tv station about what she says was a 13-year affair with herman cain. >> i was aware that he was married. and i was also aware that i was involved in a very inappropriate situation. >> white says she met cain in the late '90s in kentucky, where he was speaking as ceo of the national restaurant association. he invited her to his hotel room. and after that, she says for 13 years, he flew her to meet him in hotels and lavished her with gifts. >> he made it very intriguing. it was fun. it was something that took me away from my sort of humdrum life at the time. >> even before white's allegations aired, cain went on tv. admitting he knew her, but denying an affair. >> but i acknowledged that i knew the woman. i've known her for about that period of time. but the accusation that i had a

13-year affair with her, no. >> after the report, the campaign issued a statement. detractors are trying to derain the cain train with more accusations of past events that never happened. cain said he informed his wife of the allegations. >> my wife's reaction was similar to mine. here we go again. we were basically showing when the details become available that i didn't do anything wrong. >> white planned to keep the relationship secret. until she saw what happened to the four women who accused cain of sexual harassment. >> these statements are all false? all the women are lying? >> yes. they are. >> it bothered me that they were being treated as if they were automatically lying. and the burden of proof is on them. i felt bad for them. >> as evidence of her relationship with cain, white produced records of 61 phone

calls and texts over four months to cain's private cell. cain said he was just trying to help white financially. court records show that white has had financial problems, including a bankruptcy filing and eviction notices. a lawsuit by a former business partner also accuses her of slander. the former business partner told nbc news that white told lies about her. we reached out to white's lawyer, but got no response. >> and that was lisa meyers. cain says it didn't happen, but in an odd twist, his own attorney stopped short of a denial. in a lamt, he said, this appears to be an accusation of private, alleged consensual conduct between adults. the media's right to report has boundaries, and those end outside of one's bedroom door. i'm joined by alex burns.

good morning to you, alex. >> good morning. thank you for having me. >> the story felt like it was piling on after the sexual harassment allegations. does everyone know his campaign is over except him? >> i think this is a difficult story for the campaign to deal with for reasons that are different from the sexual harassment episodes. this one concerns, as his lawyer noted, a long-term, consensual affair. and that is much harder to describe as a misunderstanding the way cain did with the sexual harassment issue. >> didn't you find the statement a little weird? he said this is not a proper subject inquiry by the media, but he didn't say it didn't happen? >> you have had conservatives like mike huckabee coming out and saying that that statement could be kind of the nail in the coffin for the cain campaign. if he can't do better than that really quickly, that nondenial is going to come to characterize

his response. much like that shifting set of stories about the initial sexual harassment reports that was reported last month. >> so cain's polls are plummeting. the latest national poll had him at 14%. where does that 14% go? >> i think the question here is are the people who are still sticking with herman cain so committed to him that they will standby him even through this? or will this be the development that finally makes them look elsewhere. you have to ask in that case, do they go to newt gingrich because they want a conservative alternative to mitt romney? or are these people going to be thinking more about which candidate has a marriage that they can trust? a record of acting out family values in a way they admire. in which case, mitt romney gets a look. >> i heard some people suggest ing over the last couple days that they think it's possible somehow, because they still have

some money, rick perry could make a comeback. do you buy that? >> i think any time you see a candidate imploed the way we have seen with cain over the last month, that's a lot of votes that become up for grabs. if for some reason newt gingrich can't sustain momentum, you could see rick perry make a grab for that support. if you're making a list of the folks in the race that cob servetives are going to look to, perry is not even close to the top. >> you mentioned newt gingrich and on the campaign trail in south carolina last night, he went after michele bachmann. let me play that for you. >> i want to have amnesty for millions of people. that's totally false. that's an obama-quality statement. the fact is, i don't see you'll ever pass a bill which requires us to hunt down every single

person who has been here for a quarter century. and i think there's a humane, orderly way to do this. >> alex, are conservatives comfortable with him? >> immigration is the last big hurdle for newt gingrich. the message he's been trying to get out is that at the end of the day, his position on illegal immigration is not in practice all that different from mitt romney. even if they are emphasizing enforcement versus compassion. >> how big do you see this? we always talk about the fact that this is an election about the economy. this is an election about jobs. but on the margin, is immigration one of those big issues that maybe make a difference? >> it's going to make a big difference in the primaries. especially in iowa where we saw that issue destroy rick perry. when you look to the general

election, can a candidate like mitt romney, who is still probably the most likely republican nominee, can a candidate like mitt romney run on immigration and then present himself to latino voters in the general in a way that would be acceptable. >> alex, thanks so much. >> thank you. >> we are now less than a year away from the 2012 elections. i'm sure you've seen it. the airways are getting a lot of ads. it could be the democrats who might face some trouble. two conservative groups, american cross roads and cross roads gps, have goals of spending $300 million this election cycle. priorities usa has a goal of just a third of that. $100 million. anita dun is with us. good morning. >> good morning, chris.

