the 2012 gop hopefuls get back in campaign mode after a short holiday break. and the focus is on iowa with the caucus over a week away. president obama enjoying r & r in hawaii, but takes time to thank the troops, as well. and he bit off, as well, a little bit more than he could chew with a baby. plus, many happy returns to you. shoppers heading back to the stores today to pick up a few deals. good morning, i'm richard lui, hope you had a great holiday weekend. first off, it's christmas in hawaii for president obama and his family this week. but as commander in chief, he spent part of the holiday with a group of marines and their families. he thanked them for their

service, wished them aer merry christmas and the base visit is something of a tradition for the obamas. and a tender moment when the president picked up an 8-month-old baby. everyone laughed as little cooper wagner stole the show. the vice president, joe biden stopped by the medical center to thank them for their sacrifice. and eight precious days left on the trail until iowa. and the man who won the caucuses last time around is making a bold prediction about who the winner will be. >> i would probably say that mitt romney will end up winning it today. now, i think, again, ron paul because of his organization could and where -- and that's where mitt is really at a disadvantage. he doesn't have the devotion. if the weather is good, mitt romney is in better shape. if the weather is bad, and it's real tough to get out, ron paul

will win. >> well, newt gingrich's campaign is scrambling to get him on the ballot in virginia. the campaign found out just this weekend they did not have enough valid signatures to compete. and it's raising new questions about the front-runner's organization. just four days ago, he was talking about winning virginia. >> i would say we have a very good chance to win. when you get down to a choice between a massachusetts moderate and a conservative -- a southern conservative, i think in virginia we'll have a pretty good chance in the primary of winning it. >> nbc news campaign alex moe is following the story for us. good morning. his campaign director compared this to pearl harbor in 1941. they've got to be surprised here. what does this mean for the campaign practically speaking? >> i'd say, richard, the campaign said in a statement on facebook that this wasn't necessarily a catastrophic blow to the campaign, but like pearl harbor it was an unexpected setback. and the campaign manager said they're going to be able to

regroup and refocus after the holiday. the campaign barely made it on the ohio ballot a couple of weeks ago and told the press they were on track to meet the deadline in virginia. obviously they weren't able to get 10,000 signatures verified. now only romney and paul are on the ballot and some are saying this is going to make virginia irrelevant as one of the front-runners isn't on. but it seems that the bigger story that then gingrich story was not able to get on and haven't put together the national campaign just yet. >> what are his options right now? there's legal, also an appeal, can they do write-ins, as well? >> well, the campaign -- all we've heard so far is early saturday morning they put out an e-mail saying they're going to pursue an impressi iviv ivive w campaign. it doesn't appear legal to do that. luckily for the campaign, it was a holiday weekend, so it doesn't seem too many people are talking about it. i'm sure has he embarks on this tour tomorrow, the press is going to be asking lots of

questions, what they're going to do because, you know, moving forward, they're going to have to get on a couple of other big ballots, like indiana coming up in january. we don't know what they're going to do, but they are looking into other options. >> alex, there's been a lot of criticism about his organization, whether they do have the robustness on the ground there. what does this mean going forward? what's their plan? >> well, i mean, they're obviously trying to work very hard here in iowa. and they're going to try to attempt to finish in the top three here. and then, you know, go forward in new hampshire and south carolina and florida. as for virginia, it's a super tuesday state. that doesn't happen until march. but we're going to have to see if there's a legal way to get on the ballot. because as i said, right now it's only going to be romney and paul on that ballot. >> a bit of a surprise for the gingrich campaign. thank you so much, alex. >> thank you. go the a new poll that shows mitt romney holding his ground in new hampshire with a new potential spoiler there.

romney leading the pack with 39 points among likely republican voters, newt gingrich and ron paul each trail by 22 points with 17%, paul, by the way, is up 5% since last month. joining me now is david kurtz, managing editor for "talking points memo." good day to you. is this huge lead we're seeing with romney more than double the number two's, is it a big surprise at all? >> no, it's not a big surprise. i mean, going into the campaign and really all year, everyone had anticipated that romney would win in new hampshire. >> right. >> he's a former massachusetts governor, a home in new hampshire, rather. and so i think his initial plan not to contest iowa to win in new hampshire and then to take it down south to south carolina and florida is looking like what we're going to see. the ron paul camp is looking very strong in iowa right now. and if mitt takes new hampshire, everyone will be able to discount that as expected and the attention turns to south carolina. >> david, let's talk about ron paul.

since he has had the largest bump, is it possible in the next week or so, the next ten days we might see him bubble to the top? >> i think in iowa, in particular, he's in great shape. much more so than anyone would've expected a month ago. >> what about new hampshire? >> in new hampshire, i think it's really difficult for anyone in ron paul's position, i think, to breakthrough against mitt in new hampshire. the one thing that you note there that's sort of interesting is the person who seems to be making a move there, as well as jon huntsman, he's still way down at 11%, but gaining traction there. but i think mitt's got new hampshire wrapped up. the question is whether wrapping up new hampshire really guarantees him wrapping up the nomination. >> if you're saying he has it wrapped up, what should he do? double down in new hampshire? try to get higher points or move on to south carolina? >> you know, the thing that romney's doing that's interesting and has made his campaign, i think, operate at two different tiers, on the one hand, he's trying to fend off any challenges from the right

and he's endured one after another after another over the course of the last five to six months, but he's also positioning himself for the general election. and you already see the back and forth between the obama camp and the romney camp. and i anticipate his focus, when he's in cruise control in new hampshire isn't going to be to increase the lead there as so much to position himself for a general lead in new hampshire. >> because of that poll, he did better with those who said they were part of the tea party or supported tea party candidates. what does that say necessarily about his conservative credentials which has been a bit of a challenge for him anecdo anecdotal anecdotally. >> new hampshire's got this strange -- strange is probably not the right word, but unique blend of libertarianism, conservatism, and you know, obviously his local ties play a part there, as well. i don't think you're seeing the same sort of polling numbers in iowa for him or elsewhere that suggest that he's got newfound

credibility amongst tea party republicans. >> what about huntsman? he's invested a lot of time there. really investing, just about all of his energy there recently. what does he need to do to be able to move on from there if he doesn't do well? >> well, you know, if he doesn't do well there, then i'm not sure that there's a whole lot for him to hang his hat on going forward. just given as you say the investment he's made there. i think what's interesting, though, is that as volatile this has been throughout, i don't think it's safe for anyone to predict or anticipate an outcome here until the voters start to decide. and i say that, you know, fully aware that we in this business are always trying to predict the winners. but this one is so volatile. and in iowa, you see it in the polls with more than a quarter not firmly decided. >> that's a big number. >> a week from tomorrow. >> exactly. >> you and i have a lot to watch in the coming days is what you're saying. >> absolutely. stay tuned. >> thank you. >> thank you.

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well, shoppers are expected to be out in force today. this day after christmas. they'll be spending a predicted $8 billion, just one day alone making it one of the top revenue days of the year for retailers. but others will be returning gifts, and in fact, a consumer report survey finds that 1 in 5 folks across the country will hate their gifts this year. nbc's ron mott joins us live

from new york's herald square. and many will be hunting for day after christmas bargains. what kind of discounts will they find? or have you found? >> reporter: well, i can tell you, richard, good morning, first of all. i can tell you that some of these discounts were before christmas. those traditional after christmas sales, 60%, 75% off, those kinds of things, we saw those on friday and saturday, no telling what kind of bargains these folks are going to see today going forward this week. but i can tell you, we haven't seen any ugly christmas sweaters going into macy's this morning. now, today is going to be a big day for gift card redemptions. the national retail federation says 8 in 10 shoppers have planned to buy gift cards to the tune of about $28 billion. so that's a lot of purchasing power. folks will be redeeming those starting today. but as you mentioned, returns are also going to be pretty big. and folks need to know as they go out, some of the stores have tightened up their return

policies. make sure you prove those items were legitimately purchased so you don't have frustrations to worry about. there'll be bargain hunters out there, as well. this week could account for as much as 10%. they hope to see a lot of people out this week, richard. >> ron mott, thank you so much. and as the crowds start to get out there -- before i let you go, what are the crowds like? it seems pretty quiet. and any idea about what some of the hit items might be? you were discussing some of those before christmas that might carry over to post christmas. >> well, looks quiet outside macy's, they open at 7:00 eastern, and there was a run at the doors right at seven, a couple dozen people going through this one entrance. the hot-ticket item was the one released early friday morning, the air jordan retro shoes first introduced back in '96. i don't know how many of those are still available. there were a lot sold on friday and saturday and you probably saw the pictures of people storming into malls across this country trying to get those $180

pairs of sneakers. a lot of those were not going into gift boxes, people were immediately going over to ebay to sell those shoes. that's the hot-ticket item right at the end of the season. i don't know if those will still be available this week. >> did you have one of the originals? >> i did not have the originals, i'm not a big sneaker guy, but they are very attractive shoes, and if i could find some. i've got a couple of people who say go out and buy me some if you see some. >> i did, they were great shoes. many years since then. ron mott, thank you so much. >> you bet. as we mentioned, this is traditionally the day of returns of unwanted gifts, or maybe many want the cash. joining me now, a reporter for the "washington post." every dollar the store takes in this holiday season, they'll be giving about 10 cents to returns? >> returns are a big part of the holiday season. this week is one of the busiest weeks for returns. consumer reports found that actually last year 1 in 7 adults

returned something within two weeks after christmas. so you can expect some long lines at the stores today and throughout the week. and if you're going to return something, there are a few things you should probably remember. one is to try to bring the receipt if you have it. 60% of consumers are getting gift receipts with their presents, that was a good thing. bring it with you, bring original packaging if you have it, as well. and bring your i.d. retailers are trying to combat return fraud, which is costing them about $3.5 billion a year. some retailers are asking for a driver's license or some form of government i.d. along with the returns. so remember to bring those three things with you. >> ron was just telling us they are starting to tighten things up. it sounds like that. are they also considering restocking fees in some cases? >> they are. and so retailers are both making things a little bit more difficult to return but also in some cases making the return policies more lenient. for example, best buy is waiving the restocking fee for the holiday season. there are some ways they're trying to accommodate the

volume, but in the same way, they want to do things accurately and safely. >> if the store won't take your stuff back based on the procedures, what are you going to do? are you stuck with them then? >> well, there's always a market for -- there's always ebay. >> regifting. >> there's always regifting. the other thing you're going to find, though, this week, it's also about gift cards. folks are getting gift cards in record numbers this year, and they typically return -- go and redeem them within the first month after receiving them. so it's also a big time for shopping as well as returning. >> what about today. do you have to do it today? can you wait a month? >> in terms of redeeming your gift card? >> redeeming your gift card as well as the returns, you want to avoid the crowds maybe. >> well, for returns, you have to be aware of the retailers policy. some put a limit on the length of time you have to return a product. that's one thing to keep an eye on. typically the time is 60 to 90 days, it may be shorter than

that. in terms of gift cards, thanks to new federal regulations, the value of your gift card cannot expire for five years. you have quite a bit of time to redeem that gift card. >> i've got stacks of those i haven't used myself. i'm not going out today, maybe later in the next year. thank you so much for from the "washington post." >> thank you. thousands of gift cards and other personal information belonging to the clients of a texas security think tank are now in the hands of the hacking movement known as anonymous. one hacker saying the goal is to pilfer funds to give away for christmas donations.

all right. this just in to msnbc, the obama administration is considering whether to allow yemen's president into the u.s. for treatment. he was hurt in a june attack on his compound. he said he was leaving for the u.s. in order to help calm tensions in his country

following a fresh wave of violence. he did not say it was for medical treatment. we'll be watching that story and keep you posted right here on msnbc. a fatal suicide bombing is rocking officials this morning. just hours ago, officials say seven people were killed in that blast including five policemen, 32 people also wounded. the attack follows a rash of bombings last week that killed 70 people in a single day. meanwhile, vice president biden has been in constant phone contact with sunni and shiite leaders urging them to peacefully resolve the outbreak of violence. joined now by msnbc military analyst colonel jack jacobs. colonel, good to see you here. when we hear about the vice president reaching out to all of these leaders, how effective is that based on the situation -- official intervention from the united states is now over. >> not very much. as a matter of fact, it's too little too late. if we wanted to use the

diplomatic instrument of power, foreign policy in order to get iraq squared away, we should've done it a long time. by a long time, i mean seven years ago. we constantly rely on the military instrument of power alone, and that can't work. and now that we've pulled everyone out, there's no leverage there. >> the question that bubbles up and we've talked about this for the last week, is there a point where the president says we've got to put troops back on the ground there? even though the iraqis may not want us there? >> i can't see him doing that. it's political death for him to do that. in any situation i can invision, it might be something really bad in the country and we're going to start pulling troops out, i mean the people we have left, the contractors at the last -- like we did in vietnam in 1975, and we're about ready to elect a president, president decides this really looks bad.

what is he going to do? only two options, yank everybody out, make it look like they're bailing out of iraq just like we did in vietnam. send a rash of new troops there. neither one of them is going to work, he'll take them out. >> do you have any concern at all for the 16,000 americans that are there now? >> yes, some of them are working outside the green zone. we have a 102-acre compound inside the green zone, but some of the contractors are working in other areas, particularly people who are training police. the cia operatives and the people who are training the air force. >> the cia is now in charge of security assistance right now, right? >> that's right. >> what does that mean? >> it means in theory it's going to be centrally located. there won't be any mess-ups. there's one central headquarters. in reality it means that there are not enough forces on the ground to actually ensure the security of the contractors we have there. >> that's a fragile situation. >> it is.

we're gathering intelligence, which is important. but physical security, it's tough. >> it's a different operation. there's f-16s that are being entertained. they want to buy planes from the united states? >> yeah, they want to buy more. they're not the top level f-16s, but really good aircraft. i think we're going to go ahead and sell them to them. >> why does that make sense here? >> well, iraq has adversaries there for whom the f-16s might prevent some attacks. syria is a great example, iran is a great example. they're not going to be the most sophisticated ones, they won't be able to attack israel or anything like that, but we're probably going to sell them to them, $10 billion worth. >> to a fragile government. >> yeah, separate issue altogether. and we have to have trainers there to make sure they're maintained properly and so on. it's a difficult situation, but i think we're going to do it. >> thank you so much. >> you bet. a christmas tragedy in connecticut. a massive fire takes the lives of five people including three children.

