bill: i kind of wish we lived in new hampshire on days like today! >> martha: i do, too! bill: anyway, good luck, new hampshire, we're waiting on you! see you tonight. martha: we'll see you tonight at 6:00. "happening now" starts right now. jon: yes, and a fascinating day it's going to be, right? hello, i'm jon: jenna: everybody, i'm jenna lee. you're right, new hampshire is the place to be today and "happening now", it is primary day out there. after months of campaigning, voters heading to the poll in a critical test for the republican field, the first votes have already been cast, while most of us were hopefully sleeping, jon. the tiny town of dixville notch opening its polls at midnight, a tradition in the first primary state going back some 50 years. jon: i was sleeping so i missed it. most of the candidates are fanning out across new hampshire today, holding

town halls, meetings with voters, wherever they can, hoping to drive turnout and win over every independent and undecided voter they can. jenna: new hampshire is an independent state, that's for sure. all except texas governor rick perry, we're looking at live pictures, by the way of rick perry, who is not in new hampshire, in south carolina, bypassing the live or die state, choosing to go to south carolina, which is where we'll head next after new hampshire, but an interesting move by the governor. we'll watch him but also what's happening in new hampshire today. that's where we find steve brown, live in new hampshire. what works in new hampshire to get people out, get them to the polls? >> reporter: folks around here that know how elections are won and lost, it's person to person contact at this t-pblg stage. traditionally that means money banking and identifying likely supporters that you want to make sure have gotten out to vote. with the younger generation, it's social media, with twitter and facebook and other kinds of contacts,

they can kind of steer or lure or guide their supporters towards the voting -- toward the ballot box, excuse me. but it's person to person contact that drives it most, the door knocking days are done, it's either phone or electronics basically by now jenna. jenna: we get viewers saying i can't have another robo call, please stop, but i guess it's going to happen until 1/2 until your name is on that list unfortunately. let's talk about organization, steve, as to who has the best organization in the state to really contact the people, get them to polls. who looks like they really have a new hampshire right now? >>o vo a handle on new hampshire? >> folks say it's mitt romney hands down, he's in the top tier by himself in terms of organization and ability to not only drive the vote out like i was talking about today but to be able to do things like let's say they're doing polling which we suspect they're doing throughout the day and they notice there's an issue or problem for them somewhere, they can switch out voters lists, micro

target a different group, geographically or demographically and go after those folks and make sure the voters get out to the polls. that's the type of campaign muscle that has to be built up over a long period of time, it's expensive, requires a lot of man powers, and we are told by the folks that know politics, the romney campaign is pretty much the only one that has it. jenna: it comes down to a lot of money as we know as well. steve brown, thank you, from new hampshire today. jon: former senator rick santorum running into trouble on the campaign trail last night in new hampshire, encountering a group of occupy protestors and ron paul supporters among him after his final rally in manchesser, the crowd shouting at he and family members, one staffer was apparently shoved to the ground during that scuffle. police and security finally had to step in to make sure things didn't get too far out of hand. joining us now is a man in the middle of that, former pennsylvania senator and 2012 presidential candidate, rick santorum. they say that politics is a

rough and tumble business. you got an up close and personal taste of that last night, huh senator? >> yeah, it's unfortunate, i stand by everybody's first amendment right but they don't have the right to block an egress into a -- an inagrees into a facility and to push and shove and get pretty rough and they were and it was unfortunate, and hopefully, we're not going to run into that too much going forward. got a lot of folks coming up here to new hampshire to experience the new hampshire experience, including those i'm sure most of whom are out of state who are pretty muff -- who were pretty rough yesterday. jon: politics is all about making impressions upon voters. you still have people voting in new hampshire. what's the biggest misimpression about you that you think people should have corrected? >> well, you know, the -- i hear this all the time, well, you're the social conservative candidate. the amazing thing is just about everybody up on that stage the other night has

the same position as me on social issues as i do, the only difference is when someone asks me a question at a town hall meeting, i answer it as oppose to dodge it, so that sort of makes you -- by the way, i answer every question, which, again, most of the candidates don't, and i don't leave my town hall meetings open to everybody. we had a town hall meeting the other day of over 1000 people and we went through and answered every question, some of the toughest ones that i've ever dealt with, but you know what, that's what you do when you run for president, you get out there and talk to the people and lay on the your issues and not just -- not just what you believe but why you believe it and i think that's one of the reasons we're going to do better than expected here. jon: you vice president spent a lot of time or for that matter, money, in new hampshire. are you expecting to overwhelm people or at least pass the numbers that people are proposing that you'll get? >> we've got a very strong message about manufacturing and job creation and "wall street journal" came out yesterday with a good editorial for us saying our

economic plan was bolder, we had two good debates here but you're right, we haven't spent any money or television, radio or anything else, frankly because before iowa, we didn't have any of that money, and the money came in too late for us to do anything effective here, so it's just been grassroots. we have 35 phones in our headquarters and making phone calls,tous of phone calls a day and i've been out and doing town hall meetings and sign waves. it's going to be hard. i'm up against newt gingrich, who's spent a ton of money here, has the enmast -- man kh*ser union endorsement, jon huntsman who lives here and has spent millions, ron paul who's been running since 1953, i think, and mitt romney who lived here for six years. it's a pretty tough field, but if we can crack in somewhere around where those guys are i'll feel accomplished about this here. jon: i hate to echo the perception that gets out

there but sometimes that's the best way to frame a question. the proposal is that you and ron paul and newt gingrich are all fighting to be the antiromney, that you're all fighting for the same pool of voters. how do you assess it? do you agree with that? >> yeah, i think that's pretty true. i mean, most people see governor romney as the establishment candidate, he's the establishment moderate. john mccain, an establishment moderate came up here, and bob dole supported mitt romney, chris christie. the more the moderate establishment wing of the republican party has come up here and have supported governor romney, as he has pretty much across the country. we're coming from a different perspective, from the outside, from someone who's been a conviction conservative, who has a great track record and bold vision, that's not a -- not the establishment vision, not a moderate plan to try to get this economy going, not buying into some of the rhetoric of the class warfare that president obama is feeding america right now. and so you know, up here in

new hampshire, we -- yeah, it's going to be tough but go to south carolina, it's going to be different, florida will be different. this race is going to be a long ways. -- race. eventually we'll get this race down to two people and i believe and i hope it will be myself and governor romney and when that happens , the game will really be on at that point because then conservatives will have a choice and i'm very confident we'll pull this race out. jon: we will be watching every step of the way as this race goes on. former pennsylvania senator and presidential candidate -- rick santorum, thank you. >> thank you. jenna: interesting, i'm getting word that the u.s. navy has rescued another group of distressed iranian mariners. we're going to have more on that in a moment. jon: twice in a few days. jenna: to be sure, yes. in the meantime i want to tell you about this, china calling president obama's plan to expand the u.s. military presence in asia as a miscalculation. but it comes as the facility is accusing chinese ships of

intruding into their waters. it happened in a disputed area, where a key trade route where ships carry billions of dollars of goods every year. jennifer griffin is live at the pentagon with more. jennifer, we can't forget that we do have a war going on in afghanistan, so while we ask these questions we want to remember that. we are drawing things down in the middle east but what about asia, what's happening there? >> reporter: well, today, the philippine foreign ministry protested on intrusion into their waters on december 11th and 12th by chinese warship, they said that the philippine ministry says that those warships came close to the escada shoal, that is an area. -- there are two disputed island chains in the south island sea. china, of course, claims all of the south china sea, saying that historically it was theirs, but that is in dispute with japan, as well as with the philippines. this is significant, because what we're seeing is we're seeing increased tensions in that south china sea area,

