>> tonight, closing arguments, mitt romney's rivals look to derail the front runner in a pair of weekend debates. >> jan crawford, dickerson and chip reid report from new hampshire, a homeless look to survive the winter and win a legal battle to stay. >> behind the scenes in the obama white house, a new book describes the first lady's frustrations, aaron brown has an early read. >> and tucson remembers on the eve of the anniversary of the shooting, ben tracy has the story of a woman who survived and the little girl who didn't. >> held the hand of a nine-year-old and watched the life go out of her eyes. >> captioning sponsored by cbs

this is the "cbs evening news." good evening, i am anthony mason, with just three days to go before the first primary of this election year in new hampshire, the republican candidates are gearing up for a 1-2 punch of televised debates. round 1 is tonight in manchester, with all eyes on the front runner and the rivals who hope to block his path. >> jan crawford is in manchester tonight, good eastern, jan. >> tonight and tomorrow we have it all here in new hampshire, a front run whore is looking to cement his status, we have the surging challenger trying to grab the lead and a couple of former front runners who are fighting to get back in. it is setting the stage for what is shaping up to be let's say a real melee in manchester. >> desperate to stop an early mitt romney knockout, newt gingrich is pummelling the former massachusetts governor. >> i think there is a remarkable difference between a reagan conservative and a massachusetts moderate. >> ron paul is jabbing at a

surging rick santorum. >> he brags about being for the balanced budget amendment, never did anything about it. >> thank you, guys. >> it is only a hint of what is ahead as the candidates try to chip away at romney's commanding lead and slow down santorum. >> coming up his strong finish in iowa santorum has an opportunity to show voters he cannot only beat romney but president obama in november. >> he has shown in past debates he can throw a punch but to win over voters he must do more than sound negative, he needs to show a clear contrast between romney and his own conservative ideas. >> as for gingrich, he has been on the attack after finish ago disappointing fourth in iowa. >> one serial hypocrite exposed. >> he was hit by negative ads but what hurt was his response. >> the more he complained, the more his poll numbers across the country dropped from 35 percent in mid december to 22 percent today. >> last night, a voter asked romney whether the republicans

could get past the negative attacks and unite to beat obama? >> we will put our egos and bruised feelings aside and do the right thing for our nation. >> now republican voters want do see the candidates go after president obama, not each other, that is the one thing anthony, that you nights every republican, taking back the white house. and the candidate who makes the case that he can take on the president and win may well carry >> mason: jan crawford in new hampshire, thanks, jan. for more perspective on the republican battle, we are joined by cbs news political director john dickerson. good evening, john, mitt romney has a sizable lead in the polls in new hampshire, so how important really are these debates going to be? >> reporter: well, romney's opponents are going to try to make them important, newt gingrich's spokesman said tonight was "fight night," another republican veteran said he expected newt gingrich to be so ready to attack romney he would come on stage in a black

cloak carrying a size and santorum says romney should wear a flack-jacket. his opponents hope to soften romney up for the upcoming contest in south carolina. >> mason: if somebody doesn't emerged in south carolina, john, is this race essentially over, if someone doesn't challenge romney there? >> reporter: well, in conversations with gop strategists that is the feeling is that romney's advantage in money and organization plus the fact that his opponents are splitting the anti-romney vote make it very likely he will be the nominee. the question is just how the story ends, and how bruised he gets. >> mason: well, is there a risk, then, the republicans could end up damaging their own front- runner the debates tonight and tomorrow morning? >> reporter: there is that possibility that romney's public image is battered and the debates provide moments democrats can use against romney or the republicans that are suspicious that lowers

enthusiasm for the general election but republicans have rallied together after bruising fights before and this year, anthony they have a very strong motivation and they all want to beat obama. >> mason: john dickerson in new hampshire, thanks, john. new hampshire's unemployment rate is just 5.2 percent, more than three points below the national average, but the economy is still the number one issue in the granite state and republican voters are sharply divided over which candidate is best able to turn things around. chip reid reports. >> hi, how are you? >> reporter: mitt romney's business background and record governing massachusetts has new hampshire home builder fully in his camp. >> he took over that governorship and balanced a $3 billion deficit in four years while he was governor. he did it with bi-partisanship, crossing party lines and finding compromise that everybody could live with. stabile has built 3,500 homes over the past 30 years is looking for more common sense and less partisanship in government. and he sees those qualities in romney. >> i would say he is a pragmatic republican. >> reporter: here on main street in downtown nashua, not every

republican is sold on mitt romney, some small business owners say if you want to fix the economy, you need someone who knows how to get things done in washington. >> i like newt gingrich, because to me, newt has the experience. >> reporter: oriental rug store owner sy mahfuz believes the former house speaker is better prepared to help businesses grow. >> we have to lower taxes. we have got to make business, the ability to be in business more affordable. and we are being -- many of the small companies are being taxed out of business. >> mafuz's sales have been flat for four years, he has 11 employees, but hopes to expand to 15 or 20 when the economy improves.