>> are you worried about these outside groups raising up a this money on the republican side? and reports frankly from bill ber tin that there may be problems for his group to reach its $100 million goal? >> there's going to be a significant difference in how obama's campaign is funded. president obama's campaign, as it was in 2008, is going to be fuelled primarily by small donors. if you look at the finance reports, you'll see recently over half of the donors to the president's campaign are donors who have given $200 or less. grass roots donors. over a million including a lot of new ones. >> but is part of the problem that some of the big donors who could really make a difference in this campaign have decided to sit it out?

>> well, chris, i think that the real question is will enough people, small donors across the country, say we want our voice to be heard too. we want the president who is standing up for our rights. first is the large donors giving to the super pack. and obviously, the big donors are going to go to cross roads, as they did in 2010. the real question is whether enough small donors can raise money to match that. and i think that what you're seeing right now is that the answer is going to be yes. we may not spend as much money, but it's going to be a campaign fuelled by people. this is a year in which you want to have the people behind you and not necessarily the moneyed interests. >> we have talked a lot about this being the $3 billion presidential campaign. it was interesting listening to

barney frank talking about not spending so much time. he had hoped to be able to spend on constituent issues raising money and what's going to be a tougher race for him in his redistricted district. so right now, republicans in their respective campaigns committ committees are individually raising 42% more than the democrats. let me get your reaction to that number. >> the reality is that incumb t incumbents tend to raise more money than challengers. that's been true really since modern campaign finance came into effect. another interesting fact though is that the house campaign committees, the democratic campaign committee, has outraised the republican campaign committee. it's fuelled by small donors. chris, at the end of the day, people get to decide these elections. when you have a large motivated

base of small donors, they are not just giving money. they are volunteering. they are knocking on doors. they turn out to vote. that's going to be a critical difference. it's going to be the large number of small donors across the country who are going to turn out for democrats. >> let me go back to the presidential race. we were just able to turn around a piece of sound from mitt romney this morning. he's talking about running against president obama. let me play that. you have to listen hard to hear what he has to say, but here it is. >> they are awfully afraid of facing me in the general election. they want to throw it to anybody but me. bring it on. >> he says the president is awfully afraid of facing me in the general election. but truly, is mitt romney the white house's most difficult opponent? >> you know, i think everyone who has been in politics for awhile has learned that you basically plan to run a campaign against whoever wins on the

other side. that process is going to be decided by primary voters. the idea of mitt romney is that he's a candidate who over the years has basically treated his campaigns as though they are an investment. what position do i need to take now to appeal to the funders? what position do i need to take now to appeal to the voters? i think the american people are looking for someone whose values and character they can trust. that's a matchup frankly that i think the obama campaign should welcome. you have one candidate whose commitment to the middle class families of this country and to make moving this country forward has never waivered. versus a candidate who has been shown to be ready on any issue. if he thinks it will help him get ahead. >> you're going to hear more of the accusations as the campaign goes forward. thank you so much. >> thank you for having me. >> newt gingrich continues to surge in the polls.

water boarding is okay. and tim pawlenty says mitt romney is not a flip-floppers. details coming up. the u.s. government won't say it was at fault, but it will pay $2.5 million to the family of a man killed in the 2001 anthrax attacks. his family sued the government saying it was negligent. someone from an army lab used anthrax in letters that killed five people. the parent company of american airlines has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. its ceo will also step down. they are trying to remain competitive. the company says high fuel costs and labor disputes are to blame for the massive debt. america was the only major u.s. airlines that didn't file for bankruptcy after 9/11. walmart-pn gives you the lowest plan premium in the country...