and the reason the u.s. should care about that is that there are an estimated 213 billion barrels of untap ped oil reserves in those -- under those seas, so that's why this is a high stakes game and that's why the u.s. navy, as we've reported in recent days, is starting to project a stronger presence in the south china sea, because of these disputes and because of the importance in terms of oil reserves and china trying to sort of gobble up these areas, jenna. jenna: interesting to note that. you walk through the halls of the pentagon every day. is there a concern we're shifting too quickly away from the middle east to kwraeurb? >> it's official, our -- our chief at the pentagon asked admiral jonathan greener that this morning and his response was the strait of hormuz off of iran keeps him up at night, so on the one hand, there's a lot of focus, you heard last week president obama talking about the strategy and how

the strategy is going to shift from the middle east to asia, the focus is going to be on asia and the navy and air force out in asia, but nobody in the pentagon is forgetting that the strait of hormuz is very tense right now. jenna: speaking of the strait of hormuz or that area, here we have the news item crossing as we began this conversation about the u.s. navy rescuing more iranian sailors. do you have more details about why they needed to be rescued? >> well, this is the second time in days that the u.s. navy has come to the rescue of iranian fishermen. in this particular case, in the last few hours, these iranians, there were six on board a d ofpt w about 50 miles off the coast of iraq and the u.s.s. monteroy, a cutter, answered their distress call, came to their rescue. those iranians are on board the u.s.s. montemoy, one is being treated for burns, they had trouble with their engine and it was the navy

that came to the rescue. remember a few days ago the u.s.s. stennis rescued 15 other iranians who had been held by pirates for months. so it's really interesting, with all the tensions and the war of words in the persian gulf and strait of hormuz right now, the u.s. navy has carried out two separate humanitarian operations to rescue these iranian fishermen. jenna: well put and they have an american iran as that they have just sentenced to death. we're going to be talking about what's going on in iran, coming up, with ambassador bolton. jennifer, thank you very much for that. jon: meanwhile, president obama's chief of staff, stepping down, after just a year on the job. what's that all about? and who's his replacement? what does it mean for the president as he gears up for reelection? we'll take a look at the impact of a big shakeup at the white house, next. jenna: plus people in alaska know how to handle snow, so when they're overwhelmed, jon, you know it's bad. jon: really bad. jenna: we're going to show

you how much of the white stuff they're dealing with today. in the poll necessary new hampshire right now, rick is at the web wall, taking questions today. rick: we're all about politics, with the primary today in new hampshire. coverage begins tonight, 6:00 eastern time with bret and megyn, live in new hampshire. i'll see you online starting at 7:30 with a great wrapup of everything that's going on. and right now we're asking you to go to the america's asking portion of the "happening now" page at fox news.cole and let us know your questions about the primary process. maybe your questions are about the primary tonight, maybe you're looking down a line to south carolina to florida. we have a great panel. some real political experts who will answer your questions. so post them now. we'll have more of "happening now" after a brief break. don't go away. about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning...

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jon: a big shakeup underway at the white house, president obama's chief of staff is stepping down. bill daley, former executive at j.p. morgan chase, held the post for just one year

because of his wall street ties, daley was seen by many as moderate democrats who could improve white house connections with the business community. chief white house correspondent ed henry joins us now. so police replacement, jack liu, what can we expect from him? >> it's interesting, you mentioned bill daley having tie toss wall street, the president made a big deal about that a year ago this, week, in fact, when bill daley was named white house chief of staff, he was somebody who knew how to create jobs, could work with republicans on business issues, there was a great outreach from bill daley and this white house once he came aboard a year ago to the u.s. chamber of commerce and other business groups, for example. the president didn't talk about that yesterday because jack liu is seen as more liberal han bill daley, he's been the president's white house budgets chief but he also worked on capitol hill years ago and the president touted that yesterday. take a listen: >> ever since he began his

career in public service as a top aide to tip o'neill jack has fought for an america where hard work and responsibility pay off. a place where everybody gets a fair shot. >> reporter: now, the president did not mention there, though, that jack lew, the incoming white house chief of staff, also worked at citigroup as a hedge fund executive. perhaps because that does not quite fit the narrative the president has been pushing in recent weeks and months about standing up for the middle class, getting tough on wall street, jon. jon: yeah, so what does this mean for how the president is trying to frame his reelection campaign? >> reporter: look, the white house chief of staff is not running the campaign, but has a vast amount of power over the president's schedule, what issues they're going to focus on, and the assumption in democratic circles had been that if bill daley was staying on as chief of staff for another year as many expected, it would be a much more centrist, probusiness, reach out, try to work the middle. jack lew is seen as somebody who doesn't have that kind of background.

so i would anticipate that we're going to see a lot more of the rhetoric we've heard from the president in recent weeks, that speech in kansas where astalking about a fair shake for the middle class and all last week when he was touting his recess appointment of richard kordrey, the new consumer protection chief and again, that was all about i'm standing up for the middle class, taking on wall street, this is a signal that the president is going that way this year, jon. jon: even a chief of staff is a brutally tough job, a one-year stay is abnormallally short. >> very brief. the president now in the span of three years has essentially had four chiefs of staff here. we should be fair and say that pete rouse was only on the job as interim chief of staff after rahm emanuel left but nonetheless was in that job so he's had three or four if you include emanuel, rouse, daley and now jack lew. that's a big turnover, even in a back breaking job. jenna: a meeting between two of the most notorious

dictators in the world is looking like a full-on tour of the tyrants and why their jokes are falling on deaf ears. we have brand new video out of syria as well, the violence seems to get worse by the day. what's being done to stop it? a live report, coming up. [ male announcer ] drinking a smoothie with no vegetable nutrition? ♪ [ gong ]

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jon: new video crosser our international desk as bloody crackdown continues in syria. take a look. it's amateur video, hard to get out of syria but it shows troops firing on protestors as tanks roam the city of homs, the attack comes as arab league

monitors tour the city checking on whether bashar al assad is making good on his promise to stop this crackdown. activists say he clearly is not and that some 450 people have died since monitors began their work back in december. also, pakistan, reeling from its first major bomb attack of the year, at least 29 people are killed, even more wounded, at a fueling station near the afghan border. you can see these cars completely gutted by the force of the blast. the targets, apparently members of a progovernment militia who are filling up their vehicles at the time. so far, no group has claimed responsibility. jenna: a thing called the tora of tyrants, mahmoud ahmadinejad and hugo chavez making an appearance joking about iran's nuclear program and u.s. anger, the pair head to go nicaragua right now, as we understand it, a reinauguration of daniel ortega as president there.

