything for granted. gregg: here is the thing. i assume it's an accurate vote, i know the reporter, he's a very good reporter, and here is a scenario in which mitt romney could lose. take a look at south carolina. newt gingrich has a 16-point lead in south carolina, and in florida an 18-point lead, and those are two of the primaries that follow immediately after iowa and new hampshire. isn't that the scenario in which gingrich wins and romney loses? >> again, we are not taking anything for granted. we've got iowa coming up first. we're going to battle as hard as we can. the governor is going to be there tonight. we have a bus tour there this week. then we'll head into new hampshire. the governor is in new hampshire this morning. and, you know, we have strong support in all of these states.

governor nikki haley in south carolina, a strong conservative just endorsed governor romney happens candidacy, and we are going to continue taking his message straight to the voters, and we are going to earn every vote. gregg: the message that newt gingrich is sending to voters, in terms of labeling, is by calling mitt romney a massachusetts moderate, in fact he said it in a speech i believe it was last thursday, and now it's sent out in the press materials to reporters with a video link, and i watched it this morning, in which back in 2002 mitt romney said the following, i think people recognize that i am not a partisan republican, that i'm someone who is moderate, and that my views are progressive, and yet, andrea, you're running an ad in which you tout mr. romney as a conservative businessman. which is he? a moderate or conservative? >> this is a desperate attempt by speaker gingrich to prop up his sinking campaign.

speaker gingrich is an unreliable conservative. that he would sit on the couch with nancy pelosi at the behest of al gore to talk about global warming, support cap and trade. when conservatives needed him the most during the paul ryan budget he through the conservative cause under the bus and called it social engineering. anybody who wants to know how governor romney would govern they need to look no further than his message in massachusetts. gregg: where he was what, andrea, a moderate? >> everything he did was as a conservative. he's talked about the fact that being surrounded by a bunch of massachusetts liberals made him even more conservative. he cut the budget. gregg: if he's as conservative as you say then why did he call himself a moderate and progressive? >> again, look at his record. as governor of massachusetts, he cut taxes 19 times. he balanced the budget without raising taxes. he always stood on the side of life. he sraoe vetoed in-state

tuition for illegal immigrants. he has become even more conservative when he was governor and saw just how damaging these liberal policies could be, which are things that speaker gingrich has supported. again, you know, sitting down on a couch with nancy pelosi to talk about global warming and cap and trade. gregg: andrea saul, thank you very much, the press secretary with the romney campaign waoefpl. we did invite a surrogate from the newt gingrich campaign. they were unable to do that. but we did invite them. heather: things are heating up. a week to go until caucus day in iowa. which of these candidates will take the first contest in the race? larry sabato is up next. gregg: a new initiative to help american troops returning from the front lines. what one senator is now doing to tackle one of the biggest problems facing returning vets. >> you just have to work with

these young men and women right now. i mean, that is really our bottom line target problem is the young men and women who are onto three, four, five deployments and they are returning and bringing a lot of problems back with them. [ woman ] ♪ what i want this season ♪ if you'd like to try and guess ♪ ♪ it is something very special ♪ i would readily confess [ dogs barking ] ♪ 'cause all i want this season ♪ ♪ is something from your heart ♪ la da da, la da da [ male announcer ] thinking of others this holiday season, travelers.

gregg: it is 22 minutes past the hour. here are some of the top stories we are following. bad news nor sears after holiday sales take a tumble. up to 120 stores will close after sales at both sears and k-mart dropped, not clear which stores will be closing. britain's prince philip headed home after a major health scare. the prince spent four nights in the hospital after complaining of chest pains. the first time he has missed christmas with the royal family in years. a major union challenging new

faa rules on pilot fatigue. the union representing ups pilots want the rules to cover cargo plains as well as passenger planes. the new rules guarantee pilots at least ten hours between shifts, up to eight hours currently. heather: we all know this by now, occupy wall street, they made their name criticizing the one percent. but there is another one percent who could really use some serious help, america's veterans, they make up one percent of our population, and one quarter of our homeless. and now one lawmaker is looking to make sure that the people who lay their lives on the line for our freedom, they can at least at the very least come home and land a job. alicia acuna is live for us in denver with more. alicia, what is this idea? >> reporter: this is a bill that's been introduced by senator michael bennett of colorado, and if passed it will