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zero down, zero security deposit and zero due at signing on any new volkswagen. visit vwdealer.com. let's go to our top stories in the news now at the half hour. authorities are searching for the motive behind a christmas day tragedy in texas. four women and three men were found shot to death in their home in ft. worth. apparently after opening their christmas gifts. police believe the gunman is among the dead. officials in stanford, connecticut, say it may be another few days before they know the cause of a house fire that killed five people christmas morning. it swept through an old victorian home killing her three children and her two parents. a radical muslim sect is claiming responsibility for the christmas day bombings in nigeria that killed 39 people, most of them at a catholic church. the group had previously targeted police and military that in recent months has expanded its aim. more protests in moscow by

demonstrators claiming this month's votes were rigged. putin is seeking to return to his former post as president, which would make him the longest serving leader in that country since stalin. this morning, the first family continues their hawaiian vacation. president obama spending the christmas holiday, spending quality time with loved ones while also paying tribute to our men and women in uniform. kristen welker is in hawaii this morning with the president, good morning to you. >> reporter: well, president obama had a pretty busy christmas day, but otherwise has nothing on his public schedule. it is rest he will need because he's going to have a tough reelection battle in the new year. with 2012 just around the corner, the first family celebrated christmas with troops and their families at a local marine base after starting the day with a trip to church. president obama ends the year

with the economy showing signs of improvement and with a legislative victory over republicans in the payroll tax cut debate. former democratic congressman martin frost. >> it revived people in the democratic party, showed that this president could take on the republicans successfully. >> the republican candidates will shift into high gear this week, trying to sure up support with the caucuses just eight days away. on tuesday, mitt romney and rick perry are launching bus tours through iowa. but a setback for the national front-runner newt gingrich. over the weekend, he and rick perry failed to qualify for the virginia primary because neither candidate had the required 10,000 signatures. it's particularly problematic for gingrich. he lives in virginia. >> one level, his failure to get on the ballot in virginia is merely an embarrassment. and more importantly, it reflects a fundamental lack of organization in states across the country. >> reporter: defiant, the gingrich campaign accused virginia of having a failed

system and compared the setback to the attack at pearl harbor. his campaign manager released this statement on gingrich's facebook page. newt and i disagree that the analogy is december 1941, we have experienced an unexpected setback, but we will regroup and refocused with increased determination. polls show the former house speaker's popularity may be waning. according to a poll of likely new hampshire voters, 39% support mitt romney, gingrich and ron paul are tied for second place with 17% each. paul has gained the most ground in new hampshire, up five points since last month, gingrich's support has slowed. he's only up two points. >> now that ron paul has emerged as a factor in the race, not for the nomination, but in iowa and possibly in new hampshire, it really makes it hard for other candidates, conservatives, to breakthrough and that's good news for mitt romney.

>> reporter: now, polls show that paul has a slight lead in iowa over romney and gingrich. of course, nationally, paul is running pretty far behind. a dismal finish in iowa could mean the end of one or two campaigns. richard? >> kristen welker in hawaii with the president. thank you so much. let's get more on the gop virginia primary setback from our panel. former house democratic caucus chairman martin frost and joe watkins. very good day to both of you. and martin, how bad are the optics right now for newt gingrich? failing to meet the primary requirements in his home state. >> look, it was a disaster for gingrich. and it showed the poor organization because not only do you have to have 10,000 signatures in virginia, but you have to have 400 signatures in each of the 11 congressional districts. this is fundamental blocking and tackling. it showed he doesn't have an organization. and i will tell you, i spent a lot of time in iowa in 1988 for dick gephart, and organization

there makes all the difference in the world. this is bad for gingrich and not good for him in iowa either. >> well, you know, joe, he needed to get the 10,000 there as martin was just telling us. he got 11,000, but that still -- not all of them were valid. what does this tell you about his organization going forward as we look to new hampshire, as we look to south carolina? >> well, i think this is something that newt gingrich can recover from. i don't think it's a death blow to his campaign. remember, he's somebody who has come on very, very strong within the last month or so. i remember being here on msnbc in early november talking about herman cain and who might benefit from herman cain's departure. and at that time, i was saying newt gingrich would probably benefit from that. newt gingrich has only been a strong national candidate for a little over a month now. and so he doesn't have, perhaps, the organization that some others have. but i think he can recover from this. it really -- iowa will be a great test for him. i think mitt romney is poised to do better than expected in iowa. and if mitt romney happens to win iowa or at least come in a close second, he's going to be tough to beat. >> and just to put the state in

context, the number of delegates it has is less than 5% of what's needed to get the nomination. put that in the background. joe, also, when we look at that -- martin, let me ask you this instead. rick perry had an additional setback as we move to rick perry over the holidays. a "new york times" piece that we read highlighting the amounts that texas taxpayers are doll doling out for his security. 6,400 in san diego, does this make him look disconnected from the overall message going on right now? >> look, i'm not a defender of rick perry by any means, but i don't think we should begrudge him security. very few candidates this early stage get secret service protection. on very few, and i'm sure perry doesn't have that yet. and we do remember what happened to another sitting governor george wallace a number of years ago. so i think that it is important for him to have protection. again, i'm not a particular friend of rick perry's, but i think it's a false issue to

begrudge him security. >> joe, i don't want you to begrudge the speaker, but let's turn to capitol hill here. he had a tough week toward the end of the year. the sort of divisions that exist within the republican party, will we see more dysfunctionalty coming into 2012? and some of the major issues that need to be solved there? >> hopefully not. hopefully for the sake of the american people, there won't be great dysfunction. i think on the part of the speaker, it's a hard job. you have a number that feel they're there to represent what their constituencies want. they may not be in lock step -- >> how does it regain authority? >> he's got to, of course, have more control, and perhaps even reward and punish members as other speakers have done in the past. when nancy pelosi was speaker in the last session, she exercised strict control of her members by virtue of rewarding and punishing people who did or didn't do what she wanted them to do.

>> yeah, the problem for the speaker is that he and mitch mcconnell have got to get on the same page. mcconnell thought he had a deal. he had a deal with reid. he thought boehner was a part of that. and now, if the republicans are really going to do anything in the months ahead, mcconnell and boehner have to be in sync all the time. it means boehner has got to carefully talk to his own caucus. he can't get out in front of him. and it made him look somewhat foolish, i believe. >> martin frost, joe watkins, thank you both for your time. have a great holiday weekend, what's left of it for you. >> thanks. another busy travel week for you. several inches of snow made for a rare white christmas in north texas because of icy roads, travel advisories are still up this morning there. but the snow is mostly welcome in the drought-stricken state. also looked kind of nice. what about the rest of the country? bill karins joins us right now. >> did you have a grt weekend? >> i did.

too short, as i always say. >> i know. a lot of the kids want to get outside today and play with their brand new toys and that sled too. and i'll tell you what, not much sledding to be done. that white stuff isn't falling. another big rainstorm heading up the east coast. typically this time of year, we're usually talking about a big snowstorm. but this is crazy. where is the cold air? looking at the map of the lower 48. it's really hard to find the cold air. it's 40 degrees at this hour in montana. i mean, it's 38 in boston. there's really no heart of the cold arctic air in sight. let's go up to canada, winnipeg at 36, areas like edmundton is still warm. go to yellowknife and churchill to get to the cold arctic air. it's still far from the u.s. and i don't think it's going to make a run at us. this map tracks where it's heading. a forecast over the next seven days. the purple and white is the cold arctic stuff. it makes a little dip at new england as we go throughout the end of this week, but then retreats back to the north

again. it really never makes the inroads to the south, and unless we get that cold air, it'll be hard to get any significant snow. we are going to see a little bit of snow on the backside of our storm tomorrow, areas like ohio, western pennsylvania, western new york, maybe rochester up into the adirondacks will get a little bit of snow, but not a big blockbuster. so for today's forecast, the storm itself is now down in the gulf. it's going to be another rain event for you in new orleans. already raining hard in mississippi. eventually that's going to head up to atlanta. and then as we go through tomorrow, tuesday's the worst travel day of the week for anyone doing any flying, especially to east coast airports, heavy rain will be arriving. d.c., philly, baltimore, thunderstorms in the southeast. no travel trouble in the middle of the country or the west coast, richard. but it's -- i keep saying, you know, it's going to get cold and snowy sooner or later. we're almost done with december. that really only leaves us with january and february. once you get to march, it starts to turn to spring.

it's interesting to see if winter will ever arrive. >> we might get a big wallop to make up for it. >> we'll see. mission impossible mounting a surprise box office win amidst a disappointing weekend for hollywood. "ghost protocol" finished ahead of the new "sherlock holmes" and "the girl with the dragon tattoo." kim, good to see you. >>s nice to see you too. >> let's talk about the girl with the dragon tattoo. are you surprised by the finish here? >> a little bit because it's gotten so much publicity, so much hype. people talking about as award season comes up into next year. and you know, on one hand, yes, a surprise, on the other hand, you still have this week, people are off, maybe it's not so much of a christmas movie, not really a happy movie, it's dark and a little bit violent. so on that level, maybe not so much. but yes, with so much publicity, a lot of people maybe expected it to do better. >> the trailers make it look

like an interesting movie. when you and i spoke earlier this year, movie numbers were looking really good. but now they're down almost 5% according to what we're hearing now. does this mean that hollywood for 2012 will be a little bit of a dip? >> it's hard to say. people are attributing things to the economy. but you have to look at, there are great movies, harry potter, twilight, other movies that actually did well. >> why do we see the dip? >> partly could be because of 3d, there are a lot of 3d fatigue movies, there were 4d movies that were compared to 24, 26 the year before. people were sick of paying so much more for prices. also, if you're making good movies, people will go see them. or if you're making a movie like a "twilight," people will go see that. you have to see what we have coming up in 2012. there are some big movies coming out too. >> and if the trailers are good. let's look at one right now. this is from "the dark night rises."

>> what does that mean? >> rise. >> when gotham is in ashes, you have my permission to die. >> record down loads on itunes for that trailer. >> yeah, 12.5 million in 24 hours. obviously this is a movie -- >> that can only be tickets, right? >> exactly. this is one of the most anticipated movies. christian bale, last turn as batman. this is a movie that people are going to go see. this could help the box office. when you have a movie like this or like an avatar or harry potter. >> what is that batman 15? >> no, the third one in this series. >> let's talk about the rock of ages, that broadway hit making it to theaters. another hit for tom cruise.

what did i say broadway hit? >> it is broadway -- a broadway show turned into a movie. tom cruise playing an '80s musical rock star, alec baldwin, julianne hough. and if you love the '80s, you'll love this movie. and if you want to see tom cruise as a crazy rock star, you'll love this movie. and he builds up a lot of fans. he's still a movie star considering how well "mission impossible" did this weekend. >> i got confused for a second. a broadway hit? >> he does his own stunts, he's a rock star, he does everything. >> we'll talk to you a little later in the show. so many movies to talk about. >> sounds great. it was a holiday gift for sports fans across the country yesterday. the official start of the nba season after 149-day labor dispute. and then a rematch of yesterday's final. lebron james and the miami heat rolling past the defending champion dallas mavericks, james scored 47 points.

and here in new york, the knicks pulling out a last second 106-104 victory against the rival boston celtics. anthony matching lebron scoring 37 points for his hometown knicks fans. >> full time-out -- [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. premier of the packed bag. you know organization is key... and so is having a trusted assistant. and you...rent from national. because only national

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prince phillip has spent a third night in a british hospital recovering from heart surgery. the 90-year-old husband of queen elizabeth is being treated for a blocked artery. he's in good spirits and he'll remain under observation for a "short period." phillip's grandchildren including prince william and prince harry were seen driving to the hospital in cambridge where he's staying. stephanie gosk joining me outside buckingham palace. what are you hearing? >> reporter: they have not given a date for release.

even though they say he's recovering quickly. it'll be a sad day for the royal family where they spend christmas with the queen every year. today's the day of pheasant hunt. it's boxing day, prince phillip is known to lead that hunt. this year, sadly, he'll not be able to do that. the royal family has maintained their typical schedule with the exception of the trip to the hospital yesterday. they were at church, there were 3,000 people there. every year, people go and there are hundreds, but this was the biggest year yet. and that's because the royal family is more popular this year than they have been in a generation. primarily because of william and kate. they are so beloved in this country and people came out in their droves after the service, both william and kate mingled amongst the crowd. they took flowers, william giving a couple of older ladies a kiss on the cheek. they really have surged the popularity of the royals. and it really should have been a time of celebration except for that medical emergency.