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newt gingrich says water boarding might be okay under some circumstances. he made the comment in south carolina yesterday. >> water boarding is not torture. water boarding is something -- i think the right balance is to say the president could only do water boarding at the direction of the president in a circumstance where information was of such great importance we thought it was worth the risk of doing it. >> over the romney campaign, tim pawlenty stood up for his new boss insisting that mitt romney is not a flip-flopper and this dnc ad is not fair. >> the dnc did not play fair.

mitt romney's record isn't perfect, but it's the best record of any candidate in the race. >> and retiring congressman barney frank bristled at the idea that democrats may not be able to take back the house because he's retiring. >> no. this doesn't mean we're not going to take back the house. in fact, i think we're likely to win the seat. again, do you think there was 106? >> pakistan announced today it will boycott an upcoming meeting on afghanistan to protest the strike that killed 24 pakistan soldiers over the weekend. that move comes as pakistan's prime minister says that his nation's relationship with the u.s. will no longer be "business as usual." joining me now is jack jacobs. does that give you pause? >> this is a new law in relationship with pakistan, which is a country in transition in any case. you have a government that's

extremely weak. the military establishment has no respect whatsoever. a large portion of the intelligence apparatus in the country certainly is helping enemies of the united states. >> and it matters to us because we have these supply lines. they provide 40% of the supplies going to troops? >> sometimes more. pakistan has closed that line in the wake of the attack on the pakistan soldiers. we have stockpiles in afghanistan to take us up for awhile. major requirements like food, fuel, and ammunition. but it's not going to last forever. it's important that supply line is reopened. but i don't think pakistan has any intention of reopening it unless they get some kind of concession. >> what happened here? the ap is reporting that the taliban may have deliberately chosen an attack site near the post to lure the two sides into

firing on each other. >> it's possible. that's an area cluttered with taliban. the pakistan encampments were maybe a couple hundred meters apart. the taliban runs freely. we conduct a special operation when we have a high degree of confidence. there are taliban in a specific area. a fire fight ensues. the pakistanens think they are getting fired on. they fire back. >> so what does pakistan want? nato has already apologized. >> an apology is not what they are after. we stopped the billions of dollars we were giving them annually. they want money and they want the united states to say that it is not going to conduct any cross border operations ever again. we're not going to do that. the taliban is on the pakistan side of the border. we're going to continue to

conduct operations. we may give them more money, but there are a lot of people in congress who are not happy with how pakistan is operating. i don't think they are going to get any money any time soon either. it's a very dangerous time. >> always great to have you on. thank you. iranian student protesters have broken into the british embas embassy in the capitol of tehran. they have replaced it with an iranian flag. and three people were tased as washington state police clashed with hundreds of occupy protesters last night inside the state capitol. protesters who refused to leave were forcibly carried out. police arrested a handful of demonstrators there. in los angeles, occupy wall street protesters who defied a deadline to leave are standing their ground hoping to avoid a

showdown. they will only move in on the camp when conditions are safest for protesters and officers. the protests are attempting to get a court injunction to allow them to stay. rachel weets was manufacturing her products in slooe lan ka. she partnered durham, north carolina, factory. she's committed to creating products made in the usa. ♪ ♪ ♪ when the things that you need ♪ ♪ come at just the right speed, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ medicine that can't wait legal briefs there by eight, ♪ ♪ that's logistics. ♪ ♪ freight for you, box for me box that keeps you healthy, ♪ ♪ that's logistics. ♪

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just one hour from now, michael jackson's doctor will learn his punishment in a california courtroom. dr. murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter earlier this month for his reckless use of propofol. stephanie stanton has the latest for us. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. sentencing gets underway at 8:30 local time here at the criminal courts building in downtown los angeles. there's every indication that dr. conrad murray will get the maximum sentence of four years in prison. in fact, yesterday i spoke with michael flanagan. he says he believes the judge will throw the book at dr. conrad murray. he and his team plan to ask for

probation or a lesser sentence. they say dr. murray has no prior record. they say he's a model citizen and a model doctor, and therefore, should not get the maximum sentence. the sentencing getting underway at 8:30 local time. members of the jackson family are expected to be present. however, it's unclear whether any of them will be making victim impact statements. but according to dr. murray's attorney, murray himself will not be addressing the court. we're reporting here in downtown los angeles, i'm stephanie stanton. rainy and overcast in washington, d.c. your paycheck and how much money you take home is being debated on capitol hill. we have those details coming up n gives you the lowest plan premium in the country... so you can focus on what really matters. call humana at 1-800-808-4003.