help veterans returning from eye evacuate an iraq and afghanistan find a job. even though members of our military make up one percent of our population their unemployment rate is higher than the national average. this bill addresses the problem with the creation of a national veterans foundation. senator bennett says it would be similar to our national parks foundation, and it would provide resources to communities to get the public and private sector working together and have in essence a clearinghouse for jobs and assistance. >> the idea really came from the vets themselves who were saying that we know better than anybody else that there are plenty of people that want to help our vets, but we are not very well coordinated. we would like structures that don't reinvent the wheel here, but would allow us to coordinate ourselves better, and that's what we're going to try to do. at the federal level -- >> reporter: as you can imagine when this was announced there

was some surprise that something like this wasn't already on the books. with the hand over in iraq it's become much more urgent. heather: the senator, we heard him talk about not reinventing the wheel. is there a mold in place to base this on? >> reporter: there is. there is a fairly new program in colorado springs that the bill has been modeled after. that city is home to five major military installations, and they have launched there what is called the network of care for veterans. organizers say it will help those returning to not only find employment but other services as well. charlotte has served four deployments in iraq. >> he is going throughout process of looking for jobs, and one of the areas that i have worked with him and referred him to is a cure site because there is so much information there for him to know and to help him. did you remember to complete this? and did you get this done? let's look at this site, because there is always stuff on there

that is updating. >> reporter: that is more of a test case in colorado springs. it is a work in progress, but the senator's office is watching it closely. back to you, heather. heather: let's see how this works, making up one quarter of our homeless, our veterans is unacceptable. alicia acuna thank you very much. gregg: one of the world's top tablets could be getting big-name competition. we'll tell but a big announcement from google which could mean trouble for apple. heather: plus a holiday tragedy in connecticut. we have an update after a christmas morning fire kills five members of one family. >> it's a great tragedy, a horrible, horrible thing on a christmas morning. >> it's the biggest fire, you know, in a couple of decades.

gregg: we're getting new details on that tragic house fire in connecticut killing five people on christmas day. we are now learning this a grandfather there made a heroic attempt to save one of the children. john huddy of our fox affiliate wnyw has more. >> reporter: smoldering embers from the fireplace may have started a deadly house fire, the worse in stamford's history, in which five people died christmas morning, including three little girls ages 10, and two seven-year-old twins and their grandparents. the fire chief says it appears the girls' grandfather may have been trying to save them. his body was found just a few feet away from one of the little girls. apparently he lost his life

trying to save theirs. more information about the fire is expected in a press conference later today. back to you. gregg: john huddy of our nyw station in new york. john, thanks. heather: it is still anybody's game in iowa, seven days away, despite a very confident frontrunner less than a week before the all-important caucuses. and mitt romney launching a new tv ad in the hawk-eye state touting his economic vision and family values, attacking his rifles, making it clear the romney camp is playing to win in iowa. larry sabato is director of the center for politics. thank you for joining us, larry. >> thank you. heather: off the very top i'd like to take a look at two latest polls we've had. numbers that have come in from rasmussen and also the "real clear politics" poll. this is the "real clear

politics" poll that show ron paul leading 22 to romney's 21, and then newt gingrich followed by 14%, and then in the rasmussen poll it was reversed just slightly. we had romney in the lead with 25%, followed by paul by 20, and then gingrich by 17. so given the margin of error it is a close race, but as you may have heard just moments ago we spoke with someone from the romney camp and they say that there is no scenario that they can foresee where romney is not the nominee. so what do you think will happen in iowa? >> well, first, the romney quote relates to the whole campaign, heather. i think they have gained this out and they see, probably correctly, that all of these challengers to romney have serious problems over the long run, whether it's money, or organization, or negative attacks against them. so that may be a sound judgment. but getting back to iowa, look, you've got two different races

there, as you usually do, because iowa has the race for the top, and that is between, apparently mitt romney and ron paul. if you had to guess today, a week in advance you would say that that would be one, two, either way, either romney finishes first or ron paul does and the other one finishes second. but the alternate contest is also very interesting because you say have as many as four tickets out of iowa. who finishes third and fourth? there you've got a real battle between gingrich, perry, and santorum, in particular bachmann has her hopes that she can come through, but i'd cezanne tore um isay santorum is guessing more buzz in the last week. gingrich is trying to recover some of his lost momentum, and perry is spending everything he's got on iowa, because that is his shot. he has to do better than expected or he's probably going back to austin.