richard? >> you know, stephanie, prince phillip always there by the queen's side. and yet we know so little about him. what do a lot of british people think about him? what is his reputation? >> reporter: he's really loved in this country. and it's interesting, people here know him very well. although he's not as well known in the u.s. and he has kind of maintained those few steps behind the queen. she's obviously the center of attention. but he does a lot of public service around this country, something like 400 engagements a year. and he hasn't really slowed down. i mean, he's 90 years old, he's been married to the queen for 64 years and it's no wonder that he has some health issues and that he's suffering from some heart illness. but if you look at the man, he's incredibly fit. i had the opportunity to meet him in person a couple of weeks ago. and he said hello, he was very aware. it was very moving. it was nothing on that occasion to lead you to believe that he was in poor health. people really believe that he'll bounce back.

but don't be surprised that we hear his schedule has been cut down over the next year. richard? >> so many people hoping for the best. thank you so much, stephanie gosk. thank you for your time. is it a holiday miracle? a student comes out of a coma just as his family was facing the grim reality of him never waking up. this amazing story straight ahead. oh it's clearance time! yeah, our low prices are even lower. we need to teach her how to walk. she is taking up valuable cart space. aren't you, honey? [ male announcer ] it's our biggest clearance event of the year where our prices are even lower. save money. live better. walmart. of the year where our prices are even lower. living with the pain of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis... could mean living with joint damage. help stop the damage before it stops you with humira. for many adults with moderate to severe ra,

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it's being called a holiday miracle, a sclej student in arizona wakes up from a coma just as doctors and his family were trying to decide if there was anything more they could do to save him. kristin dahlgren has the ratest from los angeles. >> good morning, richard. this could have been a very different holiday for sam schmitt's family, but for his incredible will to live. >> sam schmid might help you believe in holiday miracles. that smile was something his family never thought they would

see again. the business major was in a devastating five-car pile-up in october, he sursurvived, but barely. his odds of survival were slim. his family even thought about what they would did do if they had to take him off life support. >> they didn't actually talk to us about donating his organs or anything directly, but john and i knowing sam he would want to help other people if he was actually not going to be with us. >> reporter: but his doctor wasn't quite ready to declare sam brain dead. >> i said let's get one more mri scan. >> based on what he saw he told the family to give it one more week and that's when sam took matters into his own hands. that very day he responded to a command, holding up two fingers. >> that's's huge thing. when you think about it, it means that you can hear. it means that you can interpret what you're hearing. >> sam remembers what he saw when he opened his eyes in the

hospital. >> it was my mom, john and -- >> and he hasn't looked back since. he's in intense therapy. >> but for one day this weekend he left the hospital to spend christmas with his family. >> there is no better gift than to have sam back. >> and this holiday, sam, learned not to just believe in miracle, but himself. >> hard work and pushing through. >> he's got big goals. >> i'm thinking of basketball and play. >> for now he's taking small steps with his family at his side. a family this yore celebrating the incredible gift of life. >> sam was only allowed out of the hospital for that one day to celebrate christmas with his family for now, but among his plans, getting back to college by next year. >> an amazing story. thank you so much, kristin

dahlgren. with the holidays behind them, the focus is iowa. what the candidates are doing in the buckeye state. is it because taking a step represents hope? or triumph? at genworth, we believe in taking small steps every day to keep your promises, protect what matters, and prepare for a secure financial future. no matter where you want to go, one step at a time is the only way to get there. go to genworth.com/promises.

eight days and counting. first votes for the republican nomination will be cast in just over a week in iowa. is there a chance here that mitt romney could pull off a victory? plus the day after christmas is now over. the malls are open again and stirring about. people have gift cards to spend and gifts to return. a christmas miracle to one family thanks to one of santa's helpers. >> a very good monday morning to you. i'm richard lui. eight days in the iowa caucuses wrapping up their break from the campaign trail. the iowa front-runners are hoping an organization for their campaigns gives them an early reed for the race to face president obama. the commander in chief is meeting with troops and enjoying quality family time in hawaii, but the president is also

preparing for the election and legislative hurdles ahead in 2012. kristin welker is up early for us in hawaii. what's going on at the moment that you're aware of as he prepares for the election as soon as we get into full swing come january. >> reporter: hi there, richard. that's right. his re-election team busy at work. they're preparing for 1220. they're mobilizing the country and making sure they have a big team of volunteers in iowa and other key swing states. they're taking this election very seriously. interestingly, they've also started to come out and sort of attack mitt romney. mitt romney hasn't been named as a front-runner yet and it is an indication that he has a strong chance and they're joining the chorus of voices naming mitt romney as a flip-flopper.

they're doing a lot of the behind the scenes work right now, trying to get ready to be in high gear when there is a nominee. president obama probably won't enter the fray completely until we have an actual republican nominee, but what you will see is what we've seen lately which is the president hitting the road quite a bit, hammering his message which is essentially that he has a very different vision for repairing and restoring the economy than he believes republicans have. >> kristen, talk about the behind-the-scenes energy here. obviously, there is some sort of halo effect for the pay cut extension and the victory there. there is also criticism comes from the base. matt damon, the actor, hitting back saying this is not enough. what are you seeing? >> reporter: it's interesting. i definitely think the payroll tax cut fight is giving the obama administration a little bit of a bounce because it's saying, look, the president can

show leadership in these instances, can have a win over republicans and sort of the counterpoint to the argument that matt damon is making that the president hasn't shown enough leadership. the president is encouraged by what you see in the economy. the fact that the approval ratings have increased by a few percentage points recently, but as you know, richard, these types of bounces can be short lived. i think they're encouraged by what they've seen, but they know this is not going to last into the long term. richard? >> 3:00 a.m. in hawaii. the ocean is still working and we can hear it behind you kristen welker. thanks so much. >> thanks, richard. mitt romney is gearing up to give his final speech to iowa voters, but he'll make two stomps in new hampshire hoping to shore up his lead there. meanwhile, newt gingrich is launching a 44-city bus tour

starting in dubuque. joining me now is bob franken and in the studio is joy ann reed and msnbc contributor. how key is this next week? there's not a lot of days left here. with only a quarter of the iowa voters saying we have made a choice so far, is it still wide open? >> it is wide open. he can lose one of the two, but not both. new hampshire is far more important. it's interesting that he's decided to go in and of course, what romney has that's always an advantage is money. the super pack that's been beating up on newt gingrich who going into this looked like he could be a front-runner in iowa. >> this looks like it could go down to the wire and a quarter saying they made a decision. >> well, i'll tell you what i'm really worried about in iowa is some sort of collision with the

busses. one of the four campaign busses criss-crossing the state. we can make an argument for environmental concerns with all of this, but iowa is hard to nail down. it's very easy to say that the people who are the most fervent caucusgoers in the republican party are the hard right and the evangelicals and that type of thing, but mitt romney has been running quite a campaign and it's going to become a choice between those looking for elect ability and those who think it's a contrivance and the full pandering of newt gingrich. you have what's sounding like the extremism of ron paul and then you have michele bachmann and rick santorum and rick perry, two ricks in this one, so a lot of i on wans don't have a choice they can be enthusiastic about. >> there's a lot of space out there they have to hit.

joy, let's talk about what bob was mentioning, all these different characters. if this election in iowa was about defining what the gop will be going forward post 2012, there's a lot of possibilities here. >> i think it portends at what the gop going forward is what it is now, fractured. it is very fragmented between the evangelical base. the wall street wing wants the romney kind of canned and the then you have the sort of what we're calling the tea party, just the angry guys that are yelling at cars and they want something like a newt gingrich style wise. so because those three can't get together on what fulfills their needs we're seeing this fragmentation. >> so, bob, when do we see the fragmentation fall to the side especially when it comes to those running for the nomination right now? is it south carolina? is it florida at end of the month, end of january? >> this is a plot line that is moving an excruciatingly slow

way. neither iowa nor new hampshire have many readers you'll agree on. let's face it. they are very, very white states. south carolina is a somewhat different story and the storyline there is not right, far right. then you get florida, but these are big states with an awful lot of delicate votes and that kind of thing. this is a march, in my opinion when we have what could be called a super tuesday with ohio in the midst. >> the endorsements. >> and then there's another defining date after that. we keep on getting, this is it and let's move on to the next one now. >> at least we can talk about this one for now. endorsement is so key. h.w., bush xli coming out and saying i'm behind romney. what about jeb?

>> jeb is still working. >> is he a key endorsement here? >> i don't think so. this cycle the bush name is not that valuable. 41 was not right with the far right base that's important in iowa. because his name is bush that still carries a negative weight. however, though he's part of the chris christie wing, people might say let's endorse. i don't see him necessarily pushing a guy to win, he's assuming it will be tougher. >> oh, i wish i had more time. i want to talk about that more. always great to see you. thank you so much. all righty. shoppers are expected to be out in force this day after christmas. they'll be spending a predicted $8 billion this one day alone making it one of the top ref now days, but others will be returning gifts and in fact, a consumer report survey finds one in five folks will hate their gifts this year.

ron joins us live from herald square. i know you enjoyed all of the gifts we got especially from family. >> exactly. i haven't taken anything back so that's a good sign. they're calling this mega monday. americans for all practical purposes have been on a shopping spree since thanksgiving night and same for yesterday when they had a little down time they rushed back into stores today in search of more good deals. they shopped and shopped and shopped some more, but never quite dropped, though prices did. 40%, 50%, 60% off and more. >> there are a lot of deals. i'm quite surprised. >> reporter: today, their credit cards cooled by a day of rest, shoppers are gearing up to go back into overdrive, after-christmas deals and steals following a month-long blitz that realed them in to a tune of the projected $469.1 billion in holiday sales, up nearly 4%. a happy new year, indeed, it

seems for the nation's retailers. >> it's gotten really, really crazy over the years. the holiday promotion started very, very early on in the season and they're continuing right on through the new year. the name of the game is promotions, deals, discounts. >> reporter: on monday, hoards of shoppers stormed malls, not in search of discount, but the season's hot-ticket item. a $180 throwback sneakers, the nike concord 11 introduced 14 years ago and they weren't used for gift giving. >> i'll resell it. >> the frenzy led to stampedes, busted doors and even reported gun fire near san francisco. the christmas weekend was abuzz with last-minute bargain hunting and tracking santa's every mood. norad, kids checking on his minute by minute progress and a million likes on facebook pages from around the world.

>> i also got a wii game which i completely love which is the one for games. >> fewer smiles in kl kohl where 50,000 ups packages got snowed in. delivery uncertain. >> where is the truck? in timbuktu? >> leaving anxious customers standing in line wondering if they'd get theirs in time. >> package is in the truck! >> reporter: all right. now we sent one of our spies into macy's to see what the sales are like inside and the report is pretty average. not a whole lot of blockbusters so folks will be looking high and low for deep discounts and we saw those on friday and saturday. this is a wig week for retailers and they could get as much as 10% of the holiday take. >> ron, for those delays, christmas is two days longer and you get to celebrate it longer, right? there you go. >> reporter: exactly. >> thank you so much.

newt gingrich's ballot. why he may not be able to vote for himself in his own home state. >> a family is introduced to a real-life santa claus and his helpers.d be nvisible! [ child 2 ] i call first player. no. i already called it. [ dad ] nobody's playing anything until after we get our homework done. thank you. hello? test drive's not over yet. [ male announcer ] it's practically yours. [ louder ] hello? but we still need your signature. right now during sign then drive, it's never been easier to get the all-new passat, the 2012 motor trend car of the year, for practically just your signature. that's the power of german engineering. visit vwdealer.com. that's the power of german engineering. 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. premier of the packed bag. you know organization is key... and so is having a trusted assistant. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle...and go. you can even take a full-size or above and still pay the mid-size price. here we are...