there's nothing funny about iran, nuke tests, missile plants, new threats in the last weeks the former ambassador john bolton joins us now. let's start with what's happening with ahmadinejad and hugo char vez and them going to support daniel ortega. what kind of threat are these partnerships we're seeing develop? >> this is a way for ama ahmadinejad to break loose of any sanctions composed on iran. venezuela has two important aspect, number one, the second largest deposits of uranium in the world, good for a nuclear weapons program, two, iran has what may be its largest embassy in the world in caracas to engage in money laundering to help it avoid sanctions, so the more countries that participate in aiding iran break through the sanctions obviously the less effective they are. jenna: taking a look at the first ten days of the year, an interesting first ten days and of course we had this tour. let's start off with the

beginning, the sanctions by the u.s. government, the american ships rescues some iranians from pirates, now we learned of another rescue today, and you have iran saying they're going to execute an american man that they have in prison. is that the first -- that's the first ten days of the gear. what will the next ten months look like? >> i think it's a very dangerous period. i think iran is growing close to having nuclear weapons capability. secretary of defense panetta said it would be within a year. i think it could be before that. that highlights the decision israel is going to have to make, whether they attack iran's nuclear weapons program. as a -- as they have in the past attacked other programs in states hostile to israel. jenna: why did israel turn? >> i think the united states should use preemptive force to get iran from having weapons but i don't see any chance of that happening in the obama administration, so that's why the pressure turns to israel if anybody is going to do it. jenna: let's take a look at that time frame. you said you might see a

nuclear weapon develop before the end of the year, as leon panetta says it could take a year. we have the estimates all over the place. yesterday we talked to imwalsh of mit, security expert, he says he doesn't think they'll have weapons before the election. >> could i make the point? suppose you're wrong on that, not you, but suppose professor walsh is wrong, then if somebody attacks you could get a nuclear response. that's why finely calibrating it's 11 months and two weeks before iran gets nuclear weapons i think is a big mistake. jenna: should we just assume in developing foreign policy that they do have one now and operate -- is that actually a safer, more productive way to develop our international policy, rather than the hypothetical that they're going to get one and continue this conversation? >> i think we should look at their efforts for 20 years, we should look at their statements of what they want to do to israel and the aupbsd we should conclude that maybe they actually mean what they say. and given the other recent announcement that they've begun enrichment at the deeply buried facility, one

that may be impossible for israel alone to destroy, and the risk that they're doing that in other hardened, buried facilities we don't know about, every day that goes by means that the military option gets less and less likely. so when even if you look at sanctions, if you don't have a military option to back it up, the sanctions aren't going to be effective either. jenna: no question here, you worked at the bush administration, you've obviously seen how the obama administration has operated thus far when it comes to iran. what do you think is the obstacle to a more aggressive stance with iran? obviously you were part of an administration that also didn't act as aggressively a stance as you would like against this country. >> i think this is the weakest administration since jimmy carter. >> jenna: well, bush didn't take an aggress ef stance. >> that's not a complyment of the bush administration, obviously, but in the past three-month, iran has made more progress and it doesn't stop with iran. if they get nuclear weapons,

saudi arabia, egypt, turkey and others could as well. you could have a nuclear middle east with half a dozen nuclear states. jenna: something we don't want. >> sure. jenna: thank you, as always. we'll continue this conversation. jon: scary thought there. extreme winter weather hitting alaska right now. take a look at this. folks in one town are dealing with record snowfall over the last few weeks. and it is not over yet. breaking details on that, coming up. also, as voters head to the polls in new hampshire, we want to hear from you. america is asking, and our panel will have the answers. what do you want to know about the republican primary? it's not too late to get your questions in on our chat line. log on to foxnews.com, click on the america's asking tab. we are your election headquarters. sweetie i think you need a little extra fiber in your diet. carol. fiber makes me sad. oh common. and how can you talk to me about fiber while you are eating a candy bar? you enjoy that. i am. [ male announcer ] fiber beyond recognition.

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jon: this is the acqui sixes room at the most powerful name in news where we bring in hundreds of satellite feeds from all over the country, all over the world. take a look at remote 230, all eyes on new hampshire, except maybe rick perry's. he is in fort mill, south carolina right now, doing a campaign event. he's basically skipping new hampshire, banking on good result necessary south carolina. we'll keep an eye on it. on remote 245, manchester, new hampshire, that's the polling place, also known as a high school auditorium, voters, a fairly steady stream, casting their vote in the primary, the first in the nation.

pretty good weather on remote 294 in new hampshire, looks like freezing rain and snow over manchester but that's all gone. cheer skies now. janice will be along later with your foxcast. jenna. jenna: time for town hall usa. america is asking about new hampshire and the election overall. voting is underway in the first primary. path caddell is a fox news contributor, here to answer your questions, alice stewart is a republican strategist who's worked on campaigns for michele bachmann and mike huckabee, and senior political reporter for the nassau telegraph that's endorsed mitt romney. kevin, i have a comment from karen, she says she's going to the polls today, she's a resident, supporting jon huntsman and she says everybody in south carolina has to take a look at the. kevin, do you think huntsman might be the surprise here of this primary? >> he really could be. jon huntsman seems to be surging a bit in the polls, his message about a trust

decifit and appealing to a bipartisan spirit, there's the guy who's been an ambassador to ronald reagan and barack obama. you can't get more inclusive than that. and that's a message that is resonating with independent voters. john mccain's endorsement of mitt romney certainly blunt that is somewhat but huntsman is trying to push through it and could get a surprisingly strong third place finish here today. jenna: pat, what do you make of jon huntsman's move in new hampshire? >> he has invested a tremendous amount there, and i think that, you know, his message fundamentally goes to much of what the country is concerned on. i think the question for huntsman is whether he can go anywhere distant in terms of republicans. his vote if you look at the polls is very heavily democrat and democratic and independent, and a lot of his voters intend to vote for president obama, anyway. so how much staying room he has in the more restrictive republican primaries, we'll wait and see, but i expect him to finish at least a

strong third tonight. jenna: alice, as someone who has worked for a few different campaigns, one of our viewers, thomas, wants to know why so much weight in new hampshire, what does it tell us about the general election going forward? >> it's important, because not only republican primary voters are voting, but independents can vote. there is no real contest on the democratic side. and, therefore, we'll see how a lot of voters who are interested. and by the way, one of the points, it will be interesting to see exactly how big the turnout. turnout in iowa was very low relative to what it should have been. let's see what it does in new hampshire. new hampshire is a swing state, even though it has four electoral votes, it's a swing state and we'll get a read on how the independents are going and basically how strong the frontrunners are with them. jen alice, is that what you're looking at in new hampshire, about where independents are thinking as we move towards november? >> no doubt, ind ends are going to say a -- independents are going to

say a lot in this election in new hampshire. they made the difference for john mccain in 2008 winning over mitt romney and that's the vote for watch for. what we're seeing more than anything else, there's more than one road to the nomination in the gop primary,is -- it's not strictly going from iowa to new hampshire to south carolina to florida. candidates have to be strategic, they have to choose which states are more in views with their values and huntsman made a smart play by putting business resources in new hampshire but the key is making sure he has the resores and ground game after new hampshire. but any one of these candidates will do a much better job than the president of the united states and the occupant of the white house because they will restore confidence in the american economy, they will do more to create jobs, they will certainly do their best to repeal omabacare and that's what we need in this country, someone who will go in there and create jobs and restore confidence. jenna: spoken like a true gop strategist, which you are. kevin, what about the turnout? alice and pat, let's talk about the independent, what

does turnout really look like? sometimes when you're not attached to one party or the other, maybe you don't make it to the primaries. so what does it look like today? >> that's true. secretary of state bill gardner, who is really the electricals guru here in new hampshire, predicts that 250,000 will vote in the republican pry mere, and 75,000 largely will vote for barack obama, who doesn't have any major challenges in the democratic race. that's slightly better on the republican side than 2008, but of course, we had an aggressive primary in 2008 between hillary clinton and barack obama on the democratic side. so we expected a little hire turnout than we're getting this time, and i think it is because there's a lot -- there's this endless searching. i was at the polls today and people going into the polls saying they were still undecided. mitt romney's vote is solid, dr. ron paul's vote, the texas congressman, former libertarian, his vote is very strong. the rest of the vote is

completely and totally up to grabs, peep looking -- people log for a consensus conservative, someone who they want to take on mitt romney, beat mitt romney and then defeat barack obama. there's no -- there's total undecision in new hampshire about who that person is. i'm not sure goer going to settle that tonight. i think it will be up to north carolina to do the define. brad: what i think is interesting, if the turnout is that low and given the fact that there's not a democratic campaign as there was last time when a lot of independents voted, if this turnout, given that "voters have such antipatty towards obama as democrats had about president bush, if this turnout is only marginally bigger or about the same as it was in iowa, it is telling us something about how dissatisfied the republican electorate with the field in general. it is the dog that isn't barking. and that's the number i'm going to be looking at tonight. jenna: it will be interesting to watch. pat, i know you're going to be watching along with us all on the news side.