heather: you mentioned perry spending all the monies got in iowa, then you mentioned how santorum is rising and he's actually logged more miles in iowa than any other candidate. does that speak to the level of importance when you talk about money versus the miles spent campaigning? >> yeah, in the old days there was only one way to win the iowa caucuses, you did what santorum and to a lesser degree bachmann have done, which is to go to the 99 counties and have loads and loads of individual events with voters. today, of course, we have a different kind of iowa caucus, it's been a nationalized campaign pwaufr because of the debate and tv and money. on the whole it will be interesting to see how iowa citizens reconcile these two very different campaigns a week from now. will the people who have spent the time objec on the ground be rewarded for doing so or are we

in a new era where iowa is pretty much like everywhere else. heather: $10 million so far have been spent by the super packs in iowa since december on these ads, these ad campaigns on tv. they are going negative. will that work for or against the candidates? >> well it's certainly helping romney. he's spending more than anybody. there was a satisfactory purpose a surpurp analysis of this. it's stunning how romney has dominated the tv air wa*eu air wave through the super pack spending. rick perry is emptying the war chest trying to get in the game. ron paul has come in 1.7 million, somewhere around there. the otherses have barely made an impact to this point on tell investigates. maybe they are planning a last-minute push. heather: do you think that the

negative ads won't work against them and will work for their benefit? >> well the negative ads have had a real impact. they have helped to ground all the frontrunners. there is a reason why we've had six frontrunners in iowa this past year. it's really an incredible total if you look at the roller coaster that has taken place in iowa over the past 12 months. heather: six front run eurs, undecidefrontrunners. fox news is elections headquarters. tune in january 3rd starting at 6:00pm. fox news your front row seat to politics. gregg: a woman in utah is freed after apparently being held captive with her son for days. she says if it weren't for facebook she might be dead. troy read critchfield is now

under arrest after police were called to his home. it was the woman's friends along with posting on the popular media website that led them to her. ben winslow has more from utah. >> reporter: police say it was smart thinking by the woman to post on facebook but she had no other way to really communicate with the outside world. >> just didn't seem right. >> reporter: erica carver spotted this message on facebook for a woman she's only known online. the woman posted, hello is anybody out there? i am having a serious problem, and me and my son will be dead lie morning. >> all these people were saying, what is wrong, what is wrong. >> reporter: erica and others started coordinating to find out where the woman was. they contacted the police who sent officers to her home. >> they were met at the door by the suspect in this case. he was uncooperative initially in allowing the officers to speak to the female. after some persuading he allowed officers to talk to her.

when the officers started talking to her they could immediately see on her, on her face, multiple bruises. >> reporter: police say once critchfield the woman told them show and her son were held captive in the home for the past five days. she told cops her phone was destroyed and every time she tried to leave she was choked. >> she was able to sneak into a closet with a laptop and post that message, and so it was a good thing that social media in this situation was able to allow her to reach out and make a cry for help. >> reporter: the man is in jail on kidnapping and assault charges. the woman's facebook friends are glad she is okay. >> i've never met her personally, i just chatted with her through facebook, and so it was sort of bizarre. >> it's a sad deal, a great ending. >> reporter: the man is in the salt lake county jail without bail.

court records show that he was convicted last year of assault involving the same woman. he served 120 days in jail in that case. heather: just about six months since casey anthony was acquitted of killing her two-year-old daughter and now lawmakers in florida are pushing for caylee's law. what it would do and why sorrow posed to it. gregg: an unexpected visitor on christmas eve and guess what, it wasn't santa claus. heather: all of a sudden i hear a thud against the back of the house. i heard the whole downstairs window shattered. i made sure the door was securely shut.

heather: welcome back. apple's ipad has been a dominant force on the tablet market since it was released. in just a few months it could have some of its biggest competition yet. google's executive chairman says that they plan on rolling out a tablet of, quote, the highest

quality in the next six months. the news comes as tablets using google's android software are already catching up with ipad sales. it's unclear if the new tablet will be released under the google brand. experts expecting apple to roll out the ipad 3. what? i just got an ipad 2 for christmas. as soon as february or march. gregg: a high profile murder trial could lead to a new controversial law in the state of florida, caylee's law named after 2-year-old caylee's anthony, being pushed by several lawmakers. caylee's mother acquitted six months ago. the new law would require parents or guardians to report missing children within a certain period of time or felony charges. not everybody likes the proposal. kelly is a family law attorney. doug is a former prosecutor.