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all right. let's get you your political headlines this morning. one top democrat saying the gop idea to drug test the unemployed is, quote, insulting. i haves van holland said gop rhetoric is insulting to working americans who lost their jobs through no fault of their own. republican congressman tom reid said one of the main reasons companies in his district have not been hiring is because of drug abuse, something van holland is arguing. ron paul's views are out of

step with the rest of the party. he says ron paul's views are not the message of the whole republican party. >> no, of course not. it's not the message that a president of the united states could ever afford to extend. in other words, we're a party of leadership in the world. we have a fleet that covers all of the seas. as a matter of fact, makes foreign trade possible, trade of all sorts. >> and with just eight days until iowa, the man who won the caucuses last time around is making a bold prediction. former arkansas governor mike huckabee says he'll bet mitt romney will win iowa, but ron paul could pull it out because of his excellent organization. iowa may be eight days away, but it's virginia posing a problem. mitt romney and ron paul, and

that's a huge blow to newt gingrich where he thought he would be able to ooh on his national campaign director wrote, quote, newt and i agreed that the analogy is december 1941. we will have experienced commitment and growth. alex, thank you for joining us again. you know, the newt gingrich campaign, they got 11,000 signatures and the requirement was 10,000. what happened? well, they couldn't get the ball on their side and it looks pretty bad for the speaker to get on the ballot. it wasn't like it was a surprise deadline. the gingrich campaign barely made the ohio ballot and we were told that they were on track, but that just didn't happen. >> what about fund-raising?

is that an indicator where he might be weak in the organization and is it purely that he's on the ground and spending the money. we don't know how much money the gingrich campaign. we'll get those numbers next january, but it does seem like the gingrich campaign is struggling a little bit nationally to get on some of these ballots and to make that push in the next upcoming ballots in indiana and that will come just after the start of january. so we'll have to see if his organization in the early state in iowa, new hampshire and south carolina will allow him to see some momentum in the top there. let's talk about this. in context. it represents less than 5% of the delegates that one needs to become the nomination. how big of a blow is this to the gingrich campaign and how are they taking it? >> well, it could become a big

blow if this drags on. if mitt romney or gingrich, for example, or even ron paul have to go into some of the other states, virginia is on super tuesday and early march. the campaign says they're working to pursue an aggressive write-in campaign in virginia, but that isn't actually legal. we'll have questions when he kecks off his bus tour and find out what their next step is. >> if things are as close as they have, every delegate will matter in this gop nomination process. thank you. >> all righty. coming up for you, congress reaches a deal on the payroll tax cut extension and not after a bruising battle. round one goes to president obama and the democrats. stand by for round two. plus a tragic ending to what should have been a very merry day. we are the house when it comes to the big game. yeah. it's his thing... i don't even participate. boom! here it comes. bring it back! bring it... [ male announcer ] some parties need a bowl of queso. made from creamy velveeta and zesty rotel tomatoes and green chiles.

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a connecticut family is reeling today from the emotional fate offa i fatal fire that

ripped through a woman's home. the owner escaped the flames alive, but her three young daughters and parents were not so lucky here. firefighters said they could not get inside because the flames were too intense. >> i've been on this job 38 years and it's not an easy day. craig melvin has more from stanford, connecticut. >> you can see what's left of the house behind me. it's at the end of the street and it hugs the long island sound. at one point the flames were so intense they shot as high as the trees. the 47-year-old mother and her friend made it out of the burning house okay, but her two children and her two parents did not and it all happened on christmas morning. it's a still-smolderring christmas nightmare. just before 5:00 sunday morning, flames shot from the five bedroom house. in minutes it was engulfed, skroems woke up neighbors. >> i heard somebody yelling help!

help, help me, and i started sprinth up my driveway, but those who rushed to the house were helpless. there was nothing i could do. >> reporter: five people were dead, three of them children. >> mi heart is justec broen for those children and the whole family. it's tragedy. horrific. >> the fire took her three daughters. 10-year-old lily and 7-year-old twins sarah and grace. also killed, her parents. lomar and paula johnson. he spent his day as santa claus. the long white beard is real. >> i've been on this job 30 years and not an easy day. >>ese a prominent fashion and design executive. she was behind those famous calvin klein ads starring markie mark in the '90s. forbes magazine named badger one of the 40 under 40. according to upon proery records

she bought the house in a swanky neighborhood for $1. million in december last year. she was renovating it. >> there has not been a worse christmas day in the city of stanford. >> while it will take a few days to figure out precisely what happened here, at this point they suspect it was all just one awful accident. richard, back to you. >> nbc's craig melvin, thank you so much for that. on the run, the man who allegedly shot and killed a soldier at his homecoming party. plus the last u.s. troops from iraq are now back on u.s. soil. what's next for the ones remaining. he's been called the baby whisperer. babies can't get enough of president obama and his mouth, too. [ female announcer ] splenda® no calorie sweetener is sweet...

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nick, what are you doing? oh, there's still a few more days of chevy's giving more. got to stay loose. how do you do it? i have my little helpers. boop. oh. [ chuckles ] [ male announcer ] hurry in to chevy's giving more. these savings are almost over. now very well qualified lessees can sign and drive the chevy cruze ls for around $199 a month. or get 2.9% apr financing plus no monthly payments until spring. ♪ welcome back to msnbc. i'm richard lui. police in southern california say this man, ruben ray clarado

shot and paralyzed a decorated army soldier at his recovery party. at his homecoming party he was trying to brake up a fight when he suffered two gunshot wounds. his family says the shooting left him paralyzed and in critical condition. the suspect fled the party after the shooting and police are still trying to track him down. authorities are searching behind a christmas day tragedy. four women and three men were found shot to death in their home after opening their christmas gifts. reporter ben russell of kxas tv joins us now from the scene in fort worth suburb in texas. police believe the gunman is among the dead, is that what you're hearing? >> reporter: that's exactly right, richard. we're learning from a source with knowledge of this investigation, that the suspected shooter, a middle aged man was dressed as santa claus

during this ordeal. we're in the fort worth texas suburb and here in these two doors that lead into the apartment there were no signs of force the entry. there are seven dead. four women, three men. weir told they range in age from 15 to 58 years old and all of them are related and though not necessarily all of them lived in this apartment. they were all found around the remnants of christmas morning with unwrapped christmas gifts and wrapping paper strewn about. also found on the ground, two handguns. someone called 911 at 11:30 christmas morning and there was no voice at the end of the line and an operator sent out police who found this christmas day massacre. no one, neighbors heard any shots in this situation which speaks to just how nice of a community this is. we are told this people go about their christmas. no one bothers anyone and no one reportedly heard these shots. it was just that 911 call. these are the first homicides in

grapevine, texas, in 2011 happening here on christmas day. we are also told it is the deadliest massacre ever in the history of deadline, a place that calls itself the christmas capital of texas. that is the latest in the investigation. we do expect to learn their names and what could be a motive today. >> ben, thank you. a radical muslim sect is claiming responsibility for the series of christmas day bombings in nigeria. 39 people were killed in those attacks andest mo of them at a catholic church. they had targeted police and military, but it's expanded their aim. it's estimated 90 million of you are traveling over the holidays and many are still on the move. hey, bill. >> a good monday morning to you and a wonderful weekend for everyone out there, hopefully. we are seeing nice conditions, no issues weather owe wise.

we don't have snow or ice to talk about, just plain old rain. the deep south is when we had the rain especially into louisiana and mess miss. we had some snow flurries yore night and also in the pa sick most, bithe heaviest rains continued on mostly southern mississippi and all of that is streaming into the gulf. eventually into alabama, you'll have to deal with some reason throughout the 48 hours. even atlanta could pick up about an inch of rain as we go into point and east coast. today's puck is a brisk, chilly start. it should be a decent afternoon and temperatures are in the

mid-40s. >> temperatures heading up near 50 degrees and there's the rain from the deep south. tuesday will be the worst of the travel significant airport delays in atlanta or orlando and eventually that rain will move up into new england. the big story as we head into the new year is that we don't have sme out there and cold air on the way. very interesting. >> will be. bill carons, thank you. mission accomplished for tom cruise's latest blockbuster been it won in a crowded field and is on track to be cruise's biggest success in years. ghost protocol took $26 million. the new sherlock holmes finished with $17 million followed by the girl with the dragon tattoo. the battle for the full-year extension should be just assed heated on the hill. speaker boehner was on the

losing end of last week's legislative standoff and the pressure is on to reach a year-long deal that has conferences comfortably supporting. let's talk to karen hunter president of littlefield associates consultant. a good holiday weekend to both of you. how does the house gop now move forward on a positive note, leaving behind the short-term extension debacle that finished up last week? >> i think it's kind of comical such as phrasing it and winners and losers because if the president wanted, he got a two-month extension on the payroll tax money that takes money out of the social security trust fund. so i don't really know if this will turn out to be a win or lose situation. on top of that, we have the iowa caucuses next week. we are faced with christmas holiday and i don't know how many americans follow all of this. so we'll see if more americans

tune in in the new year. i suspect if this does continue, which likely it will, then we'll see a lot more americans paying attention in the next round and we'll see how that turns out. >> let's work off of brad's point, could the bop turn it -- such as getting the president to sign 60 days in the keystone pipeline. >> i disagree with brent on the winners and losers. baner and the republicans absolutely lost. i don't think they'll make a comeback from it because what the president was very, very great at doing over the last few days is shaping the discussion. it's now about looking at the middle class and letting the middle class know that these people don't care about you, and i think that the president has done that extremely well that i don't think boehner and the republicans can recover no matter what they do and he's right that the american people aren't paying attention to the details, but they are paying

attention to the overriding messages that the republicans don't care about you. >> think it's comical because we've had a president that's had a very rough term. >> let's face it, we dealt with an issue that we had the president and nancy pelosi promising us that if we spent gazillions of doctors on the stimulus plan that we'd have lower unemployment and unemployment shot up and we've been faced with an economy that has not recovered each though they promised it would, based on their plans. so we have a rough prens densy, just a slim chance for good news and they think they have it with this issue. >> i don't think -- we certainly don't see average folks at the diners running down the street and explaining excite want over this issue. >> karen, how does the president take advantage of these

divisions right now that appear to be in the gop. you've got the tea party on one side and the house versus senate. how do the democrats take advantage? >> which is to shape his message and take it dreektly to the medd meddle, that's the message and i care about you. i'm trying and these people are standing in the waive you getting the money, the benefits the things i'm putting on the table and they're the ones that are stopping it and he's done a good job and all he has to do is continue and stay away of the shrapnel, and city the course. >> thank you. a fatal suicide bombing is rattling officials after a car bomb was detonated just hours ago. sen people were killed in that blast including five policemen.

32 people were wounded. the attack followed a rash of bombings that killed 70 people in's single day. reach ale has been? constant phone contact with sunni leaders. >> joined by retired army concernel jack jacobs. colonel, why are we seeing this violence right now? they've recently had an election and theoretically that stemmed off some of the violence that was happening in the past severalers yoo, but what's going to happen going forward? more of the same? >> yes. it will increase the violence. as soon as we left, the president decided iraq decided there would be no more power sheaing and don't forget it's something of a coalition of religious groups and it's held together very, very thinly. as soon as he said that attacks that had been planned for a long

time then ensued by two major groups. the sunni, who used to be in power and lost everything. they don't have any ole, kurds don't have enough oil. the attacks started and continue and the best thing to do is put bombs in areas where people are congregating and make it evident at that time government can't control. >> political leverage and some of the military leverage is now gone. the united states has withdrawn all of its troops. who sort of leverage might the united states have right now. >> very little. >> more or less, is trying to demonstrate that we're trying to influence what's happening in that country. >> when we created a democracy whereby people were in charge and the people of the country decide who will go lead. i think iraq will probably

coaltion into something that weigh, a strong leader will e merge. muqtadaal sadr is has a strong voting bloc. he spent the law if tehran, and i think he's likely to emerge as the most influential political leader and that will morph him into centralized terrorism, a strong, despotic leader. >> f-16s, is that something the united states can leverage over the iraqi government buzz they want those planes from us. >> yes. we can exert some leverage, but it's a fragmentation of the military establishment that that demonstrates. the air force, professional and good at what they do focused on the aircraft, the f-16s and these squadrons. i think they have one already

and they'll have two more. they're not going to be involved in the centralized despotic control. ? does it make sense given the uncertain they exists that you just described to me in the political realm to be selling military arms to this country? >> we were evidently very much concerned about enemies of iraq and that includes sir why and iran. so we want to arm iraq so if there is a conflict between iraq on one hand and syria and iran in the other that they'll be ready to use military. it sounds like a mess. it's a mess. >> it's a chess game. it's very much a chess game. we were trying to think a couple of moves forward. >> christmas in hawaii is not only about the beach for the first family. president obama spent part of christmas day meeting with troops and their families, this is a third year in a row that he stopped by the mess hall to wish

christmas greetings. fingers in the mouth and the nose right there, catching the president off guard and the parents laughing, too. >> a wayward buck in utah thought it was one of sant's reindeer late christmas eve. a family found it trampling through a pile of presents and it ran into the house. the deer spent two hours in the home before wild life officials arrived. >> a new outlook on the housing market. why some believe it might be on the rebound in 2012. we want to hear about that, plus from layaway to under the turow. a family gets help paying for their christmas presents. that emotional meeting for you. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ i believe in dreams again

♪ oh, yeah ♪ 'cause i believe in you and me ♪ ♪ oh, boy ♪ i believe in miracles ♪ and i believe in you and me ♪ ♪ see, i was lost ♪ now i'm free ♪ 'cause i believe in you and me ♪

we turn now to breaking news in syria where people have been killed between protesters. it's part of a vicious crackdown by the syrian government to silence protesters who want president bashar al assad removed from power. mass funerals were held on saturday to mourn fallen protesters. we'll have more on that later. the latest numbers indicate the depressed housing market may finally be making a comeback. construction of new homes jumped 9.3% in november to the fastest pace in a year and a half. meanwhile, sales of new homes rose 1.6% in november while sales of existing homes jumped 4%. joining me right now is rick newman, chief business correspondent for u.s. news and world report.

are we back? >> no, we're not back. those numbers sound encouraging but we have to keep in mind that they're coming off extremely depressed levels. those are the kind of signs we like to see, upticks here and there, but i think what will happen in 2012, if we're lucky, might represent a housing market and by 2013 and 2014. >> how do we know if we're skipping at the bottom? >> if you want one indicator, look at prices. when prices stop falling then you know the housing bust is over, of course, you don't always know that in real time. this data is not always clean. it tends to be jagged and they fall by some and they flatten out and fall by a little more. what we have seen overall is we are in the sixth year of the housing bust and this has been unprecedented, really and what we have seen is price declines have been slowing which means it's sort of like when you're toward the end of a bungee jump,

really, it starts to just slow down. the thing is we're not going get that sharp uptick. i think we'll be at the bottom for a little while and at one point housing will recover. construction is up. is that a good indicator? because that means contractors and banks are investing in new homes. a lot of people now are going from being homeowners to renters and that's really where the action is in the housing market right now. yeah, sure, it's a good sign. it's not nearly enough. the market is so depressed and there are so many construction workers out of work. it's easy to see 5%, 10% increase and we'll see this for many months in a row. >> we have a very low base. when you have a low base it's easy to get the bumps. foreclosures or those homes headed to foreclosure that fell by 16% which means they'll see fewer homes being repossessed. >> not necessarily, that's a convoluted indicator.

the reason is all these delays we've heard about in all of the states where they're investigating the robosignings and things like that where these foreclosures were not done properly. that has been a year-long delay in the process and we may see a little spurt in foreclosures. >> banks, are they loosening up with the money now? like everything else about the economic recovery. >> rick, thanks. >> thanks, richard. a very royal christmas in london, but one of the family members is missing. prince philip is apparently ready to get back to the palace. vegas baby! maybe we should head back to the dealership first? vegas! no, this is a test drive. vegas! [ male announcer ] it's practically yours. but we still need your signature. volkswagen sign then drive is back. and it's never been easier to get a jetta. that's the power of german engineering.