pat, kevin, alice, thank you very much. we'll be watching this throughout the day with all of you. thank you. >> thank you jenna. jon: politics is in the air in new hampshire, as voters head to the polls today. but what kind of weather can the rest of us expect? janice dean joins us with the latest. j.d. >> reporter: you can't blame the weather lady, okay? >> jon: wouldn't think of it >> reporter: i know you wouldn't, jon scott,ure always nice to me! take a look at these temperatures, 10-15 degrees above where you should be. absolutely no reason not to get your vote on today. temperatures in the 40s in most places and close to 40 as you head further north towards the state. the current temperatures in the 30s for the most part and it's a little chilly with the wind chill but again, it's only 11:00, and this is nothing for this time of year, so just make sure you get out there, no storms in the forecast to tell you about, not even much on the radar here. a little bit of, you know, some freezing rain and or sleet in upstate new york, but generally, sunny skies

for new hampshire. now, one place that's getting a lot on the radar is texas, across the gulf coast states, where we could actually see the potential for severe weather today. look at this, how interesting this is. they got 10 inches, over 1 inches in midland, texas just yesterday, close to 19 for their seasonal average. 19 inches of snow. and look at this comparatively speaking to places across the northeast in new england, only 5 1/2 inches for buffalo, new york, that's typically a snowbelt, new york city, close to 2 inches, boston, 1 inch. a really topsy turvy weather pattern, places in texas seeing more snow than spots across the northeast. we are talking about severe weather, a tornado was south of the houston, texas area, the potential again across the gulf coast, certainly large hail, damaging winds and isolated tornado tornadoes. we'll keep an eye on it. if you live in new hampshire, rock that vote today jon scott! jon: they finally got

moisture in texas. >> reporter: you always have the silver lining. a little halo around you! >> jon: thank you, janice dean. jenna: speaking of weather, if you hear that a lot, you think it's snowing in alaska, not a big deal, right? there's snow. jon: they're used to it. jenna: this time in one place it is a very big deal and rick you have more on some of the incredible images coming out of the that part of the country. >> reporter: jenna, you think about winter time in alaska, you think about snow. and the state is prepared for snow. just not this much. let me show you the video out of a corner, cor cordova in alaska. they've had more than 18 feet of snow in the last couple of weeks. unbelievable. the alaska national guard has been deployed, their orders are to big out -- dig out businesses first, then homes. here's what they're up against. >> this was leaking inside, right now, and if we wait too much longer, you know, a lot of businesses have already, you know, started to cave in.

shoveling, it's not much fun anymore. because i don't like ladder, i'm shoveling out the window and we're trying to get this heavy load off before the rained next snow. >> reporter: that gentleman knows what he's talking about, as if 18 feet isn't enough, another 4-10 inches is expected soon. that's like a dusting compared to what folks in cordova had been dealing with. check out these pictures, this is the high school we're going to show you, and the snow literally piled up to the roof. look at that! and here is a home in cordova, people facing roof collapses, even some of them trapped in their homes because their doors are literally covered with snow and ice. it's a dangerous situation, the heavy equipment is there, they've got those front end loader, they've got ice cutters as well. it's trickery. we'll keep you posted. jenna: we won't roll our eyes when we say snow in alaska. >> reporter don't do it. jenna: interesting images out of alaska. in the meantime n. arkansas,

a man taken hostage and -- taking hostages and threatening to use one of them as a human bomb. a full reority in the next hour with details of this. >> a high schooler leaves for a -- a woman leaves for a jog and never returns. everyone is hoping for her safe return. we have a live report, next. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

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over the last three y we've put nearly 100 million dollars into american education. that's thousands of kids learning to love ience. ♪ isn't that cool? and that's pretty cool. ♪ jon: a fox news alert now. police in montana, looking for a missing high school math teacher who vanished after going for a run near her home. >> reporter: jon, you've got a large chunk of this town coming together, working with law enforcement to try to find this woman, as you said a. beloved math teacher in the town of sidney, montana. sherry arnold went for one of her usual early morning runs this past saturday, she didn't come home, and aside from finding one of her jogging shoes, nothing has turned up that might help explain what happened to her. she's the assistant police chief: >> that shoe was the last

thing we have found that is her possession. everything is accounted for, so i guess that we just feel that there is something drastically either happened to her or something to that effect why she wouldn't have made contact back. >> reporter: this is a woman who has taught in the local school system for 18 years, and the community clearly wants to help find her. with hundreds of people in what's a pretty sphael town volunteer to go help out with the search, in fact -- search, in fact so many came out to help they had to turn people away because lars enforcement was concerned it couldn't organize everyone effectively. there is a tipline if you have information on what might have happened to sherry arnold. call 406-433-4027. her husband and their five children want this woman to come back home safely. back to you. jon: it seems like the whole community does, rick. thank you very much. jenna: back to politics now. what is the right

combination for charm and stature in a commander in chief? how big a role does charisma really play in a presidential election? if history is any indicator, it may surprise you. we're going to discuss that, charisma, coming up next. but first, how a daughter and his -- a doctor and his daughter survived arrest a plane runs out of gas mid air over the atlantic ocean. a worst nightmare for so many of us. but look, they sur vised. -- they survived. your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

phillip from baby kiss to go beer summit the, presidents and presidential candidates have been trying show voters their true color phos years. when talking about the current field, many say mitt romney is the most electable. a term that's pretty tough to define.

at one point, does charisma pack foro factor into this election and voters' mind-sets and does it really matter? let's talk about it with steven of the brookings institution and former white house adviser to president gerald ford and jimmy carter. did either of those presidents have charisma? >> to their families, they did. and their staffs. that's right. but truthfully, jon, we talked a lot about charisma. it's awfully nice to have it, you know. but going back, history of 50 years, since john kennedy, you really only find four presidents we've elected with charisma: jack kennedy, ronald reagan, bill clinton, barack obama. so not many people are talking about the sizzle of a dick nixon or a jimmy carter, or george h. w. bush could sky dive at 80 years old and nobody accused him

of having charisma. so it doesn't really connect that much with the voters. it's not exactly what the voters are looking forbes although i'm sure if it comes along they'd like to see it. jon: we identify charisma with leadership so often and there have been charismatic leaders -- i suppose hitler was probably charismatic. charismatic leaders can really get an awful lot done but we don't necessarily want awfully our leaders to be charismatic. >> there are times that call for that but there are times in knowing how to deal with congress, how to run the executive branch. it's not all making speeches from the oval office. no, there's an awful lot that we expect our leader to do. that doesn't really relate to charisma. we turn the government over to somebody for four years, and we want it to work, and we want it to work as well

as possible. and that's not necessarily something that relates, except maybe occasionally as a side bar to charisma. sure, there are moments when we expect a president to rise to the occasion. i don't think a lot of people really thought that george w. bush had charisma, but he rose to the occasion at 9/11. so it's nice to have a stockpile of charisma that you can call on, i guess. jon: but you included president obama as among those in the last 50 years who do have charisma. >> yeah, i was thinking, jon, mostly in terms of campaigning, because that's how he start -- how you started the conversation. and remember the excitement of obama in the campaign. now, many people will argue that his greatest speeches were when he was running for office, not when he got there. so that's what i was referring to in terms of charisma. that is did it make the candidate any more electable. jon: but very quickly, if

you wind up with a car iz mattic president obama versus a republican challenger who is not so charismatic, does he automatically have the advantage? >> oh, no. when an incumbent runs, it's a what have you done for me lately, it's a referendum, and that's really what it's recall about -- all b we know about his charisma. we want to know about what the unemployment record looks likes. jon: stephen hess from the brookings institution, fascinating. thank you. >> you're welcome. jenna: our spirits are well and alive in the united states and that may actually be a bad thing. we have the latest on binge drinking and the facts may absolutely shock you. >> the primary voting is in full swing in new hampshire. why many voters are holding out on a decision until the very last moment. my name is ro, i'm forty eight years-old, i love to swim, and i love to walk outside. osteo bi-fl has really helped my kne. osteo bi-flex has been incredible for me,

