don't you know. >> from 1969 space odyssey. bill: his impersonation is remarkable. patriots-broncos, saturday night. saints-49'ers saturday. good luck to you. >> "happening now" is right now. jenna: thank you to bill and arthel, if we start off the show with a little tim tebow reference, jon will crews on down the next two hours. i'm jenna lee. jon: we'll keep an eye on that van der sloot sentencing. we're here in the fox newsroom and "happening now", the fight is on for south carolina. jenna: not new england this weekend. have to go to south carolina to talk about politics. the pivotal primary a week from tomorrow. many gop candidates campaigning there already

covering a lot of ground in a state much bigger than new hampshire. jon: the latest "real clear politics" average in south carolina shows former massachusetts governor mitt romney leading with 29% of the vote. newt gingrich number two at 20%. rick santorum at third. jenna: not separated by much. we'll look to florida. former house speaker newt gingrich making several stops in the sunshine state today. the primary there isn't until january 31st. polling stations in some counties are already open. jon, he made many stops already whether or not he is there today. where the candidate will be all over florida, south carolina next couple weeks. jon: so hard to figure out the set link. now we believe our mike emanuel is in washington. mike, take us out there on the campaign trail. what are these republican contenders doing today? >> reporter: you mentioned early voting in florida. mitt romney made several appearances in florida. today newt gingrich is there. former speaker made a stop in miami at the well-known

versailles restaurant to reach out to cuban-american voters, a important constituency for republican hopefuls who want to win the sun is shine state. other. rick santorum did an event in rock hill, emphasizing his social conservative credentials. in an interview today with a savannah radio station texas governor rick perry had a different take on the federal agencies he would like to close. take a listen. >> three right off the bat, commerce, intear yorgs, -- interior, energy think of right off the back. >> reporter: said interior and not education which he said before. event said interior needs to be reorganized or needs to be shut down. a new arg south carolina poll shows a interesting race. jon? jon: mike, a florida poll though sounds encouraging

for republicans. sounds like at least from their standpoint the president has some work to do, right? >> reporter: we believe that florida would be a critical state this time as it has been in previous elections and the new quinnipiac florida poll suggests quite a race shaping up. if the election were held today, mitt romney has 46% support. president obama has 43% support in florida. another question was asked, whether or not president obama deserves a second term? 52% say owe does not deserve a second term to 44% saying he does deserve a second term. you better believe the president will spend plenty of time in florida between now and election day. jon? jon: mike emanuel in washington for us. mike, thank you. one republican candidate reacting to requests to tone down attacks on the party's frontrunner. newt gingrich is pulling back from statements he has made about mitt romney but still defends his right to question the former massachusetts governor's business record. some of the republican party

saying attacking romney could hurt the party in the general election if he becomes the gnome knee running against president obama. gingrich calls that criticism absurd. former south carolina governor mark sanford joins us now. he is also a fox news contributor. governor sanford, first of all, do you agree that the premise newt gingrich seems to have toned down his attacks on mitt romney and his business record? >> yeah. i think that's absolutely accurate. if you were to travel across south carolina there's been considerable blow back to the whole bain capital attack. it just didn't fit. you know, capitalism inherently has winners and it has losers. shumpter talked about creative destruction. there is certainly a lot of that in a free market system. what is interesting, south carolina in essence is a cheap place to test ideas relative to a media market

like florida. and so i think that was one of those tests. i don't think it worked all that well. they will move on to other attacks. jon: interesting piece in the "atlanta journal-constitution" just today that suggests that despite its genteel reputation, south carolina politics can get pretty vicious. here's the quote. it is no coincidence that heightened attacks have been launched in south carolina, a state long earned and cultivated reputation for favoring vicious brand of politics that belies its other reputation as a bastion of southern manners that is not from some yankee newspaper. that is from the "atlanta journal-constitution". what do you think about that quote, governor? >> well, it is a big city far off. i would say two things. i would say one, you know, i guess the movie "jerry maguire", follow the money or show me the money or something along those lines. one it is a function of the cost of our media market. the cost of buying 1,000

gross rating points of television or roughly a week's worth of television so to speak in south carolina is about $300,000. in, in florida it's about two million dollars. so i think again, the attacks, they're tough but part of it is driven by the pricing of testing ideas in this place versus other places that these candidates will go. the other is, much of it is, in essence driven by sort of the hatfield and mccoys. that you have a couple of different long-time political operatives that have run a number of different things in this state and it's no-holds-barred in their approach. i don't agree with that approach. i think it is wrong. i don't think it fits where a lot of folks come from in south carolina but it certainly has been the tradition last the roughly 20 years. jon: you're also sitting in a state where the unemployment rate is higher than the national average, pushing 10% or so right now i think and i imagine that any charges that involve job

losses might seem to resonate with south carolinians? >> yeah. and i think again south carolina will be an interesting proving ground on that front. the national average is shy of 9% in terms of unemployment. in south carolina it's almost 10. florida is above 10. but if you look at iowa and look at new hampshire, you're looking at rates of 5 and 6 roughly, you know, five and change and six and change in terms of percentage. so i think this is going to be again a place where jobs the economy are going to be really tested. while at the same time, you know, i would say ron paul has been doing surprisingly well on the deficit and anti-washington, anti-spending message. jobs and the economy are the two big issues played out here as well. jon: do you buy the polls that say mitt romney, that south carolina is his to lose at this point? >> i think that's accurate but i think that it is going to be much tighter race than

those polls now suggest. i think it is really going to tighten up here over the next week. jon: mark sanford, the former governor of south carolina and a fox news contributor. thank you. >> thank you. jon: we will also hear from the candidates as they canvas south carolina. tune into fox news for the south carolina gop presidential primary debate or check it out online, foxnews.com/debate. that's monday, 9:00 p.m. eastern time. jenna: unlike previous campaign seasons the weather really hasn't been a factor in getting out the vote. we'll see if that case as we continue down the campaign trail. parts of the midwest getting slammed by the first big snowstorm of the season. new england, you're next. look at st. louis. a storm greeting morning commuters with a sloppy and slippery drive. a hard way to end the week. over in chicago they're expecting more than a foot of snow from that same storm. in holland, michigan, several inches of snow piling up on the ground closing some schools.

it is winter indeed. mike tobin getting up close and personal with winter on the streets of the chicago. hi, mike. >> reporter: hi, jenna. what you see now are scenes of typical urban situation when the snow has already passed. you have big piles of snow left behind by the snowplows. you have salty and wet roads. the salty and wet roads are expected to turn into ice. in as sense of snow cold weather is moving into this region. there are still snow warnings for places east of here like indiana and ohio. cold weather will turn the roads icy. icy roads cause so many traffic wrecks. hundreds and hundreds of traffic wrecks in this region. three fatalities in saint louse. one fatality outside chicago. the snow came down warm and wet and turned to snow making icy patches. here is chicago a new feature championed by mayor

emanuel's guru of social media. the ability to track the snowplows live on your computer. you can put in your as address when the snowplow will get to your street and get the street clear. snowplows, 270 of them around the city of chicago were working all night long. the city is largely back to normal. 500 flights canceled out of o'hare yesterday. flights are pretty much back on schedule. all the kids waiting for bated breath to get a snow day. they didn't get one. they had to show up back at school at the regular time. they're a little bummed out this morning as the snow passed chicago. it is moving east. cold weather is moving in. even though the cold weather is not expected to last that long. to give you an idea, rain is forecast for monday. jenna. jenna: you don't get a snow day for rain. you have to go to school. thank you so much, mike tobin in chicago for us today. we'll continue to watch the storm. jon: looks chilly now for sure. this fox news alert out of the white house. we're awaiting live remarks

from president obama. he is expected to speak to reporters about his plans to merge six government agencies. he is also looking for congress to give him the authority to fast track the process. that was a power last held by president reagan. ed henry is standing by live at the white house. i imagine this sets up another battle between the white house and the administration, potentially? >> reporter: you're absolutely right. on one hand what the white house is ting to do by reorganizing government here, cutting out some red tape reaching out to republicans obviously on an issue republicans speak out a lot about. on the other hand, as we've seen in recent weeks with the recess appointments and other executives moves, republicans may not be in a mood to give the president more executive powers when he hasn't worked with them on some other issues although i will note that early on, in the initial moments here since this story started leaking out the president will be speaking by the way in about 15 minutes about all this here at the white house,