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good morning and welcome to "morning joe." it was a christmas phenomenon this year. layaway angel, people all over the country who paid off the bills of complete strangers at places like kmart and in colorado, a heartwarming story while one woman got to meet her angel, loretta martis met her secret santa on christmas day

who still wants to remain somewhat anonymous. he paid the bill to show his kids a lesson in christmas kindness. >> i wanted to meet the person who made my christmas very special this year, and i was -- it was very special to me, a very special family. this will be the best christmas of my 64 years that i'm alive, this is the best christmas i've had. >> she's a very special lady, and a very special family. i think it was meant to be. >> that's the true meaning of christmas right there. prince philip has spent a third night in a british hospital recovering from heart surgery. the 90-year-old husband of queen elizabeth is being treated for a blocked coronary artery. he's in good spirits and will remain in observation for a brief period. prince william and prince harry were seen christmas day driving to the hospital in cambridge where he's staying. stephanie gosk joins me outside

buckingham palace. stephanie, how serious was this? >> reporter: he was rushed to the hospital on friday night before christmas week end. obviously, they wouldn't have done that lightly. serious concern. he's a 90-year-old man that does have a history of heart problems and he started to have pains in his chest and they airlifted him to a nearby hospital where they put in a stent and did surgery on a blocked artery. he's in good spirits and there is as of yet no release date for him. they said he should be released imminently, otherwise the royal family has been going about their normal christmas traditions. this is really the one time of year that they all can get together and behave, for the most part, like any normal family. they were greeted by thousands of people outside of church services yesterday and that's a testament to the popularity of

william and kate. they've really, in the last year, of course, because of the wedding, really served the popularity of the royal family in general. the highest popularity in a generation and outside they were greeted by thousands of people. kate looking elegant and understated in her dress. she talked to kids, she took flowers and william, as well talked to the crowd and it was still a special day for them even though there was the one notable exception of prince philip not being there. >> how are everyday britons reacting to prince philip's situation? >> reporter: well, they are concerned and he's a beloved member of the royal family if not that well known insly in the u.s. he's been married to the queen for 64 years and he has been really a stalwart of the royal family, always just a few steps behind the queen who is the center of attention everywhere they go. he does keep a large number of public occasions throughout the

year. 400 engagement, but those numbers will be cut down in the coming years because of his help. >> thank you. we'll be back in just minutes. countdown to iowa. where things stand right now, plus a christmas miracle. a college student wakes up from a coma just in the nick of time and jibjab looks back at 2011, of course, with lots of laughs. ♪ oh, yeah ♪ 'cause i believe in you and me ♪ ♪ oh, boy ♪ i believe in miracles ♪ and i believe in you and me ♪ ♪ see, i was lost ♪ now i'm free ♪ 'cause i believe in you and me ♪ ♪ now i'm free what is it about taking a first step that we find so compelling?

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with the holidays behind them, it's on to iowa. the 2012 gop candidates have just one week to make their mark in the buckeye state. mega monday, it's round two of the holiday shopping season. bargain hunners heading back to the stores to return the gift cards and return unwanted gifts. plus -- ♪ ♪ >> all right. no one does a year in review

like the guys of jib jab. we have more of that hilarious video. stick around for that. i'm richard lui. christmas 20 len is in the books now. it's time for candidates and the commander in chief to look at the political calendar that lies street ahead in 2012. president obama spends quality time with his wife and ut daers before returning to fight with house and senate republicans in washington. let's head to kristen welker, about 4:00 a.m. >> yes, it is. >> very early. >> before we get to the politics here, cresten, let's look at something that's concerning yemeni president saleh. >> reporter: that's right, according to a top senior official with the president obama administration. the united states is considering allowing the former outgoing

president of yemen saleh to come to the united states for medical treatment. saleh was injured back in june during an attack. he has said he wants to come to the united states to try to smooth out some of the tensions in his own coinry, but the united states said would only let him in for medical purposes. there's just a little bit of background. demonstrators started taking to the streets protesting saleh's rule. the government waged a brutal crackdown, so hundreds of demonstrators have been killed since then. saleh has agreed to leave power, though, and leave power to his vice president and some of president obama's top advisers have been in contact with the vice president of yemen during this transition process. richard? >> president obama is in hawaii where you're at, relaxing with his family. tell us what's been coming for

that, he doesn't have any public events on the schedule and he faes a tough re-election battle in the new year. >> reporter: with 2012 just around the corner, the first family celebrated christmas with the troops and their families at a local marine corps base after starting the day with a trip to church. president obama ends the year with the economy showing signs of improvement and with the legislative victory over republicans in the payroll tax cut debate. former democratic congressman martin frost. >> it revived people in the democratic party, showed that this president being take on the republican successfully. >> the republican candidates will shift into high gear this week, trying to shore up support with the caucuses just a date i away. mitt romney and rick perry are launching bus tours through iowa, but a setback for the national front-runner newt gingrich. over the weekend he and rick

perry failed to qualify for the virginia primary because neither candidate had the required 10,000 signatures, it's particular row problem atec for virlg virj it's merely an embarrassment and it reflects a fundamental lack of organization in states across the country. >> defiant, the gingrich campaign accused virginia of having a failed system and compared the setback to his campaign manager. >> newt and i agreed that the analogy is december 194 is, we have experienced an unexpected setback, but we will regroup and refocus with increased determine egg. >> according to a new boston globe poll of likely new hampshire voters, 39% support mitt romney, gingrich and ron paul are tied for second place

with 17% each. paul has gained the most ground in new hampshire, up five points since last month. gingrich's support has slowed. he's only up two points. >> now that ron paul has emerged as a factor in the race, not for the nomination, but in iowa and possibly in new hampshire, it really makes it hard for other candidate, conservatives to break through and that's good news for mitt romney. a dismal showing in iowa being mean one or two candidates could wind up getting out of the race after the caucuses. >> we shall see. kristen welker with the president. met romney, newt gingrich and ron paul will all spend parts of the week in iowa and the man who who run last team arne, mike huckabee, he's making an iowa prediction. >> i will probably say mitt romney will end up winning it today. i think, again, ron paul because

of his organization could and that's where mitt is at a disadvantage. he doesn't have the devotion. if the weather is good, mitt romney is in better slap, if the weather is bat and it's tough to get out, ron paul will win glad to stop by the huckabee right. last time around ron paul had a better showing in iowa than polls suggested the day before. right now we see him -- we see him polling at 23%, 24%, somewhere along there and it should be a final eight days in this campaign now. you also have newt ginning. rick perry just before that. a lot of shuffling can people were trying to get the third

ticket out of iowa. it looks like mitt romney is moving on to new hampshire. gingrich is moving on. ron paul and it may be a wild card or fourth ticket. >> did you think this late in the game is it would be up in the air and the voters in iowa would make the division. >> i think the iowa caucuses aren't completely defined until very close to the end. you'll remember the jockeying that was going on with the democratic side last time with barack obama and he'll reflip and it wasn't, on the republican side last time, mike huckabee ended up the winner and he ended if stopping his campaign when it became mccain and romney. iowa can be unpredictable and it's not predictable of what will happen in the future of the primary campaign. >> that year we saw both clinton as well as obama scouring iowa.

this time around there are reports that there hasn't been a lot of one-on-one. many of the voters saying we have not seen these candidates as much as had been reported. >> there was a rule going on right now which is the fewer cities you're trying to hit in the last couple of days here, the better your doing in the polls or vice versa. we see them finish a 99-county tour. there are 40-something city bus tours over the last few days, but weir seeing, with mitt romney, he's having's bus door and it's reducing a let me show you right now, jonathan help here's that ad. >> i'm going to do something to government. i'll make it simpler, smarter and smaller, getting rid of programs and turning programs back to state and making the government more efficient. >> the focus as you were about

to say, the focus on on his conservative agenda. is is it is the he's positioning himself as an analyst, not only someone who understands how business works, but how government works and that's the issue most voters care enough right now. it would place to his details that he's been in multiple places on. >> jonathan allen. thank you. >> take care, richard. you, too. >> shoppers are expected to be out in force. spend $top ref nows of the year, in pack, conner reports sea one in five.

when last we spoke you said hey, you sent somebody inside. >> the deals is folks will have to search high and low for those better bargains because it seems leak the strategy on and now i know people are going to hit the streets with those gift cards and they don't want to spend that money so the prices aren't what people might think. there are discount, but not what we saw on friday and saturday when we saw things priced 70% off in some cases. so thering bargains. you'll have to work a little bit to find them and the national retail federation says this is going to be a very big, important week and a way to end 2011 could account for 10% of the hol dais. ? all in all, $471 for retailers, so that's good news for the economy and people are out spending money. those gift card, eight in ten

shoppers were expected to buy emthis to the tune of $28 billion in total. so a lot of folks with a lot of hot plastic in their pockets ready to get into stores to start spending the money, richard. >> we've been spoeled by the 50% discount. thank you. newt gingrich fails to virginia and then compares it for pearl harbor? >> the next step for newt's campaign on america s nbc. houldm a present. thanks for the gift basket. you're welcome. you're welcome. did you see hr just sent out new... ...office rules? cause you're currently in violation of 6 of them. oh yeah, baby? ...and 7. did you guys hear that fred is leaving? so 30 seconds ago. [ noisemakers blow ] [ both ] we'll miss you! oh, facecake! there's some leftover cake. [ male announcer ] the new htc vivid. stay a step ahead with at&t 4g lte, with speeds up to 10x faster than 3g. ♪ yeah, our low prices are even lower. we need to teach her how to walk. she is taking up valuable cart space. aren't you, honey?

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a new poll shows mitt romney comfortably in the driver's seat in new hampshire. the boston poll shows romney has a 38% support among likely republicans. newt gingrich and ron paul trail by 22 points, but paul has picked up 5% in just the last month. paul's numbers have always been on the rise in iowa, but a top

republican senator is still on the fringe. dick lugar calls paul's views on foreign policy out of step with the gop. >> of course, not. it's not the message which the president of a united states could ever afford to extend. in other words, we're a party, a precedent of leadership in the world. we have a fleet that covers all of the seas and makes foreign trade possible. the candidates in iowa are unleashing a campaign blitz in the hawk eye state. the man who won the iowa caucus last year says there could be a bit of a surprise spoiler. mike huckabee calling rick santorum underestimated. according to his campaign

director gingrich is invoking pearl harbor to get on the virginia ballot in a surprise attack in december 1941. joining me now is the chief political correspondent. we just got this new sound of gingrich speaking about the virginia ballot. let's listen to that first. >> it was our first and we hope to launch a write-in campaign and people who want us to believe that virginians' want us to succeed. as i understand, you're it's in the primary. sfie think it's time for them to change it. >> what do you think about changing the rules? >> it's very unlikely to work. the virginia republican party does not allow write-ins. it's not like there's a complicated rule. they just don't allow a write-in

campaign. >> i think by saying that he's sending a message to iowa, new hampshire, south carolina republicans to keep me in the ball game. i'm trying to fix this. don't write me off as a non-credible long-term candidate, but the reality is they have a major error, a major failure in virginia, so it's going to hurt them. i think it's a political spin, if you will. >> someone said the rules in virginia are the easiest. no doubt that virginia is a hard state to qualify for the ballot. i remember remember, bob dole had the machinery helping him. this is the rule. it's a 50 different elections and 50 different rules and the candidates who prepare for the long run are prepared for that. mitt romney knew this. >> it's when we learned in '08

and running the campaign to barack obama looked ahead to a long calendar and said we'll beat hillary clinton not on day one, but through a long campaign and it paid off for them. >> the latest quinnipiac poll showed gingrich had a five-point lead here, steve, in virginia. so if it's squandered here, how big of a blow is it to the momentum he's developed? >> he had momentum before christmas. virginia is one element and he came urn attack in two debates against christmas and they've been off the air and they'll start going become up tomorrow. -- and richard, you talked about the pearl harbor comparison in the beginning. >> yeah. >> the first thing he has to do is stop compounding the error. to take this virginia mistake and compare it to the pearl harbor attack is compounding the

area. does he really think the republican party is like the navy. does he think his own political self-inflicted wound is more than 1,000 americans killed? it's a little grand esand won't be taken well by some republican voters. >> it probably won't be the last time we hear of him peking comparisons. thank you so much. >> thank you. we turn to syria where 20 people have been killed between the military and anti-government protesters. right now gun fire is ripping through for the internet straight day. this is part of a vicious -- who want bashar al assad removed from power. >> i'm joined by retired army colonel jack jacobs. they come ahead of a visit of the arab league. what does this all mean? >> it means that the arab league which has condemned these attacks by the government of

syria, very, very unusual is serious about change in area, when they meet and not whether assad will attack these or be. >> yes. and their conclusion is that it's not going to end because assad is not necessarily in control if any case. even if he's replaced it will be part of the inner check that was established by his father. >> you're supposed to be a bright future. it was young and had western education. we really thought there would be some future for syria with him there and his father was gone now. it was a tight-fisted autocrat and what's happened is that these guys turned out to be at least as bad or worse because he does not have control of the

milita military. >> months ago, we would not talk about help happening now especially since the arab league has banded together and deunderstand maed that things improve there. i think whatever replacement you'll get there will be of the same stripe and it might een be worse. it might be somebody with whom the military is comfortable and it will be one of the guys that will continue to try to skwosh. the opposition -- some of the boom in the opposition demand change. some are really bad guys, islamist extremists and they're not good for syria. >> the violence is going to continue. any replacement will be just as bad. >> complicated. thank you so much. >> all right. we move forward for you. christmas tragedy in texas. sen people found shot to death inside a home. what happened there? we have a live report and retailers are hoping the holiday shopping season is a gift that keeps on giving, but the returns