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the assignment desk. we are at the site of the primary. eight hours to go for new hampshire residents to vote in the republican primary. our coverage begins in earnest 6:00pm. online foxnews.com i'll see you at 7:30pm. lots of coverage everywhere you go and the second hour of "happening now" starts right now. jenna: anything is game until then, though. we have a few hours and no one knows the results. new hampshire voters are kao*sing theicasting their ballots. we are glad you are with us, i'm jenna lee it's a big day. jon: the polls are open for another eight hours there and right now most of the candidates are crisscrossing the state, furiously making a final push to get out the vote. mitt romney is hoping to win by a wide margin after his razor-thin victory in iowa. while the rest want a strong showing to prove that they are still viable in this race.

our chief political correspondent carl cameron is live at a polling station in manchester new hampshire. carl, i guess mitt romney made a stop by ward one. >> reporter: this is the heart of downtown manchester, one of the wards, one of the precincts known for having the highest turn out. many of the candidates will come here before the day is out. mitt romney came a little while ago and was absolutely mobbed. there were supporters, but it was mostly a mob of media. at some points it was four, five cameras and reporters thick. i had a chance briefly to stop him in this month massive throng. we asked him how he felt about the race and specifically whether or not some of his rivals' inability to get on the ballot in other states would give mitt romney an advantage going forward. >> ballot access, how are you positioned going forward compared to others? >> i think, well we've worked very hard. we started off this campaign,

organized a real effective effort, and i think we show that we are going on the ballots around the country. and i think get good support about the country. i have to get 1150 delegates, this is a big statement in new hampshire, as you see exciting people behind me talking about winning this one. hopefully that kind of spirit carries onto south carolina next. >> reporter: newt gingrich is one of those candidates who has had trouble getting on the bath hrol in other case. he had no trouble drawing a massive crowd himself at ward one in manchester, which is the state's largest city. he said it was bizarre to see so many reporters. and it was more fun in new orleans. newt gingrich said perhaps mitt romney's line about liking to fire people was taken out of context yesterday. mr. grinning rich was part of the fray that attacked mr. romney, particularly for his work at bain capital. gingrich was quick to also say though yesterday's comments was not out of context it's not going to stop barack obama from attacking mitt romney and truth is it's not going to stop a lot

of newt gingrich's supporters foray tacking mitt romney for his days at bain capital. a super pack supporting gingrich is releasing a lengthy video detailing it with harsh criticisms. within the next hour we will hear from ron paul and hunts r*r. they are yelling their candidates names but it's almost as if you hear them say, taste great, less filling, american presidential politics at its loudest. jon: i'm surprised you still have a voice, frankly. i guess it's really for second-place. what are they talking about. >> reporter: mitt romney had such a prohibitive lead here it was presumed he was going to win, the question was by how much. the battle is for second-place. ron paul was steady and comfortably in second-place but his numbers have been very volatile in the past few days.

he has a big organization, this is a primary, not a caucus, an organization is not as important here, with undie sideds and independents as large as they were this morning ron paul could shift and benefit jon huntsman. he's the guy getting credit for a surge, he's the candidate who desperately needs to have a win here. he's campaigned here heard than anybody else and he's bet it all on new hampshire. without a very, very strong showing and probably second his days on the campaign may be limited. there is rick santorum, he came within eight votes in iowa. they gave him a boost of attention here in new hampshire. his crowds exploded here and he's been trying to translate into votes in the ballot boxes. rick santorum may not be able to pull off second but could surge to third, and either way the bump that he got out of iowa has shown itself in new hampshire, which means he goes into south carolina with gas in his tank as well. so, as we look forward, south carolina may emerge a

conservative alternative to mitt romney, and then we'll see the candidates who want to stay in the race saying, well i'm going to florida to fight whoever the frontrunner is there. this is probably going to be a very long nominating ballot process, and the ballots in manchester and across new hampshire will finally have the tallies later this evening on the first primary itself, jon. jon: not going to be decided quickly, carl cameron, thanks. jenna: south carolina, florida? we can't even get through new hampshire. bret baier is the anchor of special report joining us from the ground there. last week you were in iowa, now you're in new hampshire. a broad question for someone who has obviously been on the ground in both of these places. what really strikes you as something different when you're in new hampshire versus iowa. is there a different feeling, something that is striking you that you're really paying attention to in new hampshire that is telling you about the general election ahead? >> reporter: it is a different feeling, much different place, a different focus. also, remember, that th the

electorate is different. 83% in iowa were very conservative. here it's roughly 55%. independenting play a much bigger role here. also the evangelical vote and the christian conservatives in iowa, huge factor. here pretty small about 21%. so it's a different electorate and a different feeling completely. jenna: you talk about the independents and the indecision going into the polls today. we are getting word out of new hampshire that a lot of folks haven't made up their mind yet and they only have a few hours to go. i wonder if that is specific to the g.o.p., people feeling undecided about the republican candidates or undecided in general about politics in this country right now, what do you think. >> reporter: i think it's a mix. here in new hampshire there is a long tradition of deciding late, deciding up until the last day. the recent polls over the past couple of days have said up to 43% are either undecided or

could switch their vote. that is a big number. but new hampshire is live free or die, a very independent streak in the mindset here and people want to see candidates. one fifth of the people polled, the ones who will go out to the polls today will have seen at least one candidate event here in new hampshire. that is a lot of folks. one thing about polls, though, jenna, remember, back in 2008 when barack obama came in here after a win in iowa, had a huge lead according to the polls, and then hillary rodham clinton one by 2% average points. the pollsters back then were apoplectic, because they were dead wrong. they couldn't figure out what went wrong. new hampshire likes to throw a curveball every once in a while. i'm not saying it's going to happen tonight, but it could. jenna: again it gives more reason to watch our coverage as well as we continue to watch this race. a quick question from a viewer that i thought was really interesting.

this viewer's name is mark, he was on twitter. should i be watching the fourth or fifth candidate coming out of new hampshire into south carolina. he said rick perry, newt gingrich is that really the person i should watch, because if they didn't finish in the top in iowa and h-pl ham maybe they will get the momentum going into the general election. what do you think about that? >> reporter: here in new hampshire that is a pretty good question. because if you assume that the polls are right and mitt romney wins, perhaps jon huntsman or ron paul come in second, there you see the top three and that is not your traditional conservative base that a lot of these other candidates are going off, and so, yes, four and five, you know, they always say there's three tickets out, but here there will be a battle in south carolina on the 21st. and again we have that debate coming up on the 16th down in myrtle beach. there will be this effort to find the anti-romney if there is one still out there who can compete down the road.