deli you like this idea, why? >> i think it holds parents accountable. i think casey anthony's acquittal shows there are some problems. even if you believe her story that she knew caylee was dead she didn't report it. caylee couldn't protect herself. i think it holds parents accountable to protect her children. gregg: doug, that does make perfect sense, doesn't it? you have reservations, why? >> first of all the question is, is this really a problem or is this more in the nature of putting a stop sign up at an intersection where we had one accident in a 20-year period to use a hypothetical. in other words, do we really have a problem where parents don't report their children missing? this was a very bizarre, unusual or sort of a one in a thousand type of case. even if there were such a problem, this particular law, law enforcement in florida has come out, one state attorney, somebody from the sheriff's department saying that this law is way too broad.

for example if a child went missing on a high school prank for a day and a half you'd be guilty of a felony. if they are going to do this law they need statutory exceptions. gregg: i think doug is referring to that it creates a strict liability law in the state of florida with essentially no exceptions. boy, doesn't that give you pause? >> it does, greg, it does give me pause, because i agree with you there are always exceptions to every rule. but across the board children under 16, who this law would apply to, can't generally protect themselves. they count on adults in their lives, which are our parents or guardians. if they are missing and their parents or guardians aren't being accountable, aren't checking on them, don't alert authorities, something really bad can happen. i think as a proactive measure this is important. i'm not saying the law shouldn't be tweaked. i think it is a fantastic idea. gregg: doesn't this in a way sort of violation separation of powers? >> i think it does potentially,

because you're right, in other words, if a prosecutor gets a case which fits one of the exceptions i laid out, where let's use another example, somebody tells family and a clergyman but they don't tell the police and now they get charged with a crime, the argument apparently down there is well the prosecutors will use their discretion. but one law professor actually down in florida, university of miami says we don't want to do that and leave it in the hands ever the executive branch to make that determination. i think that is where the separation of powers comes in. one of the state attorneys said, you know, gregg if somebody goes missing and somebody calls in and then they find a body, the evidence might be inadmissible. that is another reason they have to tweak it, seriously. gregg: sometimes politics and prosecutions don't mix, do they, kelly? >> no, you're right. i mean sometimes they don't. this could be someone else's agenda. a lot of people are outraged about the verdict. this might not be as well thought through as it could be, doug is right there are some problems witness. generally speaking children need

to be protected. this is another level to hold parents' feet to the fire to say you have to look out for your kids, if they are in trouble or in harm's way you have to let someone know. i disagree with the earlier statistic about is this the exception or the rule. we don't know, if parents aren't reporting their children missing, especially young children who aren't in school, who is looking out for them? no one else knows they are going. gregg: i think we were all surprised that given the failure to report in the little caylee case, that there were no other additional charges that were available, except for a misdemeanor. >> yeah, you know, gregg what is so interesting about this is that the back legal story really is interesting and it may be entirely correct, would be that if for example the statutory exposure had been four counts at four years per count then the judge would have stacked up four counts to run consecutively. this is really an after the fact band-aid and i just don't think they've thought it through correctly, that's all i'm saying. i agree with kelly, though, that certainly there are noble

thoughts behind it. gregg: thank you. heather: thanks, gregg. coming up after us "happening now." what are you guys working on. jon: we are talking about iowa, it is down to the wire in that first of the nation contest. what does it take to organize a campaign there if who has the best ground game for winning the iowa caucuses now just one week away? plus violent drug lords going high-tech to avoid cap taoufrp capture. the intricate web they are weaving. tsa officials, you know those people who search you at the airport? they get new poeur powers above and beyond what they've ever had. is this best for national security or is politics putting your safety at risk. coming up at the top of the hour. heather. heather: more powers for the tsa, definitely want to hear about that. i think you're with julie banderas right? jon: yes, julie is with me today.

heather: it's not exactly a reendeer. a wild animal breaking into their home on christmas eve. find out how this encounter ended. i think that is rudolph straight ahead. >> i think this will be a family tradition telling about the deer. >> the only thing more exciting would be a mountain lion. >> no it would not be.