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so this is traditionally the day of haen happy returns of unwanted gifts and maybe those returning the gifts just want cash. joining me now is the retail reporter for "the washington post." this holiday season for every dollar a store has taken they get back ten cents to return. is that right? >> that's about right. >> obviously, this is a big week for holiday returns and if you're going out to bring back an item or exchange an item there are a few things to remember. if you can, bring a receipt with you. 60% of shoppers are giving gift receipts along with their presents and that's a good thing for consumers looking to return. bring back original packaging, receipts and you also want to bring your i.d. as well and many are cracking down on what they call return of fraud and ask them to see a picture i.d. and some sort of government i.d.

when you bring back a product. you should be in good. >> those were restocking fee, could you send it back and you have to pay a restocking fee. >> some are waiving those restocking fees. best buy is waiving it for some products. just because you get free shipping on a product doesn't mean there are free returns. some are sending you a fee if you ordered it online and that's important to know retailers' return policies. >> if it's 90 days you should get a restocking fee, right? >> it could be after it, yes. >> so if the store won't allow your returned item, what do you do? head to ebay? ? that's always a possibility. maybe make extra money as well and there's a large, secondary market for firsts and whether there's an unused gift card you want, and there are ways to get

rid of the unwanted presents. ron mott is not seeing a lot of folks out there, but should we return it today or can we wait into the new year. to make sure you're not exceeding the window of return. some retailers put a time limit, where it's with folks also using gift cards. retailers love it when they come in with gift ared qaas because they tend to buy full price and spend more money than they would normally. you'll see folks out using gift cards as well as people with holiday presents. thank you so much from "the washington post." have a good one. hundred of credit card information belonged to the client of a texas-based security think tank are in the hands of a hacking movement known as anonymous. the goal is to pilfer funds to give away as christmas donations.

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authorities are searching for the motive behind a x christmas day tragedy. ben russell of our affiliate kxas tv joins us live from grapevine, texas. ben, is there any idea in terms of motive? i know it's early. >> reporter: it's still early in this investigation, obviously, though this did play out some almost 24 hours ago. no, there is no known motive at least one that police are telling us about. there's also no outward sign of the tragedy that played out in this sliding glass door and frame here of this apartment complex in grapevine that you describe as a suburb of north texas. here is what we do know at this point. no one heard any of the gunshots that were fired inside of this

home. someone called 911 at 11:30, but that person did not speak into the phone. an operator then sent grapevine, texas, police to go and investigate and they found a scene to go and talk about now. we also had information that the suspected shooter in this case, a middle-aged man and may have been dressed as santa claus. grapevine police have not confirmed that information. the seven victims are reportedly related. four women and three men between the ages of 15 and 58 years old. we are told not all of them lived here at this apartment. their bodiys were found in what otherwise have been christmas evidence. police also did find two handguns in the room, just behind this apartment and behind me here. the big question is the motive in this dies and perhaps we may

never know. we'll hear from grapevine police and no doubt, a very sad situation in this town on christmas morning which calls itself the christmas capital of texas. richard? >> ben, this is horrific. what have the naeighbors said? what do we know about the gunman? he was among the dead there? >> reporter: he has been found among the dead. that is what grapevine police told us yesterday evening. he is the suspected shooter and he may have kailled the other sx and turned the gun on himself. this is a tight-knitted, very packed together apartment complex. we spoke to neighbors this day after christmas morning. they're all asking us wand. something like this, they would not otherwise expect on the other side of this apartment complex. beyond there is a he school here which is noted to be one of the best high schools in the entire

north texas region. people move here because this is a safe community and obviously they have to question that given what happened yesterday. >> kxas reporter ben russell, we'll continue to follow that for you. thank you, ben. officials in stanford, connecticut, say it may be a few days before they know the cause of a fire that killed five people christmas morning. the fire swept through an advertising executive's home killing her three children and two parents. >> newt gingrich may not be on the ballot, but key stakes may provide momentum. let's talk it over with tara dowdel and nbc political analyst joe watkins. joe, let's start with you. is iowa a must-win for gingrich and would it be possible for him to move to super tuesday and he could recover some of this damage given what's happened. >> if he wins in iowa that gives him a lot of momentum because right now he's tied for second

in new hampshire, but if he wins in iowa, that gives him a lot of juice for new hampshire and south carolina and florida to come. >> tara, how important is the the obama election team to present and to watch what is happening. to challenge a mitt romney vote, what is happening? >> i think it's a very important day for president obama to stay active as well. president obama, the most important thing right now is he has to be showing the american public that he is there fighting for them, do you mean, put your ears on the ground as you watch the votes go by? >> i think a public perspective and private perspective, he needs to see if they're falling and his campaign team neat --

wins thank. and that's the fund-raising sugar knot that moved him through the election with romney. >> romney has a lot of those people already and he's raised more money probably than the others. he has an excellent organization. if romney wins eye with that's huge for them because he's knot a double digit lows. the he certainly helps him for south -- talk about fund raegzing, teara, matching funds, we're about to see an explosion in terms of interfighting in the gop fight. >> i think you'll see things really heat up especially as we continue to push closer to iowa. joe is right. mitt romney is at this point, despite the fact that fortunes can rise and fall very quickly

in politics, mitt romney is the guy to beat because he has the money. he has the organization, but what he doesn't have is he doesn't have the enthuse ychl and right now is for -- is it like super tuesday am we hit march? >> it is still fluid. you've heard maybe ron paul will win in iowa. it makes business for us, of course, but you don't have nrgz and who has raised more money in every state and you don't have, among the others, someone he has a great message and has come from out of nowhere to be the leading con continueder, but it is very fluid. >> we've been reading about it and talking about it today and

you have bo the doing. and jrth this is what they do. every little home now it's a con pir see both. leave the dog alone! >> he wn out on the froms from. >>y this thank you. >> you're throwing me a bone. >> being a republican strategist i'm throwing you a bone. thank you so much. it's being called a holiday miracle. a college student in arizona wakes up from a coma just as doctors and his family were trying to decide if they could do anything to save him kristen dahlgren has more from los angeles for us. this his daughter, holding on to hope and sam's incredible will to live. >> reporter: with a few tiny

step -- that smeel was something his family thought they would never see again. the arizona state business major was in a devastating five-car pile up in eighoctober. he survived, but barely. he had a brain aneurism and his odds of survival were slim and his family thought about what they would do if they had to take him off life support. >> hay never talked to us about donating his records directly, b but. >> >> his dr. wasn't write ready to declare brain dead. >> i said let's get one more mr icann. >> based on what he saw he told the family to give it one more week and that's when sam took matters that's's huge thing.

it means that you can hear and it means you can interpret what you're hearing. >> sam remembers what he saw when he opened his eyes in the hospital. ? it was my mom, john -- and. >> and he hasn't looked back since. for one day. >> he left the hospital briefly to spend christmas with his family. >> there is no better gift thoon have sam back. >> it's been nothing, but hard work and pushing through. he's got big goals being able to coach basketball and play. >> for now, he's taking small steps with his family at his side. got it? a family this year, celebrating the incredible gift of life. sam was just aloud out of the hospital for that one day for now, but he says his plans include getting back to college

by next year, richard. >> very inspirational. kristen dal combren for the latest on that. check out the surprise holiday guest for a utah family. >> yeah. that's a deer. what are you looking at. >> is & stayed around for two hours. peeking through the door as it waited for wild life officers to a vief. the deer had to be put down, was there no way to get him out of the home safely. ♪ i believe in dreams again ♪ oh, yeah ♪ 'cause i believe in you and me ♪ ♪ oh, boy ♪ i believe in miracles ♪ and i believe in you and me ♪

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a rough opening for the girl with the dragon tattoo and the worst weekend for hollywood which had hope for breakout ticket sales. they had the disappointing holiday weekend for hollywood. claiming the top spot with $26 million. you have the new sherlock holmes movie grabbing second place ahead of the much-hyped "girl with the dragon tattoo wto."

"mission impossible," i would like to see that, but the spot thin. >> you know what you're getting when you go to see "mission impossible." tom cruise does his own stunts and there's one stunt that people probably see in the pictures of, he's hanging off the tower in did you way and the tallest building in the world. he's. >> how old is he now? >> he's close to 50 and people thought his can rear would be over during the oprah couch jumping incident. >> and he has more physical aptitude other than jumping on a cloud. it's amazing stunts and amazing cinemaing to rav, and you know it's get's great franchise. >> let's turn to a movie that's coming up next year. i want to play the trailer for "the hunger games."

>>. [ indiscernible ] >> to be trained in the art of survival and to be prepared to fight to the death. this is the time to show them everything. make sure they remember you. >> so like a glad wart movie? >> people are looking that the to be the next twilight or next harry potter. harry potter is done and "twilig "twilight" is done in about a year. this is the young trilogy, people are huge fans of this. worldwide best-seller, jennifer lawrence is the lead in this movie. >> auto's televised event and techs place in the future where teenagers fight to the death. it's an action movie. look at jennifer lawrence.

she's great. when the trailer first appeared, they're that are anticipating this. t the. so that's the target audience. >> so we have batman xxii coming up. "the dark night rises." christian bale's last time as batman, but yeah, you'll see the trailer actually came out and hit records 12.5 million views in 24 hours. >> is that a good indicator? >> it really is a good indicator and when yoi i have fine like that is so hyped and it gets people excited about it because it doesn't come out for a while, until, like, june or july next year. in the summer. so you want team to get interested and start anticipating what it will be

like when it comes out. one is comedic. one is a little bit darker. so the first one comes out in march and that's the more comedic version. that's "mirror, mirror" and that's julia roberts as the evil queen and they wanted her top a more relatable evil queen. that's why they got her to play this. she's good and she's really funny. she's funny in it and levelly collins stars as snow white and it's their favorite take on one of the evil. >> it shares charlize theron as the evil queen and snow white and that is definitely daeshg. that comes out in june. that's more of a fantasy, adventure type of film and depending on which way you like your fairytale. see the comedic version or the more darker. >> jul etand charlise at each other. thank you. >> thank you very much.

>> all righty. it's not your regular read and review piece. we'll talk with the co-creator and the ceo that's coming up next. sam... ...got promoted to director? so 12 seconds ago. we should get him a present. thanks for the gift basket. you're welcome. you're welcome. did you see hr just sent out new... ...office rules? cause you're currently in violation of 6 of them. oh yeah, baby? ...and 7. did you guys hear that fred is leaving? so 30 seconds ago. [ noisemakers blow ] [ both ] we'll miss you! oh, facecake! there's some leftover cake. [ male announcer ] the new htc vivid. stay a step ahead with at&t 4g lte, with speeds up to 10x faster than 3g. ♪ [ merv ] mr. clean magic eraser extra power was three times faster on permanent marker. it looks like mr. clean has won everything. the cleaning games are finished? and so are we. [ male announcer ] clean more, work less, with the mr. clean magic eraser extra power. [ male announcer ] clean more, work less, you wouldn't want your doctor doing your job.