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arkansas, mississippi, and alabama. mike psi dell is live this morning. i guess i said rare for this time of year. maybe rare for any time of year, huh? >> reporter: you got that right. the average first snowfall in memphis is january 12th. most of these spots hardly ever see a flake of snow, let alone several inches. this is very rare and very early. some spots picked up five inches. yesterday afternoon when it started to fall, denmark, a town near the i-40 interchange between nashville and memphis, the jackson area, they had five inches of snow. again, all the snow fell at temperatures near 33. so the roads were fine. memphis city schools are open. it's now up to 37. the precip has basically ended. the snow is melting fast.

take a look at the latest radar. you can see a little white in tennessee, but everything primarily is falling as rain. now getting into the new york city area. but later today and tonight, the cold air will work north wards. you'll see your first measurable snow of the season. some parts in lower michigan will see a half a foot of snow. it will be turning cooler in the northeast following what was an incredible day yesterday. hopefully, you're outside. that 70-degree record high in central park. it doesn't get much nicer than that in central park. >> thank you so much, mike. let's take a look at other stories people are talking about right now. police have now named the ex-fiance of michelle parker has the prime suspect in her disappearance. dale smith has a history of violence and he refused to take a lie detector test. parker hasn't been seen since she and smith debuted on "the

people's court." the man who confessed to carrying out the mass bombings in norway that killed 77 people was insane at the time of the massac massacre. prosecutors say he should be sent to a psychiatric ward instead of prison for those july attacks. security cameras caught a shoot youth in a parking lot that injured at least eight people. among them, a one-year-old boy whose dad drove him to the hospital, where he's now in critical condition. the video shows a crowd of people running for safety after someone opened fire outside a liquor store. investigators say bullet casings showed more than 50 shots were fired by an estimated six shooters. the charity founded by jerry sandusky is asking donors to contribute elsewhere. the second mile says the money should go to a group that helps sexual assault victims. a young man known as victim one

has hired a legal team known for representing victims of clergy sex abuse scandals. syracuse university, a day after a long time assistant coach bernie fine was fired, the u.s. attorney has taken the lead in the investigation. jay gray is live on the campus of syracuse university. a 2:00 hearing. what are we expecting today? >> reporter: good morning. it is basically boiling down between a fight between the district attorney's office and the city. it's been an ugly and public issue. the police department refusing to turn over records from 2002 when bobby davis, the initial accuser in the case, first approached police. he was told at that time that the statute of limitations had passed. still, the d.a. wants the records from their discussions. at this point, the police have

refused to turn that over. one interesting note and something that a lot of people here at syracuse are talking about is the current chief of police happens to be a former syracuse basketball player. >> we're also expecting to hear from the basketball coach who has been under fire because he initially said that the accusers were liars and people still calling for his job. right? >> reporter: yeah. that's really a growing cry here. there are a few who think it may come to that. he came out initially supporting his initial coach and friend. they have been together for more than 30 years working and as friends. he said this is all lies. we have had that initial investigation in 2002. nothing came of it. i'm going to support my assistant coach. with the events of the weekend, he's taken a step back and released a written statement saying he was sorry. hoped he didn't intimidate anyone else from coming forward and expected there to be a full investigation at this point. the team plays for the first time tonight after the firing of

bernie fine. they have been leaving an open seat on the bench honor iing hi. that will likely go away tonight. he will have to face the cameras after the game. it will be interesting to see what he has to say. >> jay gray, thank you for that. this afternoon, president obama is dealing with the euro zone crisis. he has a meeting with the prime minister of the netherlands. tomorrow he will push for the payroll tax cut. he's faced tough challenges. is he getting the credit he deserves? it's the subject of a column. president as pinata. so you give this long list of achievements. let's go through them. rescued the auto industry, signed the fair pay act, controlled the credit card industry, took out osama bin laden. where are his cheerleaders? >> i think in this economic environment, you're never going to find cheerleaders. you look at reagan.