darrell issa, a key republican on the hill who usually doesn't have good things to say about this president is saying this. quote, while i have been disappointed the white house has not embraced earlier bipartisan efforts on proposals to reorganize government i hope this announcement represents beginning of a sincere and dedicated effort to enact meaningful reform. sound like some republicans are willing to work with him on this the focus as you mention, the six agencies, largely trade, commerce, other business-related federal agencies that sort of overlap. they're trying to combine some of that. but we should remember, when this is being announced it is being announced within 24 hours after the president asked congress for $1.2 trillion in more borrowing authority because of some 15 trillion dollars of debt. this may save money in the long run. let's not forget it is sort of a drop in the bucket compared to the current debt situation we face, jon. jon: none of this happens in a vacuum. do you get indication other than from darrell issa that

congress is willing to go along? >> reporter: the president announced he wanted to do this exactly a year ago in his state of the union address last year. in fairness to him he has been talking about this for a while but i think republicans will undoubtedly ask question where has the action been? that was a year ago the president talked about streamlining some of these agencies. here we are at start of an election year when the president is about to give another state of the union address at the end of the month where now they will start taking some action. you bet there will be skepticism on the republican side but i suspect there may be some willingness to work with the president. he is picking off an issue here just like on the payroll tax cut extension that the republicans have been in favor of doing. so they may work with him on it, jon. jon: ed henry at the white house. when the president takes to the microphone there we'll take you there live. >> reporter: thank you. jenna: back to campaign politics. newt gingrich attacking mitt romney for his corporate experience at bain capital but now the former house speaker is under fire for his own business ties.

we have a closer look at that. jon: also, "melrose place" star, heather locklear rushed to the hospital. we'll tell you what the hospital is saying about why. jenna: also, that winter weatherwer told you about hitting the midwest and moving on. janice is here to tell us who needs to be ready next. or e? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. ♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8.

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jenna: a developing story out of hollywood today. actress heather locklear was rushed to a california hospital. her family is now speaking on her behalf. harris is here with the latest. >> reporter: paramedics and sheriff's deputies showed up at locklear's home in westlake village, 35 miles north of los angeles after they got a 911 call from inside the house. most of us are familiar from her "melrose place" stardom. spokesman from the hospital said she is in stable condition and her parents are with her at the time. we don't know exactly what

happened, she is reportedly there after mixing prescription drugs and alcohol. we'll work with that. those are local reports from the media in the area. her family through her spokesperson has this to say. >> her parents wanted everybody to know that she's doing well. she's fine. she's not in any danger and she's, she's healthy. >> why did she come to the hospital? >> that is clinical information i can't share with you just yet. >> reporter: now i should mention to you this was several hours after she had already been in the hospital yesterday. we're waiting to get the latest word on heather locklear at this point. you may know she is 50 years old. she was engaged to her melrose co-star jack wagner before she called it off recently. she has been hospitalized several times over the years. back in 2009 she bleeded con no contest to reckless driving after being arrested for driving under the influence of prescription drugs. we're waiting to learn

exactly what happened to put her in the hospital this time but the ventura county sheriff's department, is not giving a whole lot of detail on the case saying they are not investigating anything. back to you. jenna: we'll watch for updates. harris, thank you. jon: we wish her well. fox extreme weather to tell you about. the snow we are not seeing this winter in much of the country although it all is falling in alaska it seems. in cordova more than 170 inches of snow has fallen since november. valdez is dealing with 320 inches. that is nearly twice what they normally get in an entire winter season. folks are worried but the national guard is there to help out. they're struggling to find places to put all the snow being cleared from streets and rooftops before the next big one hits. jenna: the first big snowstorm of the year hitting the upper midwest causing flight delays and cancellations around chicago and now the storm is moving east to new england.

we had a little from mike tobin on the ground. janice is here to give us the big picture to expect for the weekend ahead. jd? >> you were talking about flight delays. i checked with laguardia and newark. we're seeing wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour across the northeast. that will cause a domino effect. make sure you will call ahead if you're dropping someone off or picking someone up. there is the storm over last 48 hours combining lows. one across the great lakes and another moved across the south moving towards the northeast. the big snowfall across the midwest and the great lakes, say west of erie and ontario is over with. we'll see lingering lake-effect snow for buffalo and cleveland really until saturday and then it will start to taper off a little bit. but cold behind it. temperatures are really chilly. i will show you that in just a second. certainly for the snow, six to 12 inches across erie and

ontario next 12 to 24 hours. it is frigid. we have wind advisories right across the northeast where gusts up to 50 miles per hour will continue through this evening. that is going to cause some problems at the airport for certain. there are your temperatures as this, as this cold front moves through, very, very cold air behind it. 11 in minneapolis. 16 in kansas city. 20 in chicago. feels colder than that with the wind chill. we'll keep an eye on it and bring you latest. jenna: j. did, the game on saturday in new england? >> no, i think it should be good but it will be chilly. they know how to handle that. jenna: tom brady knows how to handle it. does tim tebow. >> denver is chilly, right. jon: he is from florida. >> jd, thank you. we have to get other priorities straight. jon: we'll be talking about some football. first newt gingrich is lashing out at republican rival mitt romney over at his work at investment firm bain capital. now a new report raises

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jon: take you to the white house now for this fox news alert. president obama talking about consolidating federal agencies to improve efficiency, save money. here now the president. >> and economy that lasts. and economy that creates good, middle class jobs, then we'll all have to up our game. the other day i met with business leaders who are doing their part by insourcing, by bringing jobs back to the united states.

and i told them that if you are willing to keep asking yourselves what you can do to bring jobs back, then i will make sure that you've got a government that helps you succeed. that is why we're here today. i ran for office pledging to make our government leaner, smarter and more consumer friendly. from the moment i got here i saw up close what many of you know to be true. the government we have is not the government that we need. we live in a 21st century economy but we've still got a government organized for the 20th century. our economy has fundamentally changed, as has the world. but our government, our agencies have not. the needs of our citizens have fundamentally changed but their government has not. instead it is often grown more complicated and sometimes more confusing. give you a few examples. there are five different

entities dealing with housing. there are more than a dozen agencies dealing with food safety. my favorite example which i mentioned in last year's state of the union address, as it turns out the interior department is in charge of salmon in freshwater but the commerce department handles them in saltwater. [laughter] if you're wondering what the genesis was, apparently it had something to do with president nixon being unhappy with his interior secretary for criticizing him about the vietnam war. and so he decided not to put noaa in, what would have been a more sensible place. no business or nonprofit leader would allow this kind of duplication or unnecessary complexity in their operations. you wouldn't do it when

you're thinking about your businesses. so why is it okay for our government? it's not. it has to change. now what we've tried to do over the first three years of my administration is to do a whole range of steps administratively to start making processes, procedures, agencies, more consumer friendly. but we need to do more. we need authority to do more. so today i'm calling on congress to reinstate the authority that past presidents have had to streamline and reform the executive branch. this is the sail sort of authority that every business owner has to make sure that his or her company keeps pace with the times. let me be clear. i will only use this authority for reforms that result in more efficiency, better service, and a leaner

government. now a little bit of history here. congress first granted this authority to presidents in the midst of the great depression so that they could swiftly reorganize the executive branch to respond to the changing needs of the american people and the immediate challenges of the depression. for the next 52 years presidents were able to streamline or consolidate the executive branch by submitting a proposal to congress, that was guaranteed a simple up-or-down vote. in 1984, while ronald reagan was president, congress stopped granting that authority. when this process was left to follow the usual congressional pace and procedures not surprisingly it bogged down. so congressional committees fought to protect their turf and lobbyists fought to keep things the way they were because they were the only ones who could navigate the

confusion and because it is always easier to add than to subtract in washington, inertia prevented any real reform from happening. layers kept getting added on and added on and added on. the department of homeland security was created to consolidate intelligence and security agencies but congress didn't consolidate on its side. now the department of homeland security reports to over 100 different congressional panels. that's a lot of paperwork. that's a lot of reports to prepare. that is not adding value. it is not making us safer to file a whole bunch of reports all the time. it has been a generation since a president had the authority to propose streamlining the government in a way that allowed for real change to take place. imagine all the things that have happened since 1984. 1984, we didn't have the

internet. just to take one example. a generation of americans has come of age. land lines turned to smartphones. the cold war has given way to globalization. so much has happened yet the government we have today is largely the government we had back then and we deserve better. go talk to the skilled professionals in government who are serving their country. and by the way, you won't meet harder working folks than some of the folks in these federal agencies. they devote countless hours trying to make sure they're serving the american people but they will tell you their efforts are constantly undermined by an outdated bureaucrat maze. and of course if you go talk to ordinary americans including some of the small business leaders here today, they will tell you that to deal with government on a regular basis is not always the highlight of their day.