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is not bankrupting us, it is not an outrage. it is working. this is another busy travel week. among the complications, several inches of snow making for a rare white christmas in north texas. what about the rest of country? let's go to bill who joins us now. >> good morning to you, richard. i hope you had a wonderful weekend along with everybody else. weather has been cooperating for travel. this winter there's been a lack of snow and cold air. for the u.s. for us to get the really cold air, it has to come from canada, that's the source. let's look to the north and see if we really have much cold out there and we don't. it's surprisingly warm in canada, edmonton, winnipeg.

you have to go all the way up north of the hudson bay to yellowknife and churchill. that's where the really cold, arctic air is. the white coloring and the purple is where the really cold, cold air is. where the blue is, it's chilly. as we go throughout the next seven days, we get a little dip but tharnt goes back to the north again, the really cold stuff. by next monday, there's another shot that tries to go down through the great lakes. the trent is a little shot of cold air and then we go back to the north. it's mostly the rockies and up in canada. almost all of eastern half of the u.s. is snow free. we should see a little snow, ohio, pennsylvania, western new york tomorrow into tomorrow night. just a little bit of rain from atlanta to new orleans. looks like we don't see a lot of

cold air coming our way and no big snowstorms either. when we look back at 201 20 what stands out? thanks to our folks at jib-jab, we can see. ♪ there was a warlock. >> greg is the co-creator and ceo of jibjab. it unfair you have this much fun doing your job here. >> i know pip do feel guilty about it at times. >> i can tell you feel very, very guilty. >> horribly. >> how long do you spend on these things? there's so much to talk about in the world of politics this year. >> we record events as they happen all year long.

in about august we'll pick a song and start working on the lyrics and typically record around november, try to wait until the very last minute because there's always something. this year kim jong-il died the day before we released it. so we tried to push the actual production as far into -- >> how many people work on this? it's not just you, is it? >> oh,s are no, my brother lead as creative team and there's a whole group of folks who work on it, an amazingly talented bunch of artists. last year they try to have fun and do something different. last year was puppets, this was paper cutouts. >> chief job requirement, dry sense of humor. i want to watch another clip. ♪ the job market stayed in a slump ♪ the debt ceiling kept us

debating ♪ while weiner just tweeted his junk ♪ >> who writes the word? >> scott evans took the lead this year and did a wonderful job with it. >> you've been able to bring out the humorous moments of the year, both in politics and economy. what do you hope to accomplish by putting these together? >> these are really just a chance -- our main business is ecards. we're a top 80 web site because of our christmas ecards this month. this is a chance for the artist to have fun, do something not related to the business, experiment and give a little gift back to the audience that's been supporting us for the 12 years we've been doing it. >> i got another clip. watch this one. ♪ there were occupy wall street protesters

♪ and folks who will surely be missed ♪ while the satellite that came for investors ♪ >> when we think about what's happening in 2012, do you have something coming up? >> always do. >> hint? got a hint for me? >> nothing firm yet but stay tuned. >> oh, come on. >> thanks for having me. >> congress took a breezing in 2011. the battle for over a year-long extension on the tax fight could be just as heated. we'll break it down next hour. w. in louisiana. they came to see us in florida... nice try, they came to hang out with us in alabama... once folks heard mississippi had the welcome sign out, they couldn't wait to get here. this year was great but next year's gonna be even better.

and anyone who knows the gulf knows that winter is primetime fun time. the sun's out and the water's beautiful. you can go deep sea fishing for amberjack, grouper and mackerel. our golf courses are open. our bed and breakfast have special rates. and migrating waterfowl from all over make this a bird watcher's paradise. so if you missed it earlier this year, come on down. if you've already been here come on back... to mississippi... florida... louisiana... alabama. the gulf's america's get-a-way spot no matter where you go. so come on down and help make 2012 an even better year for tourism on the gulf. brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home. i'm a dad, coach... and i quit smoking with chantix. knowing that i could smoke during the first week was really important to me. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. chantix reduced my urge to smoke -- and personally that's what i knew i needed. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior,

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political chess match. the president and democrats win round one of the tax cut battle.

round two coming up. >> and and why gingrich might not be able to cast a vote for himself in his own home state. and today is expected to be another big shopping day in the year. the president must keep the economy heading in the right direction while republican leaders on capitol hill call for smaller government to sound the united states' problems. kristen walker is live in honolulu following the president there. today going to be all about rest and relaxation for the president or we get to some business as well? >> well, richard, the president doesn't have anything on his public schedule. wouldn't be surprised if he took in a game of golf. but the president is being baefed even when he's on vacations like this. the white house makes the point that the office of the presidency is never far away from the president. so he has been briefed

throughout this vacation and in fact the white house put out a statement yesterday about those christmas day bombings in nigeria that killed 39 people saying that they appeared to be an act of terrorism. so even though the president is here spending time with his family, he's still very much tuned in to what's going on around the world. yesterday was christmas. he had a busy day, started it off with a trip to his family but then ended the day with troops here, spending time with them, spending time with their family members. richard? >> kristen, we're just getting this news in this morning about yemen's president might be coming to the united states. what's the latest on that from the white house? >> according to a senior administration officials, the u.s. is considering allowing the jou going president of yemen, s soo l -- saleh to come to the united

states for medical treatment. he wants to talk about calming things in his country but the administration officials say that is not the reason. the only reason they would allow him to come to this country would be for medical purpose. back in february demonstrators started taking to the streets protesting saleh's rule. the government cracked down on those demonstrators. so hundreds have been killed since then. recently saleh has agreed to step down, to hand over power to his vice president. the united states and senior administration officials have been in touch with the vice president during this transition period. richard? >> one of the countries involved in the arab spring. kristen welker, thank you so much. >> every candidate but john huntsman will be blanketing iowa. gingrich launches a bus tour, ron paul will be making three

stops a day beginning wednesday and mitt romney calls a speech tomorrow a final pitch to iowa voters. joining me from washington, d.c., dan neuhauser. joanne, let's start with you. just a quarter of iowa voters saying we made a decision so far. going to go down to the wire or folks not as interested? >> i think people aren't as interesting because of the candidates are exciting. ron paul has an excellent ground game. mitt romney has the money and a super pac helping him and he's blanketing the state with cash and newt has the stylistic but he's got to debate. >> seems like they're all going to bump into each other. >> that's absolutely true.

they're all blanketing the statement, michele bachmann. she's going to every county. a lot of the other people are going where the voters are and staying in the city locations. >> ron paul, if he takes iowa because he's poll so long well at the moment, what does that mean? should he move on to south carolina? new hampshire he spent some time earlier in the month as well. >> i think the conventional wisdom is it wouldn't mean much the republicans establishment and media establishment inside the conservative movement will discount a ron paul victory. the iowa, the republican leadership are terrified of the idea that he would sort of, quote, unquote, discredit the iowa caucuses by winning them. if he does win, i think he would think about a third-party run, which would be a disaster for the republican party. >> let's look at the win owing process that the iowa caucus as

well as new hampshire primary means to the gop nomination process. who do you think will be winn winnowed out in these first two votes? >> you have to think about michele bachmann. she won the straw poll and it looked like she had a lot of momentum. if sheer doesn't do at least better than the polling suggests, you have to think she'll go but you have to think about rick santorum as well. >> but we're coming out with a new year, matching funds, federal money, millions and millions of dollars. boost in the arm for those who are trailing? >> i think it will help in a way but the map is so front loaded with primaries with this very expensive primary coming at the end of the month, ten media markets in florida that you have to have the money to advertise in. even with matching funds, these smaller tier candidates will have a really tough time getting through that map. >> when we look at the amount of

delegates being porksed out throughout the calendar, compared to 2008, it is not as front loaded as it was during twait. does this give more chance for some of these candidates that are falling behind at least early on? >> certainly. if they just pick up more delegates than they're expected to, it could be perceived as a win for their campaign and they can do g into the next caucus or primary spinning that as victory. >> we have the endorsement of bush 41 earlier in the week, a big win for romney here. but then there's jeb bush, who so many along with chris christy, is that the endorsement that any of them want -- >> i think not. >> why not? >> because i don't think the base is listening to them. the base is doing their own thing, looking at people like donald trump and herman cain. >> those are the keey

endorsements? >> no. i don't think an established figure telling them you ought to endorse romney, they're not listening. >> dan, do you agree with what joy-ann is saying here? or will the jeb/bush-like endorsement mean more to the process? >> it could. but then there's the next endorsement to have temperature -- it really depends. he'd probably have nor sway in a place like new hampshire. >> in a close race that means more. >> i think there it might be valuable. mitt romney needs for there to be, first of all, a crowded group in iowa so it's am big urs and he needs to really win big in new hampshire. if an endorsement could get him over the line, i think he'd take it. >> the postholiday shopping rush

under way this day after christmas. 7 -- 70% of americans expected to shop today. others will be returning gifts. a consumer report finds one in five americans will hate their gift this year. ron, we've been watching the people trickle in little by little by little. what sort of deals might they see as they enter the stores behind you? >> macy's has been busier by the hour. folks waking up, realizing that he-the-have some cold, hard palace nick their stockings with the gift card. people bought about $28 billion with the gift card. there as a lot of spending power

in the country. j thi jcpenney got open at 6:00 this morning. macy's has a page full of coupons, deals. buy one, get one free suits. i may go look that the myself. the dols daels are out there. people aren't going to see the deals they saw on friday or saturday when the retailers were trying to make that hard push into christmas. this is is a big week for retailers. it could account for as much as 10% of their finish. just a word of caution to all those folks who might be bringing back some of those unmentionables, ugly sweaters and ties and things of that sort. take the receipts with you. some of the lenient policies as far as returns might have been tightened up by the is stores. you don't want to get to the store and reemize you don't have all the things you need to actually get those returns but returns will be brisk.

the customers service counters are going to be busy. >> what it really is is those sweaters and ties are so ugly, they don't want to take them back, right? >> exactly. >> enjoy the new suits you get. >> r mitt romney in the hawk ey state. plus a christmas miracle for a colorado family. one of sant's helpers anonymously foots the bill for their present but then comes forward sort of. ♪ what is this shorty? uh, tissues sir, i'm sick. you don't cough, you don't show defeat. give me your war face! raaah! [ male announcer ] halls. a pep talk in every drop. yeah, our low prices are even lower. we need to teach her how to walk. she is taking up valuable cart space. aren't you, honey?

[ male announcer ] it's our biggest clearance event of the year where our prices are even lower. save money. live better. walmart. >> mitt romney in the hawk eye over at prilosec otc s

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after a christmas break, the

campaigns are getting back in gear. rick santorum is scheduled to have a pheasant hunt this morning. >> i'm really worried about some sort of collision about the buses. there are four campaign buses that are going to be chris-crossing the state. >> mitt romney campaign touting him as a real conservative, hitting the airwaves in iowa. >> i'm going to something to government. i'm going to make it simpler, smarter and stronger. getting rid of programs, turning programs to the states and making it more efficient. >> republicans are insulting the unemployed by proposing drug testing them in order to give out their benefits. on c-span he said many working americans have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. republican congressman tom reid says many of the reasons

districts in his state have not been hiring is because of drug abuse. and the vice president and dr. jill biden visited walter reed medical center in maryland. >> gop voters in virginia will on have two choices now, only mitt romney and ron paul are on the ballot there. a huge blow to newt gingrich, who lives in virginia. and he were's what he said outside christmas mass on -- yesterday. >> it was our fault. we hope to larchunch a write-in campaign. we believe virginians ought to have the right to choose and shouldn't be restricted to two people. >> as i understand, the code prohibits that in the primary. z >> it's time for them to change it. >> larry, you know virginia better than anyone here.

is there any way that gingrich can challenge this? >> absolutely none. you know, emergency legislation theoretically could be passed by the general assembly which begins meeting in early january and you need an extraordinary marnlts of both houses to pass emergency legislation which would then have to be signed by the government. but practically speaking, no, there's nothing he can do. he was a resident in virginia, voted in virginia for some time. i checked. we haven't had write-in votes in the primaries at least since the 1960s. anyone who has voted in virginia knows that. >> since the 1960s. does that mean could you do it again this year, of course with some limits of getting overseas voters. that may require 45-day lead time. but is that possible? >> no. as i said, if emergency legislation would pass, it's theoretically possible and it's not going to happen.

when i said the 1960s, i only checked back through the 1960s. richard, it was christmas and i cut out early. >> there's been a lot of anecdotal discussion about how newt gingrich's ground game has not been good. you and i spoke in the last week and you said organization, organization, organization. does this prove, then, that his organization is weak ? >> it's a big data point that suggests he doesn't have good organization. these rules, they're in the statute books. these aren't party rules. they're not new. they've been around for decades. they were passed by the state legislature. but both parties have been familiar with these rules for decades. by the way, very minor candidates have managed to get on the ballot to meet the requirements of these rules. so there's really no excuse for a major candidate, whether it's gingrich or rick perry or for that matter huntsman and bachmann and santorum who didn't come close to getting on the

virginia ballot. it's a shame that virginia will only have a choice between mitt romney and ron paul, but the fault is with the candidates. >> with those two, then, larry, what's your perspective? is this basically romney's who have now? >> oh, sure, it's a gimme. the virginia primary is now a side show. i can't imagine anybody paying much attention to it or the two candidates on the ballot spending much in virginia. second of all, the other candidates have lost out on 40 -- 49 delegates. florida's only got 50. so the virginia total is essentially equivalent to florida. it's a big, big goof by every candidate on the ballot. >> in a tight election, that's going to catch. thank you so much. >> thank you, richard. >> christmas in hawaii is not not only about the beach for the first family. president obama spent part of christmas day meeting with troops and their families. it the third year in a row he

stopped by the mess hall to wish season greetings. an 8-year-old had more than a wave for the commander. five fingers right in the mouth for the commander in chief. he caught the president off guard when her tiny fingers grabbed at his mouth. this is hilarious. ♪ christmas will be green and bright ♪ the sun to shine by day hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. diarrhea, gas or bloating? get ahead of it! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defend against digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. hit me! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'.