gregg: an unexpected visi visitor on christmas eve, not talking about santa. a deer crashing through a home in utah. the keller family was getting ready for bed on saturday night when the big buck suddenly smashed right through their basement window. >> we had santa cookies and milk all ready to go. all of a sudden i hear a thud

against the back of the thousands. i heard the whole downstairs window shatter. i made sure the door was securely shut. >> it's in the room. it's in the room. gregg: all of their christmas presents by the way were there in the basement. the deer crushed a few boxes but apparently the gifts were mostly untouched. heather: i still think that is rudolph incognito. he covered up his red nose. gregg: make up. heather: he's trying to steal santa's cookies. new concerns over a powerful new painkiller that doctors say packs a punch ten times stronger than vicodin. now antidrug activists say they are worried it could become the next objectione oxycontin. we have the vice president of bet israel hospital and a professor of medicine and

dentisry in new jersey. thank you for joining us. >> happy holidays. heather: to you too. it's a group of drugs, correct? >> it's a group of drugs. these are derivatives of morphine. i think our viewing audience all knows from morphine is. these are called pecosets, percosets, vicodin, a tweaking of the molecule makes them more potent, terribly potent and they are drugs of abuse. and people take them. first of all i should say they are wonderful for controlling pain in patients who have had surgery or have chronic diseases. but we have to be careful about abuse, because people tend to abuse these drugs. heather: why do we need stronger, and what makes it stronger? >> i don't know why we need stronger, and a chemical modification will make it stronger. the most widely abused drug of this class used is oxycontin. second is hydrocodone.

that, mixed with tylenol makes it somewhat toxic. if a drug abuser overdoses either orally or as they like to do, they crush the tablet and then inject the tablet it's very toxic to the liver. so this new drug, which was reported to be ten times more potent than hydrocodone can be crushed, because it's an extended release, and that's very popular in the community for extended relief means over time, 24 hours. heather: the abuser would crush it to get the immediate high. >> that's right. companies have tried to make noncrushable tablets to prevent people from injecting these drugs, and when they inject these drugs the high is immediate. with this new drug, which is ten times more powerful, and i mean this is incredibly powerful, they crush the drug, put it in either water or saline or some

other vehicle and then inject it and boom they are high. heather: what can we do to avoid the abuse? >> it's a very difficult thing. i mean perscriptions from doctors are stolen. i, myself have had perscriptions stolen from my office, and people fill the prescription out for vicodin or oxycontin and they go to the pharma tee, and if the pharmacist is not alerted to this they will fill the prescription. the old tablet goes for about $60 on the open black market. this new ten-times more powerful drug will probably be worth a heck after lot more. heather: i would imagine the stopgap so to speak, the gate keeper would have to be the pharmacy. they would really have to be educated. it would have to be very difficult to go and get this from your pharmacist. >> absolutely. these are controlled substances as it is. you can only write the prescription once, they are none refillable. if this is abused, which i think they are going to be, this is

going to be a problem. heather: and we hear about doctor shopping too. thank you, doctor. gregg: it is the countdown heard round the world. for the big apple's world famous ball drop on new year's eve the preps have already begun. heather: speaking of new year's we've got the details on our fox news special coverage with megyn kelly and bill hemmer. make sure to tune in for our special show. it is the only resolution that you will need this year.

>> pretty interesting story here. a scuba diver goes back in time finding a piece of history on the ocean floor. a world war ii era plane discovered some four miles off florida's coast. the man who found it, he believes that the plane is a curtis helldiver. if he is right it would be the second helldiver found underwater in two years. he plans to take divers back to the site. he adds they will have to

use caution in case there is any live ammunition inside. gregg: we almost had a real life sequel to snakes on a plane. customs officials in buenos aires busted a man with 200 exotic reptiles in his luggage. with nine species of poisonous snakes like this pit viper. all were in plastic containers. shocked x-ray technicians quickly called the police and the man was arrested. i have no idea what happened with the snakes but i hope they're far away. heather:. i hope they're safe and sound. just four days until new year's eve. here's a live look at times square right there on your screen where in just a few minutes preps will get underway to install 288 sparkling new waterford crystal triangles will be on the times square ball. the crystals are custom designed to hold up to high wind, rain and temperatures

some 4 70 feet above times square. jon: speaking of new year's, meagan kelly and bill hemmer will be hosting the all american new year with musical guests trace atkins and big and rich. along with the cast of the tony award-nominated show, rock of ages. it will be fun. the fun begins at 11:00 p.m. eastern time. check it out on the fox news channel. heather: we hope it will be good weather. regardless it will be packed in times square. gregg: that will do it for us. thanks for being with us. heather: we enjoyed the past couple hours. "happening now" starts right now. jon: and good tuesday morning to you, we are counting down to the caucuses in iowa. good morning. i'm jon scott. >> i'm julie banderas in for jenna lie. jon: good to have