[laughter] over the past three years, as i said, we've tried to take some steps to fix the problem, to bring our government into this century, and in doing so to root out waste. just to take some examples. we made sure government sends checks to the right people in the right amount which should be obvious but we've been able to prevent $20 billion in waste over the last two years, just by making sure that checks are sent properly and we're reducing error. we cut government contracting for the first time in more than a decade. we cut a whole range of overlapping programs. we have tried to yank the federal government into the 21st century when it comes to technology and making everything we do a little more web-friendly. and by the way that also helps in materials of accountability and transparency because the

public can get on white house dot-gov or various other web sites and see what is happening and track where money goes. so we've done a lot but we've got to do more. we need to think bigger. so today i'm outlining changes we could make if congress gives the green light to allows to modernize and streamline. these changes would help small business owners like you. they would also help medium and large businesses. as a consequence they would help create more jobs, sell more products overseas, grow our economy faster, improve our quality of life. right now there are six departments and agencies focused primarily on business and trade and the federal government. six. commerce department, small business administration, the u.s. trade representative's

office. in this case, six is not better than one. sometimes more is better. this is not one of those cases because it produces redundancy and inefficiency. with the authority that i'm requesting today we could consolidate them all into one department with one website, one phone number, one mission, helping american businesses succeed. that's a big idea. [applause] now we've put a lot of thought into this. over the past year we've spoken with folks across the government and across the country and most importantly we spoke with businesses including hundreds of small businesses to hear what works and what doesn't when you deal with the government. what's frustrating, what's actually value-added.

and frankly in those conversations we found some unsatisfied customers. a lot of times what we heard was, you know what? the individual who i am working with was really helpful to me but the process itself is too confusing. most of the complaints weren't about an unresponsive federal worker. they were about a system that was too much of a maze. so, take a look at this slide. i don't usually use props in my speeches but i thought this was useful. this is the system that small business owners face. this is what they have to deal with if they want even the most basic answers to the most basic questions like, how to export to a new country, or whether they qualify for a loan. and by the way, this is actually simplified because

there are color codes, you know. [laughter] the business owners don't get the blue and the purple and, it is all just --. there's a whole host of web sites, all kinds of to free numbers, all sorts of customer service centers but each are offering different assistance. it's a mess. this should be easy for small business owners. they want to concentrate on making products, creating services, selling to customers. we're supposed to make it easier for them. we can. there are tools that we can put in place that every day are helping small business owners across the country but we're wasting too much time getting that help out. if congress would reinstate the authority that previous presidents have had, we would be able to fix this. we would have one department where entrepreneurs can go, from the day they come up with an idea and need a

patent, to the day they start building a product and need financing for a warehouse to the day they're ready to export around need help breaking into new markets overseas. one website, easy to use, clear, of the, one department where all our tried agencies would work together to insure businesses and workers could better export by better enforcing our trade agreements. one department dedicated to helping our businesses to sell their products to 95% of the global customers who live beyond our shores. so with this authority we could help businesses grow, save businesses time, save taxpayer dollars. and this is just one example of what we could do. the contrast between this and this. sums up what we could do on the business side but these kinds of inefficiencies

exist across government. there's a real opportunity right now for us to fundamentally rethink reform and remake our government so it can meet the demands of our time, so that it is worthy of the american people and so that it works. this should not be a partisan issue. congress needs to reinstate this authority, that has in the past been given to democratic and republican presidents for decades. in the meantime as long as folks are looking for work and small businesses are looking for customers, i'm going to keep doing everything i can with my current authority to help. so to take one example, as of today, i am elevating the small business administration to a cabinet level agency [applause] karen medicals, who is here today and who has been doing

an outstanding job leading that agency, is going to make sure small business owners have their own seat at the table in our cabinet meetings. the coming weeks we'll also unveil a new website, business usa. this site will be a one-stop shop for small businesses and exporters and it will consolidate information that right now is spread across all these various sites. so it is all in one place and it is easy to search. so with or without congress i will keep at it but it would be a lot easier if congress helped. this is an area that should receive bipartisan support because making our government more responsive and strategic and leaner, it shouldn't be a partisan issue. you know, we can do this better. we can provide taxpayers better value. so much of the argument out there, all the time, is, you

know, up at 40,000 feet. these abstract arguments about, you know, who is conservative or who is liberal. most americans and certainly most small business owners, you guys are trying to figure out how we make things work? how do we apply common sense? and that's what this is about. so i'm going to keep fighting every day to rebuild this economy so hard work pays off, responsibility is rewarded and we've got a government that is helping to create the foundation for the incredible energy and entrepreneurship that all of you represent. i'm going to keep fighting to make sure the middle class families, regain the security that they have lost over the last decade. i've said before, i believe this is a make-or-break moment for families who are trying to get in the middle class. folks trying to maintain their security. folks trying to start businesses. there is enormous potential out there that the

trendlines in our global economy are moving in our direction, towards innovation and openness and transparency. we've got to take advantage of it and you need a strong ally and an effective, lean, government. that is what this authority can do. thank you very much, everybody. thank you. [applause] jon: with a nod to his desires to improve lives for middle class families, the president there announcing his plans to request of congress the authority to consolidate government agencies, streamline things and supposedly reduce the complexity of government and the number of government employees. well, you will be interested to hear the thoughts of our next guest on all of this. paul gigot, "the wall street journal"'s editorial page editor and host of the "journal editorial report". sounds pretty good what the president is proposing there. >> well he is trying to position himself as reformer of government because he knows the government is very unpopular right now. jon: he heads it.

>> he heads it and he has for three years and he knows one of the critiques, main critique his republican challenger whoever that is will lel that the government doesn't work very well. he is trying to pivot, say i can lead the reform effort. the question is how much of his own record will you have to defend while doing that? jon: our james rosen has been taking a look at this from our washington bureau. sent out an e-mail during the speech, according to the apestimate, if the president does get this authority asking from congress, and he might not get it, it would over time result in elimination of 1,000 to 2,000 government jobs. >> right. jon: how much are you going to save by that? >> not very much ultimately but still, reduction of 1 or 2,000 would be okay. according to the bureau of labor statistics he has created 25,000 additional federal employees in the last three years. jon: when do we start with health care? >> that's right. the sig gel biggest expansion of government since the 1960s by far is

the health care bill. and that is going to expand the spending of the federal government by trillions of dollars, 2.6 trillion when it is finally phased in. according to the congressional budget office. this is corner, small sliver of reform in a much bigger story. jon: you were telling me during the speech there is one example of an agency that maybe ought not to be consolidated? >> u.s. trade representative, which negotiates trade deals with foreign governments, is a small elite agency. it is separate. reports directly to the president and it is very efficient, very effective because it is not bee league you are burred -- beleaguered by all the rest of the bureaucracy. jon: it has not the bureaucracy. >> attracts talented people with a sense of mission and they do that very well. if you put it under commerce department has a history of responding to big business lobbyists and protectionist orientation, anti-trade in many ways especially against imports you might blunt the effectiveness of efficient

body. this is not as easy as simple as it sounds. jon: we should all study the issue more. paul, thank you very much. join paul hosting the "journal editorial report" saturday 2:00 p.m. eastern here on a fox. right after that i follow paul with the "fox news watch" program. we cover the media coverage of all the week's big news stories and we'll be right back. that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. [ driver ] what do i want? ♪ i want horsepower. cleaner horsepower.