jenna: it will be interesting to watch. we'll be watching along with you. i know you've got a busy day ahead and special coverage tonight. thank you for joining us early on as it is. 6:00pm eastern time. a special new hampshire primary coverage. hannity at 11:00, greta at midnight. you do not want to change the channel all night long starting now. jon: let's hope it's not a 3:00am determination like it was in iowa. jenna: shouldn't be but you never know. jon: syria's president refuses to accept down. president bashar al-assad vows to use a iron hand against his opponents saying he has the support of his people, this despite a ten-month deadly uprising against him. rina nina ian is following this. >> reporter: in a speech in june he promised a bunch of reforms that pretty much didn't happen. in today's speech he said he will crush any opposition and

the opposition he called were terrorists with quote, an iron fist. the speech today was delivered at damascus, university. again we heard more of the sweet-talk about promises of reform, that things will change in their country, even talks about a possible referendum on the constitution. he also blamed the four media outlets for working against syria and in his words, quote, pushing the country to collapse. that claim doesn't really add up because foreign journalists are not allowed inside the country. meanwhile the violence and the bloodshed continues. the opposition is continued to be determined to bring down 40 years of assad family rule in syria. arab league monitors have been sent in to monitor and assess the situation. they were attacked throughout various towns in syria. the arab league says they will continue their mission there despite 11 people being slightly injured in various attacks. assad has downplayed the role of the arab league there saying over the past six decades the arab league has done nothing to

protect the arab people. meanwhile here in jerusalem the israeli military is preparing for a possible situation where syrian refugees likely from assad's sect might try to cross over the syria israeli border in the event that the syrian government topples. that's something they are discussing today. jon: bashar al-assad has the support of the iranians through all of this. >> reporter: that's right. jon: thank you. jenna: a dramatic sea rescue as a single engine plane with two americans on board splashess into the atlantic several miles from any land. we'll show you more of the video coming up. an american army veteran charged with trying to help an overseas terror group linked to al-qaida. we'll bring you more on that as well. rick is at the web call. what do you have for us. >> reporter: politics and more

politics. tonight starting at 7:30 i'll be online, a chance for you to kh-t and get live analysis as live results from new hampshire come in. scroll down here to the poll today, if you were voting in the new hampshire primary, who would you khoet for? vote for? gains this is unscientific. a preview of what could be a surprisingly good night for rick perry, at least among our viewers. go to the "happening now" now home page and let us know what you think. we'll have more of "happening now" after a quick break. don't go away. ♪ baby, baby, come along ♪ baby, baby, come along with me ♪ [ air horn blows ] ♪ i love you and i need you ♪ just to hug and squeeze you ♪ baby, why can't you see? [ female announcer ] the space of a small suv. the fuel efficiency of a prius. ♪ well, baby, can't you see the all-new prius v from toyota. ♪ come along with me

jon: right now a florida man and his daughter are counting their blessings after safely crash landing their light plane in -pt atlantiin the ocean near the bahamas. >> reporter: they were flying in a single engine plane. take a look at the video here that we've just got even in. this is dr. richard m

mcglauphin and his daughter. the plane just stopped. the plane was in midair, the engine stops. the turns out the plane lost oil pressure and that's what led to the pest you are shut down. he knew what to do, he guided the plane for a few miles and brought it down. he bee employed the plane's pa parachute that softened the landing a bit. when you hit the water at 25 miles per hour that is a pretty hard landing there. the two were able to make it out of the aircraft, onto a wing and into this raft as you can see and that's when the coast guard showed up. they came in their helicopter and rescued the two. pretty good story, right as far as their volunteer work they got on a commercial flight to haiti yesterday morning. no need to let a little water landing get in the way of doing volunteer work in haiti. pretty impressive. jon: good for them this lots of ways. thanks. jenna: a suspected case of an

american linked to terrorism. this time, the accused is a former member of the u.s. army. authorities say craig baxsum turned to islam and was trying to join a group. catherine herridge has more on this. >> reporter: this the allegations you true this is another example of the new generation of digital jihaddists. they get radicalized on the internet without any direct contact with a foreign terrorist organization. this picture we have of the 24-year-old comes from a maryland high school yearbook. he's accused of traveling to join al sha abaab. he understood how ip addresses could be used to track him by the government. he was careful to avoid al shabaab web sites.

he took the computer to his father's porch and hit it with a blunt object. he threw the remains in the dumpster. they have included american citizens in the past including omar hadani. this is a guy who does videos fors shaab. and for helping the terrorist group he was indicted by the fed. when it comes to al-qaida 2.0 there are two types of plots, the first type targets inside the u.s. often the military. there was testimony on capitol hill about the other group. >> the second category of home-grown terrorist are those that radicalize here, are equally committed to targeting our military, but travel overseas to participate in the global gentleman had. >> reporter: for some context since 9/11 at least 33 domestic plots targeting the military and 70% of those cases since the fort hood massacre in 2009.

jenna: thank you. jon: joran van der sloot has 24 hours left to make a critical decision before he goes on trial in peru. what he decides could make a huge difference as he faces a heavy sentence on murder charges. also, mitt romney facing fire over his role in the private sector. are his rivals really attacking free enterprise or is this race just getting nasty? in the beginning your mascara may be voluminous but will it last 'til the end. it will is it's new lashblast 24hr with anti smudge power. [ male announcer ] through dining dancing drama break ups and make ups. the anti smudge formula holds on. who knew lashes this big and beautiful could last this long. [ male announcer ] new lashblast 24hr from covergirl. [ sofia ] don't you wish all endings could be this easy breezy beautiful.

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information in a few crime stories we're keeping an eye on for you here in the newsroom. we'll go out to peru sirs. joran van der sloot is due in court tomorrow, this after requesting more time to decide on a plea in the murder ever a young peruvian murder. you saw the appearance just last

week on the green. the prime suspect in the disappearance of american natalee holloway in aruba. the parents of drum major robert champion speaking out. florida a & m band members told them he was beaten viciously during a hazing ritual because he was gay. these what they are saying. they are ruling his death a homicide. in texas phreug georgia midst leader warren jeff losing his prison phone privileges for 90 days. why? this is punishment for making calls on speakerphones. jeffs is serving a life sentence plus 20 years for sexually assaulting two of his underage bride's. jon: well mitt romney is coming under attack by his republican rivals. they are criticizing the former massachusetts governor's tenure at bain capital, the private equity firm he ran until the 1990s. is it fairest specially in the way they are using some of his comments? joining us live, former new

hampshire governor john senunu, also the former white house chief of staff under george h.w. bush. he is endorsing mitt romney. governor senunu what do you think about the treatment is getting at the hands of his fellow republicans? >> reporter: well the issue isn't fair, it's how dumb can your opponents be? for them to be anti-free enterprise, anti-the heart and soul of the republican party is just ridiculous. and i -- if i can give you a personal observation, i can't imagine anyone also not sobriety that is financing this super pack that is going to do this. the rumor is mr. addelson is doing it. does he think that people don't remember when you attack them and pay for the attacks in a prim primary, especially when one ever the parties receiving that attack is a party he likes to go to to finance his expansions?

there is no common-sense in this process. you feel sorry for people that aren't that bright. jon: mitt romney said he expetitioned it from the obama campaign but not from his fellow republicans. is there a danger in your view that the republican field is just weak evening itself no matter who ultimately wins this? >> no, i think what is happening, though is people are defining themselves, and this attack is defining the attackers, the ones that are attacking governor romney as not real republicans. and i think in the long run, after the governor wins the nomination, there will be a huge effort to put the party back together again. i think it will work, and there is one person in this country who will help unite the republican party, and that's president obama. there is an almost unanimous commitment to making sure that the horrible policies of the obama administration are just one-term policies. jon: let me get into that with you a little bit more. you've heard the complaint about the man you've endorsed, governor mitt romney, that yes

he's got great organization, a lot of money to spend, but he doesn't necessarily excite the republican base. what do you think about that? how do yo do you answer that? >> more important than excite is unite. i think he is capable of uniting the base. i think it is stimulated by the economic issues and clearly concerned about government getting too big, spending getting too high and taxes running out of control and regulations ruining america. and those are all the issues that are sweet spot for mitt romney when he was governor of massachusetts, and will be the sweet spot for governor romney when he wins the nomination and goes to unite the party against president obama. jon: i just wanted to ask you real quickly, because you served as chief of staff under the first president bush, i wanted to get your thoughts about the relatively sudden resignation of the chief of staff for president obama, richard daily.