his popularity got down to 35% during the economic crisis in the '80s. george bush had been a hero at the time of the first iraq war. then his popularity plummeted to 27% after the economic crisis of 1992. so i think it's kind of inevitable we'll be focused on the downside. and also, for many of us, i think, we were full of hope for obama. there's going to be a certain amount of disappointment. but i think we also have to have some perspective both about the challenges and about the fact that we're facing a referendum. >> one of the things you write about is he had this incredible gift for public speaking. he really did go out there and raise peoples' spirits with the hope and the change. and there are a lot of folks who say he has been surprisingly

inept at communicating. i'm wondering if you have seen the new ad that has come out. i want to play a clip. >> neighborhoods come together, communities organize, a movement builds. it all starts with you. making a decision to get involved. because we have so much more to do. >> i tell you. that was on our air earlier this morning. i was in the makeup room. one woman said what is that with the phone number at the bottom? what do you think of that ad? >> it doesn't ring my bell. we have more to do. it doesn't resinate as a slogan. i think it's a real challenge for them. but it is fascinating that somebody who has just one of the most extraordinary gifts for public speaking. just can't seem to do messaging right since engaging in the white house. part of that is you always campaign in poetry. but even so, i think they just

had a real difficulty in messaging. it's striking how bill clinton has been doing a better job articulating the white house point of view than president obama has. >> do you think it will change? do you think the dynamic will change once he has an opponent and once he's out there and start to engage? >> that will certainly help president obama. but i do worry a little bit. you think back to 1968 when the democrats sense of crankiness helped elect richard nixon. 1980 with the same feeling towards jimmy carter. in 2000. the general sense of grumpiness that we felt towards al gore. i think we in the media also magnified al gore's shortcomings. and we got eight years of george

bush. >> i sometimes wonder -- a lot of people say it's about the jobs number. i heard that. it has to go down to 7% or under 8% or people throughout these unemployment numbers. is it that? or people are out spending money again. record amount of money on black friday. stock market reacting very positively to those things. is it going to be just an overall feeling? or will we have to see the jobs numbers come down? >> it's probably more about the project ri than the absolute number. unless one sees the job number coming down, 9% is high. it's going to be hard for obama to focus on anything else. and the reality is that europe right now is a real mess. there's a significant possibility europe will get worse in the contagion. >> he's going to be working on

that this afternoon. nick, thank you so much. edadmit it. you took a few minutes out to do some online shopping. maybe even at work yesterday. you're not alone. cyber monday picked up where the black friday sales left off. mandi drury is here with more. >> it was quite the moneymaker. a surge of activity late last night. apparently, it pushed online sales to record amounts. up 33% over last year. eclipsing the record from last year. i should also say that the sales were up over black friday. also showing that americans are comfortable with purchasing from mobile devices. sales from such devices were up 7.5%. the average order amount was also up from $193.24 to $198.26.

it is important for retail rs to make a good showing on days like cyber monday and black friday. because the holiday shopping season can make up to 40% of a retailer's annual revenue. >> speaking of money coming in, wouldn't you like to have had a big chunk of facebook? because my goodness. they are one step closer to going public. the numbers are mind boggling. >> you're so right on that. $100 billion is the kind of money we're looking at here for facebook. reports are saying that its considering raising $10 billion. possibly in a time frame of april to june next year. with the evaluation, it would be twice as high as it was back in january when the company announced a $1.5 billion investment from gold man sax. also that offering would raise more money than any other tick

dwarfing the previous record holder that generated $5.23 billion back in 1999. >> unbelievable. mandi, good to see you. thank you. in the spirit of occupy wall street, i want you to check out the headlines. these are the new york tabloids. big picture in the post. those guys are from the posh connecticut suburb who won more than a quarter of a billion dollars on a single one-day lottery ticket. it's the largest jackpot in that state's history. they took the lump sum. just $103 million cash. they will give a significant amount to charity. how about this story? talking a guilty conscious. the manager of a sears store in seattle says an elderly man hand delivered an envelope. inside it was $100 bill and a note that read "during the late

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stickers? uh-uh. a superhero? ♪ kinda. [ male announcer ] and we think that's the best prize of all. ♪ new research suggests children aren't getting enough pain medication after surgery causing them unnecessary suffering. 13% of children have pain lasting for months after surgeries like ap dekt mys. some are reluctant to prescribe pain medication because they fear parents will not give the proper dose. good morning. i'm thomas roberts. herman cain denies the latest accusation against him.