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trade commission-free for 60 days, when bp made a commitment to the gulf, we knew it would take time, but we were determined to see it through. today, while our work continues, i want to update you on the progress: bp has set aside 20 billion dollars to fund economic and environmental recovery. we're paying for all spill- related clean-up costs. and we've established a 500 million dollar fund so independent scientists can study the gulf's wildlife and environment for ten years. thousands of environmental samples from across the gulf have been analyzed by independent labs under the direction of the us coast guard. i'm glad to report all beaches and waters are open

for everyone to enjoy. and the economy is showing progress with many areas on the gulf coast having their best tourism seasons in years. i was born here, i'm still here and so is bp. we're committed to the gulf for everyone who loves it, and everyone who calls it home. jenna: welcome back, everyone. this is just one component of the american dream. that our children will have greater success, more money, better homes, than we ever had but a new study finds right now, that just isn't the case. chief washington correspondent james rosen is live in our d.c. bureau with more, james? >> reporter: jenna, good morning. it is not just the members of today's general in some measure failing to outperform their parents in terms of income and quality of living. what researchers are finding a huge percentage of americans born into the middle class are falling below that line. among them, is sam blick.

a 48-year-old construction appraiser, never been married and lives alone in denver, colorado. this past may sam lost the job he had for a decade. he is on state unemployment and resigned to 50% salary cut and never enjoying fishing, boating disneyland vacations which his middle class dad used to take him and his brother. >> i haven't been on a vacation for several years. not to complain. i just know that i'm going to have to work to live and i believe, the previous generation, might folks's generation was able to live to work. that doesn't exist anymore in my opinion. >> reporter: the most recent research of the pew center for charitable trusts finds one-third of american babies born like sam into middle class families back in the early and mid 1960s, foal out of that class as adults there are some markers as to who and why. >> a person with some college or college degree is more likely to stay in the

middle than someone with a high school diploma or less. a person who is married is more likely to stay in the middle than someone who is single or divorced. and a person with higher test scores is more likely to stay in the middle than someone with lower test scores. >> reporter: race and gender factor in. the pew study found 38% of the black men fall out of the middle class compared to only 21 of white men. 31% of white woman compared to 1/5 of white men. what passes as good news in report as she told us drivers of downward mobility include factors over which policymakers do have some influence, jenna. jenna: lots to think about there, james report thank you. --. >> reporter: thank you. jon: joran van der sloot is being sentenced today for the murder of stephanie floorries. there he is in a live picture from the courtroom. we could learn his fate any moment now. when it comes down we'll bring it to you live.

jenna: some are calling it a miracle. swallow a pill to get the benefits of exercise with no actual exercise required. really? a newly discovered hormone getting a lot of attention. researchers are saying it mimics the benefits of working out and could help fight obesity among other things. dr. steven garner with new york methodist hospital. >> i took something. jenna: what are we talking about here? >> we're talking about amazing discovery. this hormone has been here forever. it was named after the greek goddess, iris a messenger from the gods to humans we never knew exactly when you exercise how it proves quality of life and insulin levels. this is the link. this is the messenger with the blood vessels and body.

jenna: it helps me burn calories and stay thin without the exercise? >> there is good fat and bad fat. what this does, takes the good fat, which is brown fat and makes more of it burning white fat. the white fat sits around in stomach. and makes you look fat around the hips and stuff like that. switches bad fat to good fat which burns calories. jenna: how long would i have to take this pill? how high of a dose? is it something that comes part of everday lives? >> everyday life. works best if you correlate from exercising if you exercise for 10 weeks straight, it begin to rise the level of iris-n. the name of the horl moan. if you want to do without exercise, you take it for about 10 weeks. if you start seeing changes. jenna: what will the plastic surgery business do? we'll walk around looking so good. you will not need plastic surgery. still need it for some reasons. there may be some benefit you get through actual exercise that the bill can't replace. >> doesn't build up muscle

mass. there is similar hormone in the works that will make muscles stronger. jenna: not a stared road? >> not a steroid. another hormone. when if you have parkinson's disease, have strokes, this is way people like that can exercise and maintain their quality of life. jenna: bring it back down to reality, i'm thinking about the vanity of it all. you can stay thin and muscle tone without doing any work. >> right, you can do this right now. jenna: there is other, there is other effects of it that are positive as well? >> because it is naturally occurring, it will not take years to come about. jenna: how much do you think it will cost though? >> oh --. jenna: that is the issue, right? whether or not the average person can go out and take the hormone? >> will cost a lot. only one company has the rights. jenna: we're not finding a generic anytime soon? we might get it in two years but will cost you, maybe, five, 10 years, maybe generic. >> no known bad effects. take this without any bad side-effects. naturally occurring hormone. this is quite amazing. >> we'll talk more about

that other muscle building hormone. >> doesn't have a name yet. it has numbers and a letter. jenna: jon scott, we could name it after you. what do you think? jon: if i only had muscle. jenna: a lot of fascinating things. thank you very interesting. jon? jon: president obama is warning iran not to interfere with one of the world's busiest oil routes. reportedly he sent the message directly to one of iran's top ayatollahs? how did he do that? we don't have relations with iran. a live report next goals? you can with green giant frozen vegetables. over twenty delicious varieties ha sixty calories oless per serving and are now weight watchers-endorsed. try green giant frozen vegetables with sauce.

jon: a workplace tragedy in north carolina, at least three people are dead. harris has details at our breaking news desk. >> reporter: yeah. details and now the first pictures from star, north carolina, are beginning to come in. it is mcbride's lumber company. and we knew earlier today, first reported here on fox news channel, that there had been some sort of a workplace shooting, we just didn't have

all the details until now. this is what the local authorities are saying. star, by the way s loaded in montgomery county, central north carolina. a disgruntled employee reportedly opened fire at this lumber company earlier today killing three people. we know three people are now dead, one has been life flight today a nearby hospital, and the gunman, according to police, then returned to his home and shot himself, wounded himself. he's also hospitalized, we're told, at this hour. the shooter apparently left a note, we don't know the contents of that. the sheriff's department and police are not releasing that information right now. and mcbride's founder, dorothy mcbride, was there just a short time ago talking with reporters. she was not there at the time of the shooting. this is a family-owned business, she says. they make palettes and treated wood for furniture and other products. she said, and i quote her, oh, my god, i can't believe it, i just can't talk about this right now, i have to go find out more, end quote, that from dorothy mcbride, the owner, talking

with local reporters there. but a horrific scene outside mcbride's lumber company in star, north carolina. as we learn more details and, again, just first pictures coming in, we'll bring it to you. jon and jenna? jon: all right, harris, thank you. jenna: well, it's certainly been one of our focuses this week, our relationship with iran right now seems to be changing as we're in this new year. we know the country has opened, our country has opened a secret back channel to send iran's supreme leader a direct warning. that's the headline today. we're glad you're with us, everybody, i'm jenna lee. jon: interesting developments. i'm jon scott. the u.s. delivering a clear message to iran, keep your hands off the strait of hormuz. "the new york times" reports the ayatollah was told any attempt to close the strait would cross a red line, provoking an immediate response by u.s. forces. national security correspondent jennifer griffin is live at the pentagon with more on this. >> reporter: hi, jon. well, the white house, state department and pentagon