>> a homemaker with three children brought eight-year-old sam to hear rick santorum. she says he is the only candidate who understands, a strong economy and family values go hand in hand. >> when you have a strong family, strong principles, strong morals, strong values you end up growing into, you know, hardworking people that want to go out there, work hard, start a new business. >> reporter: ron paul says the biggest drag on business is the towering federal debt, a message that has bill mcnally listening. >> because he is the only one that has a platform to reducing the size of government. >> reporter: four candidates, four approaches, three days until their supporters get to vote. chip reid, cbs news, nashua, new hampshire. >> mason: now to the war in afghanistan, today the indiana national guard said four of its service members were killed by a roadside bomb blast north of kandahar. the guardsmen were on a patrol with afghan police. iran today officially welcomed the u.s. navy's rescue of 13 iranian fishermen from pirates calling it a humanitarian gesture, the drama began thursday in the a arabian sea

when sailors from the us destroyer "kidd" sees add vessel freed the crew from suspected somali pirates. the news agency accused the u.s. of creating a hollywood drama out of the event. in syria today thousands of people chanting support for president bashar assad, at the funerals of the suicide bomb attack, at least 26 people were killed, including 11 police officers. opposition leaders accused the regime of staging the bombing to justify its crackdown on dissent. penn state made it official today, the university introduced new football head coach bill o'brien. o'brien is currently the offensive coordinator for the new england patriots. he succeeds legendary joe paterno who was fired amid a child abuse sex scandal. and coming up on tonight's "cbs evening news," homeless and jobless people living in a tent city, fighting for better housing.

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>> the irs estimates americans underpay their taxes by $385 billion in its latest report from 2006. that number is bigger than the federal budget deficit that year. >> some good news on the economic front this week, job growth accelerated in december, the economy added 200,000 jobs and the unemployment rate dropped further to eight and a half percent, the lowest in almost three years. joining me now is jill schlessinger editor in large at cbs money watch.com, we saw a steady stream of good job news are we out of the woods. >> not out of the woods but see the pathway, we still have 131.000000 americans out of work that is such a high number, another 8 million or so working part-time just because they can't find full-time work, so while we are happy with the month of december, we have got a long wray t to go.

>> we had a pretty goodyear? >> yeah, we had a decent year, 1.6 million jobs added is a good year not just a snap back recovery year when we used to have recession ms. the past. >> the good old days. >> meantime economists are forecasting growth to two, two and a half percent which is moderate, is that enough to bring down the unemployment rate? >> i don't think so, most economist say if growth is only at that level we will only see 135, 150,000 jobs a month that is just about the same number of folks who are coming into the labor force, we need growth of three percent to really push these 200,000 plus jobs a month and we need a lot of those months in a row. >> how many jobs a month do we need, typically? >> well i think we need 200, to 250,000 a month. >> for. >> >> last year we were optimistic and seeing improved job growth and we saw a tsunami and u.s. credit job grade, what could derail up this year? >> it is all about europe, the european the debt crisis is not just simmering but escalating

and boiling and coming to a point in the first quarter of this year where a bunch of countries have to go out and borrow money again. the cost of that borrowing is going up, it is very destabilizing for not just europe but for the entire globe, that is the known, i don't even know what is out there, what the next tsunami is going to be, the best defense is always as an investor, chill out, be prepared, don't make too many moves if you don't have to. >> jill shrez jerry, thanks very much. >> great to be here. >> the economic recovery may be painfully slow for most americans but for the more than 630,000 people who are homeless, the improvements can seem nonexistent, for them it is about surviving, and in new jersey, even that is threatened. >> here is tony guida. >> i lost my job, i lost my insurance, lost my car, lost my apartment. >> angelo villanueva was working as a mason when the housing market collapsed for nine months he has been living in the woods near lakewood, new jersey, where we first met him last fall. >> i never thought i would be

homeless. you know, i just think homeless people were bums but actually it can happen to anyone at any time. >> he was making $100,000 a year when she was laid off from her job at the text tile designer. >> last few years, living in new york, i really i felt like i was hanging on by my fingernails. >> and now you are living in the woods in new jersey in a tent. what is that like? >> it is very hard. you are constantly thinking about what you need to do to prepare for the rain, to prepare for the snow. >> we will probably have twice as many people going into this winter as we did last winter. >> minister stephen brigham founded tent city five years ago when he learned there were no homeless shelters in ocean county. about 80 people live here. it is a living demonstration of what the economy is doing to people. these have no other safety net to fall back on, so they are falling into tent city. >> lakewood's deputy mayor stephen langert says the residents are squatters and he

wants them evicted. >> there are emergency federal programs, medicaid and federal housing programs that these people can take advantage of. >> now the residents brave winter in the woods while a judge considers the future of tent city. >> yesterday, judge joseph foster denied lakewood's request to disband the camp. >> there is a governmental responsibility here to care for the poor at some level. >> he ordered mediation to decide how that responsibility might be met. the outcome will prove crucial to angelo villanueva who continues to live here even though he found a job at a recycling plant. >> they are paying me a fraction of what i used to make but it is still, i am still going to need this place because it is not enough for me to afford housing. >> this here is my bag. >> how much longer he can call tent city home is very much in doubt. tony dwi at that, cbs news, lakewood, new jersey. >> and ahead, first lady michelle obama's early struggles in the white house. that story is next.