>> well, you know, i actually thought mr. daly was doing a good job in trying to help president obama deal with some of the and nag nice eup antagonism that the obama administration has created in the business community. i'm a little baffled by the timing but my conclusion after having seen it is president obama wants a less business-oriented approach in the election and is deciding to restaff really just to be political from here on in. jon: it will be an interesting campaign to watch. former new hampshire governor john senunu. former chief of staff to bush xli. thank you, sir. well the mainstream media has eat even up this battle between mitt romney and the other republican candidates. it got very heated yesterday. one quote attributed to mitt romney yesterday is raising lots of eyebrows and raising questions of context. let's talk about it with a couple of our news watch panelists, jim pinkerton

contributing editor for the american conservative magazine. ellen rat tpher is choos ratner is news chief. it got all kinds of play on just about every show. cnn had it, nsnb kr-frpblgts they used the one line where mitt romney says, i like to fire people. his competitor seized on that, the media seized on that. what do you think of the coverage? >> i've got the front page of "the washington post" right here, it's the second paragraph aeu pwofr the fold as they say. i think this is a case where the media were very pleased to see that huntsman and gingrich and perry all jumped on romney, the quote there. what romney said was actually sort of republican orthodoxy. he's talking about health insurance and who doesn't want to fire their hint shaourpbs company. you get rid of them. at the same time you could tell

that he, romney knew he'd made a mistake if you watch the video, he caught himself sounding a little harsh. but he got caught in a pincer between his republican rivals and the mainstream media who were all too eager to jump on this. so it was the top story on abc news last night. jon: probably one of those phrases he'd take back if he could. ellen let's get your take from the liberal perspective. is the lifting of that one line fair? >> listen, i always think things should be said in context and i also believe that all of us who are in any kind of broadcasting or politics make mistakes, people get tired, and i have never been one to seize on one line with somebody. i just think it's a mistake and i'm not a romney person as i'm sure you know. jon: lawrence o'donnell on msnbc on his show last night he had a badge that included that one-line clip and then he said, let me see if i can get it, he said, he went on, governor

romney went on later in the day to try to provide some context. he provided the context in the first statement when he said, you know, i like being able -- if son doesn't give me a good service that i needy want to say i'm going to get somebody else to provide that service to me. he provided the context, the media didn't use it. >> it was o'donnell that stripped away the context to make this point. the by as is pretty thick. last night at a fund-raiser here in washington president obama said that campaign donors, this is the crohn recapitalists, people who brought us solyndra and all the rest are in obama's words the equivalent of the american revolutionaries, the people who won world war ii the greatest generation and the civil rights protestors of the 60s. the only place i saw that was the daly caller which is sort of a right of center bucks down here. i didn't see that anywhere in the mainstream media.

this absurd equation between millionaires and billionaires, and war heros and civil rights heros. something tells me that will fall without a trace into the lake with no ripples from the mainstream media. jon: are democrats loving watching republicans tear each other apart over this? >> yes they are loving it. listen, i think the issue here in new hampshire is romney is going to be the nominee. probably somebody is going to come in second, and that person will probably tear up governor romney as much as they possibly can in south carolina. and so i think as things move to south carolina we're going to see a lot of interparty tearing. jon: interesting times. ellen ratner, jim pinkerton, thank you both. jenna: as we look at new hampshire today, one of the questions we're asking is new hampshire second fiddle to the big show which is south carolina? why some candidates are pinning their hopes on the palmetto

state. we have that coming up. [ male announcer ] say goodbye to "ho-hum,"

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jenna: this fox news alert, new information of the u.s. rescues iranian mariners for the second time in just a few days. we had this news just as it was breaking, jennifer griffin has more details and some pictures, jennifer? >> reporter: that's right, jenna. we have received four pictures that previously have not been published from the u.s.

department of defense, pictures taken of this stunning rescue that took place at 3 a.m. about 50 miles off the coast of iraq. they were six iranians who were in distress on a cargo ship. the u.s. coast guard cutter monamoy received the distress call, they took two of the iranian mariners off of the ship, four others were in lifeboats, one of them was severely burned. their ship was taking on water. the navy and the coast guard carry with it meals, those are according to muslim tradition. they fed the iranians, and then they handed them over to the iranian coast guard. so this all comes at a time of increased tensions in the persian gulf. it's the second rescue in a matter of five days that the u.s. navy has conducted against iranians who reached out for help and you'll remember the uss stennis helped those 13 iranians

who were kept hostage by pirates just last week. jenna: viewers probably have some questions about why we help citizens of a country who are threatening our own, our own ships. my husband being a navy veteran says to me, i asked him this question, he says, this is what you do. when mariners are in distress, it's the rules of the sea. is that what you're hearing? >> reporter: definitely the laws of the sea and, you know, it's just bitterly ironic that it's at a time when the iranian official military is threatening to close the strait of hormuz, that vital waterway where so much of the world's oil passes through, saying that u.s. aircraft carriers shouldn't pass back through the strait. but remember the u.s. navy's fifth fleet is positioned in the persian gulf for a reason, to keep those straits open. and as those u.s. navy ships and cutters are out there, if they receive distress calls, they will help whoever. quite amazing that in a matter

of five days there have been two of these very serious rescues. one of the iranian mariners was quoted as saying we'd have been dead without you. that's according to the u.s. navy. jenna: you wonder what the story is inside of iran, something we can't answer. jennifer, thank you. we appreciate it. jon: iowa and new hampshire the first states to hold presidential contests, but south carolina will be the next big one. and for some of the candidates it might be their last chance to stay in the race. let's talk about it with byron york, chief political correspondent for the washington examiner and a fox news contributor. you say it says something that a lot of these new hampshire candidates, the front runners took time out to visit south carolina despite the fact that the new hampshire primary is today, byron. >> it really does. in the critical last days before the new hampshire primary, half of the republican field -- mitt romney, rick santorum and rick perry -- all took time out to go to south carolina.

now, romney's a front runner, santorum is a contender, we all know that rick perry has zero chance in new hampshire, so he went straight to south carolina from iowa. but the fact that the front runners would take time out in the days before the new hampshire primary tells you something. and that is there's not a lot of suspense about what's happening here in new hampshire. mitt romney's expected to win and win handily. and south carolina being the first in the south, the first primary in the south and the sows is the bedrock base of the republican party is going to be the big show. jon: so it's really an expectations game for mitt romney? >> well, it is. it's gotten -- the new hampshire primary has turned into two things, an expectations game for romney and a fight for second place. and as far as the expectations game is concerned, you talk to everybody, you get a different number. does he have to win 35% of the vote? that seems credible and anything bo that seems like a big win. what about 33, would that be a problem? 29 would be a terrible embarrassment.

all sorts of talk about that here in new hampshire today. second place appears to be looking good for ron paul, and then you have this really interesting thing going with jon huntsman, rick santorum and newt gingrich k not tell who's on the way up and who's on the way down. jon: and you have rick perry skipping new hampshire altogether, he is staking his candidacy on his resultses in south carolina. >> he really is. it's all -- first of all, he almost seemed like he was going to get out of the race after iowa, you know? he gave the speech on iowa caucus night, sounded like he was getting out, then he tweeted the next day that he was getting in. one thing that has worked for him is he's gotten some press coverage in south carolina, he's taken some shots at mitt romney. he said he's sure mitt romney worried about pink slips, he worried about running out of them. not being in the action in new hampshire, he still managed to stay in the conversation. jon: byron york at the washington examiner, thanks.