officials are denying there are any new secret channels to iran's leadership. they're saying they're using tried and true channels that they've used in the past, and they are delivering a consistent message, a consistent message with the public statements made recently by the chairman of the joint chiefs as well as the defense secretary yesterday in fort bliss, texas, when he was addressing the troops. >> we cannot tolerate iran blocking the straits of hormuz. and that's a red line. >> reporter: this public message has been delivered privately, we're told, to iran's supreme leader, ayatollah khamenei n recent weeks through a trusted intermediary, at least one of them. the u.s. is concerned in the wake of iran's ten-day war game and repeated threats by various military commanders to close the strait or not allow a u.s. aircraft carrier through the strait or that a renegade commander of iran's revolutionary guard corps might try to use anti-ship missiles to interfere with ship traffic in the vital waterway which pent

gone officials have said would be viewed as an act of war. u.s. officials are delivering these messages publicly and privately fearing that iranian commanders could misread u.s. intentions and take a decision to temporarily halt the flow of the 16 billion barrels of oil a day through the strait to make some sort of point. all of this coming at a time when we are learning that the u.s. now has 15,000 troops based in kuwait, that includes at least one brigade that came out of iraq. but this looks like an additional two army brigades that are based in kuwait. that is part of the 40,000 overall troops that secretary panetta recently mentioned would remain in the middle east in case any of, any adversary misreads u.s. intentions after iraq's pullout. jon, jenna? jon: and let's hope they don't misread anything. jennifer griffin, thank you. jenna: well, a new year and new

questions about how we got into the financial crisis, and now a fresh, new inside look at what was going on inside the federal reserve when the housing market was on the verge of collapse. chairman ben bernanke who took over as chairman of the federal reserve in 2006 apparently thought the economy was strong enough to pull off a, quote, soft landing. tim geithner who sat on the board before becoming treasury secretary didn't seem to recognize how much damage the housing bubble would eventually cause. according to newly-released transcripts from a meeting in september of 2006, this is what our treasury secretary said then. quote, we just don't see troubling signs yet of collateral damage, and we are not expecting much. of course, a year later we were in the complete collapse, nearly, of our financial system. charles payne is ceo of wall street centrals, a contributor for the fox business network and a little giggle -- >> you giggle as you want to cry, obviously. this is the guy who's in charge of helping us come out of the

quote-unquote ditch. jenna, let me go over the timeline with this whole thing. jenna: sure. >> okay. ben bernanke takes over in march, in march he says it seems unlikely growth is going to be derailed by the housing market. so they meet in may, we're okay. so they meet again in june, he says, well, housing is an asset price correction, and it bears watching. so then by september they meet, and he says, uh, i don't have quite as much confidence as some of the other people around the table. in other words, he threw everyone under the bus. but here's geithner saying, no, we're cool, it's not going to be a problem. jenna: and that's something "the new york times" pointed out today. they said out of everybody, ben bernanke seemed to be getting the most concerned, but the other comments of people sitting on the board, there was a lack of recognition. and "the new york times" goes on to say one of the main things that was concerning to them was there seemed to be a failure to understand the basic mechanics of the economy. it wasn't a lack of information, but a lack of comprehension. >> absolutely.

jenna: is that still the case, charles? >> i think that's still the case, and there's another element, too much arrogance. ben bernanke talks about the inflation bubble that's going to hit us sooner or later. you can't print this much money, you can't have over $16 trillion in debt. it's going to hit us. and he talks about it as though he'll recognize it, and he doesn't think alan greenspan caused the housing bubble. jenna: tim geithner was sitting on the board, the federal reserve of new york, he was the one talking to a lot of major banks at that time. does it concern you at all as an investor that he is now treasury secretary, or is the fact that so many people missed this crisis something we should consider as well? >> well, but we chose them to run it. yeah, it's okay if average person missed it, they're not supposed to catch it. it's one thing in your rearview mirror when they say the objects are closer than you think, this was on top of us, and be a lot of people started to know and, of course, ben bernanke finally coming around. what worries me is they haven't changed policies.

jenna: and on that -- >> the policies that got us to that point, they're reenacting those policies, so how much did they learn? jenna: let's follow up on that. in these pages, again, going back to 2006, there was a last minute recognition as well that the housing market was so intertwined with the rest of the economy. and we see where the housing market is in 2012, yet there's questions about what may be done about it or not. so do we understand this fully about how closely connected so many parts of our economy are? >> you know, i think we do. in fact, i know everyone else does and to a certain degree, you know, the fed has two official things they're supposed to do, help employment and also moderate inflation. but i think they're trying to, also, do policy dictated upon maybe the housing market correcting, improving. because what ben bernanke would love to see is what he calls a virtuous cycle. people go out and spend, that means there's more demand for people to get hired, more people hired, people spend.

your house starts to come back up. that's what they're trying to orchestrate, and you just wonder if they'll go too far. obviously, when that initially happens and at some point with so much money it might happen or will happen, do you recognize when it's time to turn off the spigot? jenna: in 2006 they were most concerned about inflation, not necessarily a housing crisis, and now we're back again looking at inflation. is that a concern you have? >> inflation is going to be a massive, massive problem. it's hard to pinpoint when it's going to happen, but it's inevitable. you just don't know. and initially, as it happens it's going to be good because everyone's going to be happy their 401(k)'s getting better. it's only when it starts to run off the rails, these guys are supposed to catch it before the rest of us do. jenna: well -- >> we'll see. [laughter] and if they don't, ben bernanke will throw someone else under the bus. jenna: well, and you'll have new people appointed as well. >> exactly. jenna: that's all we can do, is wait. >> absolutely. jenna: fascinating, thank you so

much. jon: a lot of folks are dealing with the fist major storms -- first major storms of the season from alaska all the way to the east coast. significant snowfall and plunging temperatures are the rule. thisthis is the worst winter ane can remember in anchorage, more than 26 feet of snow since november, and more is on the way. another system is crawling across wisconsin, iowa and missouri. commuters there dealing with dangerous driving conditions this morning. in illinois snow causing hundreds of flights to be canceled at chicago-area airports. so where's it all headed next? meteorologist janice dean knows, she's live in the fox extremewet center. -- weather center. >> and i understand you're catching a a flight later on, mr. scott. jon: you have about five hours to get things straighten out. [laughter] >> reporter: i will try my best. 30 mile-per-hour winds, jon, so we'll see. you might be delayed a little bit. bring a good book. looking at the satellite radar

right now, the worst of the weather over across the western great lakes, several inches of snow, but this storm is lifting into canada, so the worst of it will be over. however, in its wake gusty winds really for the next several hours into this evening. i just want to show you, this is really nothing compared to what we usually see this time of year for boston, your average over 15 inches of snow. you've got about an inch and a half on the ground already. new york city, over seven inches, cleveland, 25 inches. so really a snow deficit this time of year or what's happening right nowment so future radar, just lake effect snow over the next several hours, jon, but those winds are going to be blustery, and it's going to feel real cold as well, so bundle up. back to you. jon: will do. j.d., thank you. jenna: this fox news alert, if you think you're having a bad friday, wait until you hear this story. right now we're awaiting the sentencing of joran van der sloot who's just been sitting there and sitting there. the dutch national who pled guilty to the murder of a 21-year-old business student in

peru, and the primary suspect in the disappearance of american natalee holloway almost seven years ago is facing, well, facing the judges again today. steve harrigan has been following this story, he's live in miami with more. steve? >> reporter: jenna, joran van der sloot has been sitting in that courtroom for more than an hour as the three judges read off that timeline of charges against him. he has already confess today the murder of 21-year-old stephany flores. he could be facing a sentence of anywhere from 15-30 years. he avoided life imprisonment by accepting responsibility and issuing what he called a sincere apology. stephany flores' father is looking eagerly on inside that courtroom and had to hear some very graphic details of the murder from van der sloot's confession. apparently, it all happened after the two left the casino about 18 months ago in peru in van der sloot's hotel room. stephanie flores apparently saw an e-mail on van der sloot's computer, something about the