>> almost three full years have past since first lady michelle obama interned the white house, entered the white house like her husband she faced a very steep learning curve and we are learning of difficult times with some of president obama's inner circle. here is karen brown.

>> i am the first lady and i get to do a lot of cool things, go! >> all right! >> the first lady passed nutrition and exercise but behind the scenes. >> she really tones room when she walks in. >> michelle obama is exercising her power, washington insider sally quinn. >> first ladies always protect their husbands. that is their jobs. >> in a new book, new york times reporter jodi kantor says, the first lady clashed with top aides like rahm emanuel. >> the president told the former chief of staff his wife was displeased with the handling of the healthcare battle, emmanuel was indignant. >> rahm emanuel is a very difficult person and i am sure that michelle obama was probably deeply offended by rahm emanuel's style. >> cantor also writes, mrs. obama's reported comments to carla bruni that living in the white house was hell created problems for former press secretary robert gibbs, when he learned she was upset with his

efforts at damage control, he cursed the first lady to staffers. >> well, i mean, that is shocking. first of all, it is really stupid. they don't understand that she is the wife. and that she has got the power. >> the book reveals the evolution of michelle obama from the harvard educated mom who felt that everyone is waiting for a black woman to make a mistake to a formidable first lady. >> i think that she is now getting her sea legs. it is about giving you a voice with decision makers. >> the book says mrs. obama has found her voice. >> it is about getting something done. >> and is all in with helping her husband get re-elected. >> karen brown, cbs news, new york. >> mason: pictures of pandas aren't really china's most popular export but you would have been forgiven for thinking otherwise after looking at these panda cubs in sichuan province,

all told 12 pandas have left their mothers to begin new lives at a panda breeding society the american dialect society spoken the word of the year is occupy, in an note to occupy movements around the word. >> tebowing after tim tebow and kardash a 72 day unit of time that matches the lifespan of kim kardashian's marriage. ahead, the shooting in tucson one year later. that story is next.

>> finally this evening, the people of tucson this weekend are marking the first anniversary of the shooting that killed six people, and wounded 13 others. including representative gabby giffords, giffords is making a remarkable recovery from her head wounds and at h her office last night she unveiled a plaque to her staff whore died in the attack. still it has been a long year for the people involved in that tragic day, ben tracy introduces us to one of them. >> i wish i could pick you up and carry you, but i can't. >> suzi hileman has every reason not to be in this classroom. >> silly goose. >> not to once again bond with children. >> i love you back. >> on january 8th, suzi took her

neighbor's daughter nine-year-old kristina taylor green to meet their congresswoman gabby giffords, shortly after arriving at the tucson grocery store the first of 13 shots rang out. >> congresswoman giffords was -- she slid down. >> we first talked to hileman last year, just after she got out of the hospital. she was shot three times. her pain was still raw. i remember lying on the ground and looking at her, and telling her to stay with me, and not to go through this long and sweety i love you, kristina, kristina. >> kristina died, but her memory lives on. it lives on today in tucson at this walk held in her honor, in the playing kristina's parents had built nearby. and in her corneas donated so two other children can now see. >> when we heard that, we

absolutely knew it was the best decision in the world, and, you know, i know kristina would be proud to have helped somebody. >> yet after losing her young friend, suzi hileman needed help too. >> one of the things that made me saddest when i was in the hospital was the fear that my friends with children would think i was toxic and that they would be afraid to let their kids be with me. >> then last february, a local school asked her to judge a contest in which kids take pictures expressing their hopes for america. >> i hope america helps people. >> my hope is for a peaceful country. >> i like this one. >> suzi quickly learned she was far from toxic. >> yes! okay. where are you supposed to be gorgeous. >> she has been coming back to that same tucson school nearly every week. >> here is your whole beautiful name, right there. gorgeous. >> boosting her spirits and giving back. >> kristina is gone, but all of

these wonderful little faces are right here for me, and it reminds me that there is joy and love in the world, that life goes on. >> tomorrow morning here in tucson, bells will ring all over town at 10:11 marking the exact moment the shooting began, and then tomorrow evening congressman giffords will attend a candlelight vigil, anthony. >> ben tracy, thanks, and that is the cbs evening news, later on cbs 48 hours and later on face the nation defense secretary leon panetta and joint chiefs of staff chairman general martin dempsey in the latest tensions between the u.s. and iran, i am anthony mason in new york, thanks for putting up with this shaky voice and thanks for watching, good night. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

a child wandering the safe and sound. and all aloin. what police are doing to track down a child left wandering the streets at 3:00 in the morning. on a nice warm january day, think about the worst. what to do, to keep your neighborhood safe from wildfires. and the homes firefighters say they might just let burn. far from a done deal. even though it would save the state millions. the drive to regulate marijuana, just like alcohol. cbs 5 eyewitness news is next.