why an alleged friend with benefits is claiming an affair with cain. how will this affect his campaign? dr. conrad murray will be sentenced shortly for the involuntary murder conviction of michael jackson. and the high school girl who took on the kansas governor with a tweet and won the war of words. emma sullivan will join me live in the next hour. >> friends with benefits? >> yes, i said it. another showdown is shaping up in the senate over your money and whether to extend a payroll tax cut. democrats are accusing republicans of taking the side of the super rich. here's harry reid just moments ago. >> republicans already appear poised to block this legislation. let's be clear. a no vote on this proposal is a vote to deny tax relief to millions of businesses. it's a vote to raise taxes for

120 million families by about $1,000 each. republicans who vote no will be taking money out of the pockets of middle class families. >> republicans have been firing back. they say the democrats are playing politics. yesterday this is what mitch mcconnell had to say. >> there's no reason we shouldn't focus on passing these bills. >> jeanne couplings is the editor of bloomberg. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> we heard the president make the same argument we just heard from harry reid. bottom line, this means if you're making $50,000 a year, it's going to cost you $1,000 a year. that's a lot of money. so how do republicans answer that basic fact? >> well, for the republicans,

they do have two steps here. they have to -- their position is we support doing this, but we oppose the way the democrats want to pay for it. it's a more complicated argument to make. it's one of the reasons that harry reid has repeatedly had the senate vote on measures where the payment for them is tied to increasing taxes on millionaires. because he wants to pound this message through to voters. it's one they are going to take into 2012. that the republicans over and over again protected millionaires at the expense of ordinary people. >> tim, do you see any way that the republicans can negotiate another way to pay for this? >> the question is what will the democrats do when republicans block this? are they really going to go into the next year letting all the supposed stimulus in the bill expire? are they going to let the payroll tax return to its previous level? are they going to avoid the dock

fix? that means doctors would stop taking medicare. there's all sorts of stuff in this legislation that democrats, if they actually believe the arguments, think are necessary to help the economy. and so they don't want the economy going down in an election year. i don't think the democrats can play chicken and let the payroll tax go back up. >> how do you see this playing out? >> i see the republicans defeating the tax hike. and then harry reid saying, this would have been paid for, but now it adds to the deficit because republicans wanted to protect millionaires. that's a standard political gamesmanship. harry reid is good at it. republicans do it with pork, where they say if you want to fund this, then cut this pork. then they can say he stood up for the bridge to nowhere rather than this paying for the bill. >> jeanne, the american people are sick of the political

gamesmanship, as tim puts it. do both sides have something to gain or lose? >> i think your point is well taken in that the public is tired of this. and congress knows these measures are important. they are important to the recovery. both sides agree that they do have stimlative effect. so eventually, they probably will come to some other way of paying for this. how they come up with this is unclear right now. but they can propose some across the board cuts that are fuzzy, but still count, and get these things passed. so then when we go into the following year, in all likelihood, we will see the measures, the payroll tax reduction and unemployment benefits extended. but there will be the posturing on the hill because they want

both to pass them. and to have the political points to take into the race. >> jeanne couplings, thank you. today's tweet of the day comes from willy goois. are there really people who get cars on them with bows on them? [ indistinct conversations ] nice, huh? yeah. you know what else is nice is all the savings you can get on cruze and traverse over there. oh! that's my beard. [ chuckles ] it's amazing. ♪ [ male announcer ] this holiday, chevy's giving more. now very well qualified lessees can sign and drive a 2012 cruze ls for around $199 a month. ♪

bella's wedding dress and bieber fever. bieber fever at a whole new level. justin booeber is now the most searched celebrity of 2011 according to bing. he was the only male in the top ten. last year's number one, kim kardashian, slips to number two. ann hathaway not on that list, but oneover the most searched celebrities today because she's engaged. she says he convinced her to

love again after her last boyfriend turned out to be a crook. maybe she'll choose a wedding dress like bella in the movies of twie lielgt. they are pretending to be engaged to try on the replica of bella's dress. there was no sleigh on the roof and no reign deer. that wraps up this hour of "jansing and co." i'm chris jansing. i'll see you back here tomorrow. ♪

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new crisis facing herman cain's camp. this time it's an alleged affair dogging his