holloway case, and she smacked him on the head. he then, according to his version, hit her back first with his hand, then with his elbow in the nose, knocked her out, and then took off his shirt and smothered her to death. in addition in addition to this brutality, there is a degree of cunningness involve inside what the judges are calling a ferocious murder. after smothering her to death, he took sheets to clean up the blood to try and remove any traces and then went off about block or two down the road and bought two cups of coffee and came back with those cups of coffee. so right now we're trying to find out what kind of a sentence he will face. the maximum would be 30 yearses in a peruvian jail and, of course, the holloways have also been watching this case with intense interest. both parents of natalie holloway, the 18-year-old alabama teen, say it's giving them no comfort. the father of natalie holloway says he hopes van der sloot gets the maximum, 30 years. the mother, through her lawyer, says she hopes van der sloot

will suffer as much as possible for all the pain he has caused. you have a second family watching on, wonder what the penalty will be for this brutal murder in peru. jenna: we just saw joran van der sloot stand up, and we're trying to get the translation. we heard from the judge, jon, the judges there for about an hour and a half, as steve was mentioning, so we've been waiting for the ultimate sentence whatever that might be, 15 or 30 years make it a completely different story whatever the result is. jon: we doesn't look nearly as smug as he has at times, especially during the period of years when natalie holloway was missing, and he was the person of interest but could not officially be named a suspect, although that happened a couple of times. he was mug, he was, you know -- smug, he was, you know, well, he just seemed like the cat that ate the canary. jenna: at moments when we're watching him, he was fanning himself, he was standing up for part of the time, then he was allowed to sit down. you can see almost through his

shirt, you can see sweat. he's been sweating profusely and, obviously, looking very anxious to get along with this whole process and find out exactly what his fate is. jon: how interesting, how ironic perhaps that the three judges who are handing down this sentence are all women. joran van der sloot accused of brutally beating and strangling a woman and, perhaps -- go ahead. jenna: and, steve, on that it's been described that he was almost flirting with the judges, you could kind of see his personality come through the way he was dealing with the women in front of him. can you tell us more about his actions in the courtroom? >> reporter: certainly his behavior, his appearance in the courtroom has been a subject of a lot of controversy. he was often yawning, scratching his head, sprawled out with his legs, not standing up straight in front of the three women judges. at one point one of the judges rebuked him saying he needs to show more respect for the court. this, of course, extremely unusual behavior in someone who is trying to get a reduced

sentence, showing that disrespect. they also have described him now after reading the account of that brutal murder of the 21-year-old as a peculiar personality. without going into tush detail. they said -- too much detail. they said the frosty of this murder against a defenseless woman who was in a position of trust inside his hotel room makes this an extreme and unusual murder, not a simple murder at all. jenna: wiping his brow now again, sweating profusely through this entire time. harris, you've been monitoring the situation and have heard he's been mumbling through part of this whole procedure today? >> reporter: yeah. actually, toward the beginning at first when they were doing a lot of what they're doing now, and he was standing for almost 30 minutes, so this could be indicative of a sentence coming, and it could be more of this legal jargon that they've been, um, telling him all morning. but at one point he was saying just get on with it, just tell me. um, and you can hear that, obviously, there are microphones all over the place. you see all the cameras behind

the glass here. this is so physically a different young man than the one that i covered on that island in ruin ya -- aruba when natalie holloway went missing. he was a young, fit, thin teenager at the point, now 24 years old, clearly not in the same physical shape he was in, and the sweating is something that you just pay attention to. at first we thought he was crying because he was sweating so heavily that it was coming down into his eyes. and you now see him nodding. we're monitoring, hoping for some detail on what's coming forth. but at the time on the island of aruba, he was someone people knew all over the place by his first name, his father was in the legal industry there as a judge, and now to see this young man so different. back to you guys. jenna: it is so true to look, again, at him and what's transpired over the last several years, jon. what was important in this case is whether or not this murder was supposed to be a crime of passion. geraldo rivera was digesting

some of the news with us this week, and he said, you know, in latin american countries if it's a crime of passion, you can get a lesser 1234-7bs if you -- sentence if you confess to the crime. but if they can prove he was trying to rob stephany flores of money, that would be an issue. jon: 28 years is the sentence. he faced, as we understand, a maximum of 30, so these judges gave it to him just about at the maximum. 28 years in a peruvian prison for the admitted killer of stephany flores, the young peruvian woman whom he met in a casino and then beat and strangled to death. jenna: steve, back with us. 28 years, what about parole? that's something we know our american court system, if he's sentenced for 28 years, should we expect he's going to serve that 28 years? >> no, we certainly could see depending on his behaviorless than that 28-year sentence. but as jon mentioned, it is extremely close to the maximum. these three peruvian judges,

obviously, not giving a whole lot of twilight the, quote, sincere confession he made. generally, that confession, that admission of responsibility could get a considerably lighter sentence. the judges in this case talking about the ferocity, the brutality of this murder of a defenseless 21-year-old woman, not giving much weight to his defense at all, giving very close to the maximum sentence of 28 years. and that time is likely to be spent in a very difficult part of peru, in a mountainous region near bolivia, and he's still wanted in the u.s. for extortion for the holloway case, so it could be at least a decade or more before the u.s. attorneys get their shot at this man who has now a confessed and convicted murderer. jon: and you know he'd rather be in a u.s. prison than a peruvian prison. jenna: certainly more to this story, but today 28 years. steve harrigan poignantly points

out to us. more as we get it. jon: lock him up. jenna: we have to change things up a little bit, don't we? that story brings up a lot, i don't know for you, but certainly for me as we've been covering van der sloot for years now. let's talk some football and what's ahead for this weekend. tim tebow's series of blockbuster victories, could it be divine intervention? is there something really going on? why tim tebow is the talk of football. we have fran tarkenton to talk a little football and about the big games this week. we'll be right back. wake up!

that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

jon: you're in america's election headquarters, and a good-sized crowd is gathering right now at the university of south carolina. they are waiting for mitt

romney. eight days to go before south carolina's primary and some leading conservatives are coming to romney's defense, blasting attacks against his record in the private sector. let's talk about it with the chairman of mitt romney's south carolina campaign and the state treasurer there. curtis, a lot of these attacks have come courtesy of newt gingrich and the super pac that has been raising money on his behalf. have they been effective, do you think, have they hurt your candidate, mitt romney? >> no, i don't think so. i think they underestimate the intelligence of the average south carolina voter. it's not playing well here. i've talked with many of the tea party folks this morning, and most of them think that it's going to backfire. it's beneath the dignity of these presidential candidates to have ads like this. jon: well, mitt romney is answering back with an ad of his own. let's take a snippet of it. >> we expected the obama administration to put free markets on trial, but as "the

wall street journal" said, mr. romney's gop opponents are embarrassing themselves by taking the obama line. jon: there's a record or an ad that centers around his record at bain capital, the company that he founded. the criticism has been that, in effect, they are perhaps damaging mr. romney ahead of his possible ascent the republican nomination in the same way that democrats would try to do. do you agree? >> well, i've heard that. i'm not sure. mitt has broad shoulders. he's had people after him for a long time. he served as a governor of a very liberal state, massachusetts. a wonderful place, but very liberal. so he's used to having people after him, and this is just one more attack. if you look at the history of this campaign, people have risen from the pack, they've gotten into a one-on-one with mitt, and they always fall back to the pack. i think this is just a sign of desperation, and desperation doesn't wear very well in a campaign. jon: what about the criticism

that's often hurled at mitt romney, though, criticism that he may be a little wishy washy as a conservative and that republican voters have been looking for someone who is more conservative than he is to be the standard bearer this time around, what do you say to that? >> well, i think we're going to do really well here. the, all the polls show us in the lead. we're not going to get every vote, and that's just not a possibility. but i think we're going to get most votes. there are always going to be people who are social voters or defense voters or economy voters. so this election cycle is all about one thing, and that's the economy. and what unifies us is we want to send barack obama back to chicago. and every day we get closer to the election is a good day for mitt romney. jon: he's ahead in the polls if he wins south carolina. in your view, is he unstoppable? >> pretty close. i don't like to be a pundit because i always run afraid in elections, i'm the original