>> thank you, jon. jenna: a big report out from the cdc on binge drinking. why doctors are saying the problem is much worse than previously thought. 7@

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[ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. keeps you from getting soft. [ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! jenna: "happening now," an alarming new report on binge drinking just released this morning by the centers for disease control finds the problem is actually much worse than previously thought, and much bigger, by the way. the cdc says more than 38 million american adults binge drink an average of four times a month. it results, get this, in more than 80,000 preventable deaths a year. dr. manny alvarez is senior managing editor of foxnewshealth.com, a member of the a-team. what do you make of this report? >> this is huge. this is an astounding finding, very well thought out. they looked at about 500,000 people, this is a voluntary survey, and what they found is, just like you said, 38 million

americans usually drink more than eight drinks per week individually. binge drinking is defined as for women any more than five drinks for women, more than six drinks for men -- jenna: in one occasion, in one sitting. >> in one occasion. and what this is showing you is that all these people are really exposing themselves -- people tend to forget that alcohol is addictive. alcohol has social connotations, it's attached to depression and anxiety. one of the things that concerns a lot of people in the cdc is now that you have people drinking excessively all at once, you know, very frequently, these are high income people. $75,000 or above usually are the ones that drink the most. and it's setting a bad example for young people. so this is becoming a really social phenomenon that has major health consequences. jenna: just getting to those guidelines again, for women it's more than four drinks in one occasion, for men it's more than five drinks in one occasion.

>> right. jenna: how do you arrive at that? i'm just asking that because, you know, if you're out to dinner over a long period of time and maybe you have a drink beforehand, a couple glasses of wine versus taking five shots -- >> well, in the survey they were very specific at looking at the statistics and reporting, well, how often do you drink, and how often do you do it. and then they took into account many other things. and basically, what you find is that, you know, in order -- you know, you know, what this is talk about is actually not an occasion, not a party, not a weekend event. i'm talking about on a regular basis people get together or they do it individually, and they're consuming 7-8 drinks a week, that's four times a month. and that unto itself really has major health risks because you're talking about sexually transmitted disease, depression, heart disease, diabetes, complications for pregnant women, and they still don't realize that alcohol is very toxic to the unborn child. so all of this is happening. jenna: let me just ask you about the people who are doing it. >> right. jenna: they're looking at

18-34-year-olds, the bulk of folks who binge drink, but then they had this, and i thought this was interesting, those ages 65 and older who report binge drinking, they do so more often. >> absolutely. jenna: and so that's, you know, we have a lot of baby boomers who are retiring in this age range. >> absolutely. and you talk about the of 5 and older -- 65 and older, you're talking about major liver damage, liver damage that comes with kidney damage, hypertension. so these folks especially, you know, 65 and older, they're also quietly binge drinking, and this is a major problem. as you said, this is the third preventable cause of death that one can look at. and this was, you know, people thought about it, but now after the survey came out this is a major issue. jenna: it's really interesting because you think about teenagers -- >> yeah, no, no, no. it's not a college thing. it's a behind the door thing. jenna: 2 p.m. tomorrow you have a live chat. >> 2 p.m. foxnews.com we have a

live chat, so go ahead and send questions because we're going to be really dealing with a lot of health issues, including this one. jenna: all right, doc. we'll do it. thank you so much. jon? jon: new hampshire voters head to the polls as mitt romney comes under attack for comments he made. we're going to take a closer look at exactly what he said and romney's views on the economy. plus, could this be the end of the line for the folks who make twinkies and ho-hos? what the bankruptcy filing for hostess means to your sweet tooth. ♪ whee wheeeeeeeeeeeee! wheeeeeeeeeeee! whee whee wheeeeeeeeeeee-he-he-heeeeee!

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jon: new problems for one of a america's longtime favorite snack food brands. sources telling "the wall street journal" that the hostess company is preparing to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. rick has more info. >> reporter: the company famous for making twinkies, of course, they also open the wonder bread brand. hostess is getting set to file for chapter chapter 11 maybe as soon as this week. too much debt, not enough revenue. the rising price of sugar and other key ingredients is apparently playing a part in all of this. maybe the biggest problem is that this new generation of moms and dads who make their kids' school lunches don't want to stick a twinkie or chocolate cupcake in the box anymore. anyway, the company has tried restructuring before, and that didn't work out. we'll see if they can find a way out of this it this time.

otherwise that indestructible twinkie that i heard was supposed to be able to survive a nuclear attack might become a museum piece. jon: but it will always remain edible. rick folbaum, thanks. jenna: that sounds good right now. steve moore, we wanted to talk a little bit more about this story and hostess because the buzz word of the week, and that is private equity. a private equity firm actually owns this company and is trying to restructure it and keep it alive. tell us a little bit about it because this is in the political realm a big deal for mitt romney and what private equity does. >> what is this world coming to? [laughter] i mean, if private equity has any role in the economy, i think it has an important one, it's a case like this where you have a very distressed company -- jenna: iconic brand at that. >> right, absolutely. and what they're going to do is try to restructure this company so they can become profitable again. you know, i think i have a lot of confidence that it will be profitable. i mean, it is an iconic company.

but there are so many stories that mitt romney could be telling not just about bain capital, but other private equity companies that have rescued companies. a good example's eddie bauer, the coat company. that was rescued by private equity firms, and there are dozens of examples like that. jenna: we're not hearing that. >> exactly. jenna: you have all the candidates or a fair majority of them going after mitt romney saying that he likes to fire people and saying that he's the guy that destroys jobs, and this story about what private equity does and, listen, it's not all nice, you hert people's feelings -- >> of course. these are companies that oftentimes it's a case of whether the company's going to go completely bankrupt and out of business and there are no jobs or whether you have to lay off some people. but, jenna, you really are exactly right. first of all, shame on newt gingrich and shame on some of these other republican candidates, rick perry, for piling on and not understanding the important role that private equity and finance years play.

but also i'm surprised that mitt romney hasn't been more forceful in responding to these attacks because as most republicans know, these attacks that we're hearing hearing from rick perry and newt gingrich, you can belt if mitt romney is the candidate come march or april, this is exactly what barack obama is going to say. jenna: you say this could backfire on candidates -- >> i think it will. man-and-a-half. jenna:-and-a-half for taking this stance against private equity. >> if you look at a company like bain capital, think of a company like staples that employs tens of thousands of american workers. there's a company that might not exist if it wasn't for bain capital. so he has a strong case in saying i didn't destroy companies, i saved companies, i created companies. but, yes, i do believe that these attacks are so below the belt and so unsubstantiated that i think, you know, the rumor is that newt gingrich has a 30-minute ad attacking --

jenna: he does. >> -- private equity firms. if runs those ads, i do think it's going to boomerang, and i think it'll hurt him more than mitt romney. jenna: we'll see how it plays out, but interesting story in private ec by today. not necessarily the nice guys or the evil guys, this is the business world at work, so it's interesting to see that with hostess. >> and i think it's actually pro-jobs because it saves american jobs. it's a question of whether you're going to have to cut some jobs or all the jobs. jenna: good context. [laughter] let's go get a twinkie, jon, right now? jon: a little sugar rush to get through the rest of the hour. coming up, the man that steve was just mentioning, newt gingrich, sits down for a one-on-one interview. what he has to say about mitt romney, free enterprise and fan fairness. fascinating stuff coming up. [ male announcer ] drinking a smoothie with no vegetable nutrition?

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