scaredy cat when it comes to elections. you can go to bed a champ and wake up a chump in politics, i've done it. but mitt romney's a good, honorable man. the people of south carolina are seeing a lot of him right now, and i think he's in an ideal position to move through south carolina and on to the rest of this primary season. jon: if he wins nomination, the president has already generated a lot of campaign cash. can mitt romney beat president obama? >> >> i think he can. he can win ohio, wisconsin, new mexico, colorado, florida, places like that. he's going to do very well. and that's what we've got to have. you know, south carolina's the reddest of the red states. any republican is going to take south carolina in the general election. but we've got to make sure we send somebody from south carolina that can win those other states. in a presidential election, second place is last place, so we've got to be in first place, and every day as we get closer to the election, every day as we march towards that day, people see mitt romney's the man to send mr. obama back to chicago

and take the white house back for the conservative movement. jon: curtis loftus, thank you. >> thank you, sir. jon: all of the candidates get their say this coming monday night. tune in to fox news for the south carolina gop presidential debate. check it how out online, foxnews.com/debate. monday, 9 p.m. eastern. jenna: the treasurer said you go to bed a champ, you wake up a chump. that applies to football as well. jon: it does, indeed. jenna: talk about god and football, we've all seen the tim tebow pose, right? the quarterback's very public display of his faith when his broncos are victorious or otherwise. it's something that's been notable this season. one football great isn't sure if god really takes sides in games, but legend dare qb fran tarkenton thinks it's great we're talking about tebow. he's chairman and founder of one more customer.com and just wrote an editorial in "the wall street

journal," does god care who wins football games? you said that you needed a special dispensation from the church to play football on sundays? tell us a little bit about that. >> oh, i, jenna, i was -- good to be with you again. and i was, my father was a pentacostal minister and a wonderful, great man, and we were charismatic before charismatic was cool. and we didn't believe in playing the sports or activities on sundays. and i had to get special dispensation from my church to even go in the national football league and play football on sunday. jenna: so you're saying, you know, that the church and religion had a role in football, you know, for years now. it's not just coming back with tebow. >> no. i mean, we've had, you know, all kind of guys that were religious. reggie white was an ordained minister, one of the greatest, toughest, meanest defensive ends ever to play. sometimes i worry about the divine intervention. when your father and i who

played quarterback together as you know but your listeners don't in 1975, we had the dallas cowboys beat in a playoff game, and roger saw back throws the hail mary pass in the last seconds to drew pearson. it was impossible that could happen. but it happened. and i thought that day, jenna, that maybe divine intervention was really real. [laughter] jon: you know, as a lifelong denver fan, i grew up in denver, so i always hated the raiders. and you say that you were against the raiders in a super bowl, and you were sure that god had to be on your side. >> yeah, yeah. i mean, we're playing the villains, raiders. i mean, they were the villains, and al davis was a villain owner, and they were all reprobates, and they came from all terrible backgrounds. [laughter] and i was sure we had more christians on our team than they had on their team, yet they beat us. so then i thought certainly god couldn't be on their side. jenna: well, there's another guy, what's that other guy's

name, jon? tom brady s that the -- jon: oh, yeah. >> yeah. [laughter] jenna: now, just your prediction, fran, what do you think's going to happen on saturday? >> yeah. you know, when we get down to the seriousness of football, and i love the tim tebow story. i think it's a great story for america and for football. but when you go into new england and the evil genius of belichick and tom brady, one of the greatest quarterbacks ever to play, you've got great players there, and you've got a 6-6, 260-pound tight end, gone cow sky, who can run about a flat 440. and i think new england should win the game. do you know what's great, jenna? we don't know. we're wondering. jenna: yeah. >> maybe, maybe -- jon: that's right. >> something's going to happen here. jon: and tim tebow has said he doesn't pray to win games, he prays for guidance and that he can do the best he can possibly do. >> he is just great. i just love tim tebow, and he's a great role model.

we talked about role models. he's been that, and he doesn't claim that god is trying to influence the game. jon: fran tarkenton, great to have you on. jenna: and i'm still waiting for the stories about my dad, fran. >> oh, jenna, i've got a lot of them. the great general lee. thank you. jenna: thank you very much. we're going to turn back to politics, but is tebow going to endorse a candidate? he could be a factor. jon: one of the most popular -- i think rated the most popular athlete right now in an espn poll. jenna: any candidate would like that. jon: you know it. hey, most of romney's rival are waiting on a key legal decision in virginia. have you heard about this? they have having trouble with the fundamental requirement of running for public office, getting on the ballot. jenna: that's a big one. jon: yeah. gotta try that. plus s the mainstream media giving the obama administration a pass? what reporters are saying or not saying about a book that says it's detailing what's inside the white house. ut from a legal settlement

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jenna: well, you are in america's election headquarters, and we're awaiting a hearing in the biggest legal fight in the republican race for the white house so far. four candidates are suing virginia after they failed to get on the state's primary ballot. this is a big deal. doug mckelway's live in washington with more on why this happened and what's going on. >> reporter: that's right. that hearing is is happening as we speak, jenna. the fundamental question for the

judge is this: does he punish mitt romney and ron paul who followed the the virginia rules and qualified for the virginia republican primary by including on the ballot rick perry, newt gingrich, rick santorum and jon huntsman, candidates who did not get on the ballot, who did not follow the rules because they failed to meet the virginia criteria of gathering 10,000 names on a petition, 400 from each of virginia's congressional districts all circulated by strait residents. those who are reading the tea leaves speculate the judge may open the primary to all the republican candidates. here's why. >> the judge look like he's leaning to trying to open up the ballot to more candidates, rick perry, gingrich, santorum and huntsman are all part of this. whether he opens it up to all of them, some of them based on whatever concoction that he comes up with. >> reporter: early this week the judge blocked the mailing out of absentee ballots for the primary because they contained only the names of romney and

palm. he said at the time there's a strong likelihood he will find the residency requirement of petitioners to be unconstitutional. last tuesday virginia's attorney general filed an emergency request with the court of appeals in virginia to unblock the mailing of absentee ballots quoting now, changing the rules midstream is inconsistent with respecting and preserving the rule of law, something i am particularly sensitive to as virginia's attorney general. but time, now, jenna, is of the essence. absentee ballots have to be mailed out 45 days before the march 6th primary. that's january 21st, a week from this coming saturday. jenna? jenna: big decision coming up, doug. thank you. >> reporter: sure thing. jon: a new book about the president and first lady is getting a lot of attention. most of the headlines have focused on stories about the obamas' personal lives and alleged drama behind the scenes. but some of the imagined conversations and implied feelings are also raising some

eyebrows. let's talk about it with author judith miller, a pulitzer prize-winning investigator reporter, and kirsten powers, a columnist for the daily beast, both are fox news contributors. kirsten, first of all, there is the point and the first lady even addressed this that much of what goes on in this book is sort of speculative. >> uh-huh. jon: but does the author succeed in making the point that she's trying to make, apparently, that there's a lot of drama and back stabbing inside this administration? >> well, i think that's what people have sort of taken away from it. on the excerpts that i've read of it, i didn't really read it as being that dramatic. and it's interesting that i think some people see what they want to see. so when they see things about michelle obama, they take away from it what i think they already want to think about her which is they want to think she's a diva. i don't see that. i don't see that coming through even when jodi kantor wrote. michelle obama has done

interviews where she feels like she's been misrepresented, and jodi kantor came back and said i didn't really say these things. this is something that people who are detractors of mrs. obama, i think, have taken away wrongly from the book. jon: well, let's take a listen to mrs. obama said to gayle king when she was interviewed earlier in the week about this on cbs. >> who can write about how i feel? who? what third person can tell me how i feel? >> uh-huh. >> um, or anybody for that matter. jon: judy, does she have a point? >> el, not really because -- well, not really because as long as she doesn't grant access and talk about how she feels, people are going to have to surmise how she feels through 33 aides which is what jodi kantor says is the number of people she talked tonight -- to about mrs. obama

and the relationship between her and the white house staff. i find the fascinating parts of the book which i haven't read in full to be the relationship between her and the staff in the white house and the tensions over that. but it is completely understandable. and i don't think it's a hostile portrait that jodi kantor paints of her. i think it's a very considered and sympathetic portrait of a woman who was a major figure in her own world, in chicago, and has had to adjust to having the toughest job in the world. jon: there are some interesting, um, things that maybe aren't covered. kirsten, you know, rahm emanuel supposedly, according to the book, clashed with the first lady. he's out as chief of staff. now you've got bill daley resigning as chief of staff after only a year in office. did that get the kind of media coverage that it deserved? >> well, i mean, on the first point i can hardly think of

anybody who hasn't at some point clashed with rahm emanuel, so it's not really newsworthy if somehow she did. however, she says for the record that she didn't clash with him, that she had a very good relationship with him and that she did not get involved in staff issues. so i don't even know if it's true that they clashed. in terms of bill daley, you know, i tend to think that these staff stories get a little overblown. it's not, you know, he didn't, i think, feel that he was getting the kind of respect that he deserved or having the type of control and responsibility that he should have had, and he decided to leave. it's not really that dramatic as far as i can tell. jon: judy, do you agree? chief of staff at the white house out after a year, pretty unusual. >> i think it is unusual. i think the way in which they handled it suggests that there was some tension and some discord there, but that, too, is not unusual in an administration. we've seen it in countless administrations. and once again the obama white house has prided itself on kind of controlling the message,

staying on message, staying with what the president wants, and we ought to be focused on the president rather than on the first lady and the people around her. but as long as you control information that tightly, people are always going to report what they're able to learn there a situation. and, clearly, we've now seen robert gibbs is gone, rahm emanuel is gone, now bill daley is gone. maybe this isn't the kind of smooth-running white house machine that we've been led to believe. jon: judy miller and kirsten powers, thank you both. >> thank you. jon: and i'll have more for you on "news watch," the panel takes on the news coverage of the week's biggest stories tomorrow, 2:30 eastern time. jenna: well, ferry riders, step right up on the scale, how about that? the changes coming to ferries due to america's widening waistline, and it's not just the ferries getting supersized. we have more for you coming up. [ female announcer ] goodnight gluttony, a farewell long awaited.

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megyn: hey, everyone, i'm megyn kelly. iran's top cleric now blaming the united states for the assassination of a nuclear scientist and threatening retaliation. are we headed for a showdown with tehran? congressman ron paul is here. and having a ham sandwich for lunch today? you might want to hear our report from dr. segal first. mississippi governor haley barbour pardons 200 felons including a man who shot a man in the head. that victim is here live in disbelief that his shooter is now free and welcome to buy a gun. gop leaders looking to choose a single candidate they can back. could this be a game changer? mike huckabee is here live. see you top of the one. jon: attention, ferry riders, you might have to hurry to claim your spot onboard. the u.s. coast guard is changing the number of passengers allowed on commercial vessels. why? well, it has something to do with america's widening girth, and it's not just ferry riders

who are going to see some changes. dan springer live from the seattle ferry terminal in washington state. dan? >> reporter: yeah, jon, we're seeing all kinds of changes, and it's really an extraordinary step taken by the coast guard out of fear of passenger boats capsizing under too much passenger weight. some of the ferries that traverse the puget sound behind me actually are having, allowing 250 fewer passengers per trip, and that's on a boat that used to be able to carry 2,000 passengers. the reason is simple, america's weight gain. when the old regulations were set in the 1960s, the average adult weighed 150 pounds. now the typical adult weighs 185 pounds. that poses health risks and a threat of passenger boats sinking. >> this is a change for safety. we don't, we want to minimize any potential risks of overloading and capsizing. >> reporter: and the new weight capacities apply to all

commercial passenger vessels which includes cruise ships and smaller tour boats, and the federal transit administration adopted new emergency engineering standards for trains and buses figuring standing passengers now take 1.75 square feet of space, not the old 1.5 square feet. businesses are also adjusting. there are oversized coffins, wider movie theater seats and ambulances coming with stretchers rated for 1200 pounds. doctors who specialize in obesity say, sadly, these adjustments make sense. >> i think that's reasonable given the time frame that we think we might be able to start getting a handle on this problem and reverse its trend. >> reporter: and the centers for disease control now says two-thirds of americans are either obese or overweight. jon? jon: not a good number to hear. dan springer in seattle, thanks. >> reporter: no. jenna: news breaking this hour, we've learned the fate of joran van der sloot, getting nearly the maximum sentence for the

murder of a peruvian woman. but will there ever be justice for natalie holloway and her family? next, geraldo rivera is here. [ male announcer ] drinking a smoothie with no vegetable nutrition? ♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8. what is thishorty? uh, tissues si i'm sick. you don't cough, you d't show defeat. give me your war face! raaah! [ male announcer ] halls. a pep talk in every drop.

jenna: this fox news alert, joran van der sloot headed to prison for 28 years. he confessed to brutal murder of a woman in lima, but he's still the prime suspect in the unsolved disappearance of u.s. teenager natalie holloway. here, now, geraldo rivera, and that's the question today, you have this guy being sentenced for a murder he confessed to, but there's still this question

of whether or not natalie holloway's family will get justice, whatever that means? >> i think it's interesting, jenna, first of all, that he got nearly the maximum sentence. in peru there are no life sentences or death penalties. thirty years was the max he could have gotten. he got 28. he got two years off because of his confession to the murder of stephany flores ramirez, so he did confess to one of the crimes, he got the near maximum, 28 years. he's 24 years old now, plus 28, 52 years old. so if he survives his very harsh existence in a maximum security prove yang prison -- peruvian prison high in the andes on the bolivian border, then i think he can still be brought back to the united states to face the charges that he attempted to extort $250,000 from beth holloway, the family of natalie holloway, in exchange for information as to where she was buried. so i think that we, we may hear from joran from time to time,

maybe when something awful happens to him in prison. but the fact of the matter is justice has finally come his way. jenna: do you think we'll ever hear a confession from him? he's widely believed, but we don't know, to be the person responsible for natalie holloway's disappearance. do you think in any scenario that that confession for that murder, again, according to these allegations could get him out of the prison sooner, get him back, is there any sort of deals, maneuvers like that? >> i mean, he made the mistake of murdering a young lady from a very prominent and wealthy family. i think rather than fearing he'll be released to face much more, much less serious charges in the united states, i think the story we'll probably hear is that something awful has happened to him in prison. jenna: why do you say that? >> just because, you know, i understand how i would feel if, god forbid, it ever happened to me, and i had a lot of friends,

and i'd go like this to my friends in prison, and joran would go skiing off the andes with no skis on. jenna: all right, that's geraldo justice. [laughter] >> i think he has finally gotten it. jenna: there's a desperate -- separate story that came up that i want to get your opinion on. joshua come star jeff key have been convicted for this heinous home invasion in connecticut, but now the lawyers are saying there wasn't a particular hearing hearing that they were supposed to have, and now they're saying there's a problem. tell us about what hearing they missed and what the deal is. >> right. under the constitution, and every state has the law, you have to be apprised of the charges against you, and the state has to establish that there is probable cause to charge you. in other words, that it's more likely than not that you committed this crime. so there's a probable cause hearing or some places there's an arraignment. in komisarjevsky's case, he waived his probable cause

hearing, and defendants have the right to waive it, you know, in cases like this, slam dunk cases where they catch you red-handed, so to speak. you know, you can waive it as just an exercise. so he waived it. but what happened, jenna, is that then they kept changing the indictment, the information in connecticut. in other words, if there were ten charges, then there were now 12 charges -- jenna: and they had to ask each time for that probable cause? >> he withdrew his waiver, he requested the probable cause hearing for the new informations, the second one, the third one, the fourth one. so the question is, does the initial waiver of the probable cause hearing sustain throughout all of these changed information -- jenna: bottom line, do we see him? >> i think the judge is absolutely right. i think it's a no-brainer, i think he stays in. he's sentenced to death, and whether he dies or not, we'll see. jenna: you've got a big show this weekend -- >> ron paul, ron paul. nan. jenna: we will tune in for that,

geraldo, thank you. we'll be right back. great guest experience. that makes my day.

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