a connecticut family is reeling today from the emotional weight of a fatal fire that ripped through a woman's home on friday. the owner of this scorched victorian escaped alive but her three young daughters and parents were not as lucky. firefighters could not get inside because the flames were too intense. craig melvin has more. >> reporter: you can see what's left of the house behind me. it sits at the end of the streets. it hugs the long island sound. the flames were so intense they

shot as high as the trees. a 47-year-old mother and her friend made it out of the burning house okay but her three children and her two parents did not and it all happened on christmas morning. it's a still smoldering christmas nightmare. just before 5:00 sunday morning, flames shot from the five-bedroom house. m minutes it was ungulfed, screams woke up neighbors. >> i heard somebody yelling "help, help, help me." i started sprinting up anyway dri -- my driveway. >> those who came to the house were helpless. >> i came to see what i could do, there was nothing. >> five people are dead, three are children. >> it's tragic, horrific. >> the fire took the woman's three daughters, 10-year-old lilly, 7-year-old twins sarah and grace. also killed, her parents, lomer and sarah johnson. lomer spent christmas eve working at his dream job as

santa at sachs fifth avenue in new york. >> it's never easy, that's for sure. i've been on this job 38 years. not an easy day. >> badger is is a prominent new york city fashion and design executive. she was behind those famous calvin klein adds starring markey mark in the mid 90s. forbes imaginer named her one of the "40 under 40." she bought the home in december of last year. she was rone vating it. >> there probably has not been a worse christmas day in the city of stanford. >> i talked to the mayor and he said it will probably take a few days to figure out precisely what happened here, at this point they suspect it was all just one awful accident. richard, back to you. >> congress finally reaching a deal on the payroll tax cut extension but only after a bruising political battle.

round one goes to president obama and democrats. stand by for round two. things could get ugly. >> plus, prince phillips has been in the hospital for heart surgery but he's itching to get back after his recovery. man: my electric bill was breaking the bank. so to save some money, i trained this team of guinea pigs to row this tiny boat. guinea pig: row...row. they generate electricity, which lets me surf the web all day. guinea pig: row...row. took me 6 months to train each one, 8 months to get the guinea pig: row...row. little chubby one to yell row! guinea pig: row...row. that's kind of strange. guinea pig: row...row. such a simple word... row. anncr: there's an easier way to save. get online. go to geico.com. get a quote. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. if you're one of those folks who gets heartburn and then treats day after day... well that's like checking on your burgers after they're burnt!

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that's the power of the home depot. make room for savings with these sterilite totes for a new lower price of just $5.88. welcome back. here's a look at some stories topping the news. arab league monsters in syria, 20 people reportedly killed between the military and antigovernment protesters. it's part of the vicious crashdown by the syrian government to high sense protesters who want the president removed from power. >> the un estimates 5,000 have been killed during several monies of demonstrations there. >> police in southern california say this man allegedly shot and paralyzed a decorated army soldier at his homecoming party.

he was recovereding from injuries from a suicide bombing. the suspect fled the party after the shooting and police are trying to track him down. >> authorities are searching for a motive behind a christmas day raj diin texas. four women and three men were found shot to death in their home, apparently after opening their christmas gifts. reporter ben russell of kxas tchtkxast-tv joins us live. what is the latest here? >> the most outstanding question is motive. we do not yet know or police have not told us yet why the events played out here on christmas morning did so. we do know this, of the seven people killed inside of this apartment building, this apartment to be specific, of

those seven killed one of them is the suspected shooter in what we're told is this murder/suicide. the suspected shoot ser a middle-aged man who may have been dressed as santa claus during this ordeal. there is no sign of -- around 11:30, someone called 911 from inside this apartment. but there was no speaking on the end of the line so officers sent out a police officer who found this bloody crime scene. the bodies were strewn through the first floor of this apartment. there was evidence they had recently opened christmas gifts. police found two handguns on the floor. a lot of questions including the motive and who exactly these people were. >> ben russell, thank you. >> it's estimated more than 90 million americans are traveling over the holidays and many of you are still on the move.

bill? >> a good monday morning to you and a wonderful weekend for everyone out there. we are seeing nice krngs really no issues weather-wise. we don't have any snow or ice to talk about, just plain old rain. let's show you the deep south is where we had a rainy christmas, unfortunately, especially louisiana into mississippi. that continues to be the wet spot on the map. we've had snow flurries overnight in the area of new england. but the heaviest rains continue now. mostly southern mississippi and all that moisture is still streaming to the north out of the gulf. san antonio, houston, dallas, shrevesport in alabama. that little yellow stripe sup to two inches possible in mississippi and atlanta could pick up an inch of rain as we go through tonight into tomorrow and then the east coast will deal with all the rain on tuesday. so for today's forecast, a little bit of a brisk, chilly

start. a little windy, especially in new england. as high pressure builds in, the winds will die off. baltimore, temperatures there in the uperp 40s. it's still very unusually warm, especially in the midwest. look at chicago and minneapolis. temperatures heading up near 50 degrees. there's the rain in the deep south. i think tuesday will be the worst of the travel with all that heavy rain through the south, could have significant delays in orlando. that rain eventually will head up into new england. the big story is the fact there's really no snow out there and no cold air on the way. very interesting. >> let's move to the pay row tax cut. the battle over the full-year extension should be just as heated on the hill. speaker boehner was on the losing end of last week's legislative standoff. the pressure is on to reach a year-long deal that his conference is comfortable supporting.

let's talk capitol hill with our panel, karen hunter and brent littlefield. brent, let's start with you here. you know, last week we saw the rift between boehner and mcconnell. how does speaker boehner now communicate to minority leader mcconnell here the difficulties and challenges he faces in the house? >> i don't think the speaker is facing that many difficulties or challenges in the house, nor mr. mcconnell in the senate. they've all been different bodies. this has been going on long before you or i were alive or msnbc existed. the president -- it wasn't reported very much last week but it seems like the president was the one having a difficult time communicating with the senate because the president called for a one-year extension and then the senate passed a two-month extension and then the president claims victory. so i guess he's opposed himself in just a short period of time. if he wants to claim victory for just a two-month payroll tax

change, then let's give him that victory. that's a pretty mild and meek victory if that's what he's looking for. as i said before, if you had as bad a term as president as mr. obama's had with the rising unemployment -- >> brent, let's move it back to how the republicans are working together. let's not necessarily focus on this two versus one year, which is sort of a moot point. but moving forward, mcconnell as well as boehner working together, that's going to be an important ingredient to get things passed. >> i don't think it's a moot point. that's the reason we're going to be bringing this back up. they've worked very, very well together in the past. they'll ten to work together, this is more of a senate -- >> you don't see an outward, public non-agreement we saw in the last several months? >> i think the president and others would love to see that but most people are paying attention to christmas. i don't think we'll see much of

that in the future. >> it seems like he had too much christmas year brent? you had too much sauce over the holidays? you're not seeing what's going on. this rift is real. it's not going anywhere. they fundamentally have differences. i'm glad that boehner ended up with egg on his face because it was ridiculous what he was doing with the american people. the president has positioned himself directly to the american people that this is about them and these republicans are against them, they're against the middle class, they are not working for you. at the end of the day, he's going to win. that's the only argument that will win and heap has it and he's doing it. >> brent, what do you think about speaker boehner? there's been questions put out there about whether he'll maintain his speakership. what's your thought? >> i think all of that is very, very premature. if you want to look from a political analysis point of view, certainly nothing's going to happen between now and the next election. it will be up to those members

that get elected next time whether or not he maintains that position or the democrats continue to have nancy pelosi as their leader. it's really up to the new caucuses once the election takes place. >> karen, how do the democrats take advantage of what they have called a win so far? what do they need to to do to capitalize on what the democrats are very much happy about at the moment? >> they have to keep the message for the american people they are the ones working for them. i think at the end of the day what brent is saying is not going to come to fruition. i think boehner is in trouble and we need to stop with the talking points, which i think the democrats need to do, too. stop with the whole left/right thing and we're united because that's not true. at the end of the day, richard and brent, this is about the american people. if the democrats stay the course and sit back and let them implode and throw rocks at each other and blow up, they're going to be okay. >> can we talk about something sp. >> yeah, let's talk about something. >> let's talk about the first dog. conspiracy theory he was flown back for a photo-op.

what do you think, karen in. >> bo is a very familiar looking dog. they could have a bo stand-in. they probably had a bo stand-in. >> brent, what do you think? >> i certainly wasn't feeding the white house's dog while the president was away or back. not my duty. but with the economy we're facing right now, i'll bet the president wishes he had a stand-in with the next election. >> oh, my goodness. i have to give him credit, though, he's consistent. >> consistently truthful. >> wrong. >> prince phillip has spent a third night in a british hospital recovering from heart surgery. the 90-year-old husband of queen elizabeth is being treated for a blocked coronary artery. he'll remain under observation for a short period. his grandchildren including prince william and prince harry were seen driving to the hospital in cambridge where he's staying. how's it going there, michelle? >> hi, richard.

it seems like he by all accounts, all the newspapers are reporting sources are quoting that he's in great spirits, he can't wait to get out of there, he doing very, very well but he had have to stay in hospital one more night. he is 90 years old butch he's been one of the most active, busy members of the royal family, putting in something like 300 to 400 appearances every year. the good news is he's a very fit individual. he's in great health otherwise. and for a long time it's been reported that he has had some heart problems, even though the palace never acknowledged that officially. it's also been reported that his bodyguards carry medication and they are under orders if he ever feels short of breath or experiences pain, they're supposed to take him to the hospital immediately, even against his will. it sounds like maybe now he's in the hospital against his will that, he really wants to go home and be with the family, especially for the holidays.

>> you know with that concern there, michelle, how did the royal family spend the holiday? >> well, it's very well orchestrated. i mean, they have it sort of timed down to a science based on tradition. they do certain things every single day, they spend it north of london. this beautiful, small castle. it's considered cozy for a palace but it's considered by royal watchers one of the few times of the year where i royal family can just kick back, be themselves, mostly out of the public eye and really act like a family and be family together. there are estimated to be 29 members of the royal family together for this holiday. now they're experiencing the very real family problem of having one of their own sick and in the hospital and family was the subject of the queen's christmas message on christmas day this year. richard? >> thank you.

it was a christmas phenomenon this year, layaway angels, people all over the country who paid off the bills of complete strangers at places like kmart and in colorado, one woman met her secret santa on christmas day, who still wants to remean somewhat anonymous. he said he paid her bill to show his kads lesson in christmas kindness. >> i wanted to meet the family or person who made my christmas very special this year and i was very -- it was very special to me, very special family. this will be the best christmas of my 64 years that i'm alive, this is the best christmas i've had. >> she's a very special lady and very special family. i think it was meant to be. >> the true meaning of christmas right there. >> coming up for you, new year and a new outlook on the houses market. why some believe it might be on the rebound in 2012. plus the u.s. troops take out

the most wanted terrorist after nearly 20 years on the run. a look at some of the defining moments of 2011. nick, what are you doing? oh, there's still a few more days of chevy's giving more. got to stay loose. how do you do it? i have my little helpers. boop. oh. [ chuckles ] [ male announcer ] hurry in to chevy's giving more. these savings are almost over. now qualified buyers can get 0% apr for 72 months on the 2011 chevy silverado. or 0% apr financing for 60 months plus no monthly payments until spring. hurry in before they're all gone. ♪ yeah, our low prices are even lower. we need to teach her how to walk. she is taking up valuable cart space. aren't you, honey? [ male announcer ] it's our biggest clearance event of the year where our prices are even lower. save money. live better. walmart.

a new survey out today shows the vast majority of americans believe they're better off than their parents were at the same age. despite the weak economy, 69% of those questioned say they feel that way. that figure is down from 74% in 1998 the last time gallup asked that question. the latest numbers indicate the depressed housing market may finally be making a comeback. construction of new homes jumped 9.3% in note. the sales of new homes rose 1.6% in november and sales of existing home just 4%. >> so a lot of that hypothesis has been based on these construction numbers, that rising of indicators. is that good? do you think we're back? >> we're not back but those numbers certainly are showing that we're heading toward what

might be a recovery. it's just taking way longer than anybody ever expected and anybody would really like to see. we need to remember the overall numbers in almost every category, sales prices and so on, are all way worse than they were five or seven years ago. we're taking baby steps to getting there. >> foreclosures, that's always an indicator we watch. a forward looking number says it's down almost 16% in terms of the number of home heading into foreclosure in terms of last year. is that a good indicator? >> it would be if this was a normal market but it's not. there has been a huge delay in foreclosures because of the problem with bank procedures in many states. there's been a statewide investigation of bank procedures and that has held up everything. those are basically being put on hold, which means they're probably going to go back up. we're going to see another spurt

of foreclosures in 2012 but we need to get through that. one way or another we need to get through all those foreclosures. economists are saying maybe 2013 we'll see a real sustainable recovery, maybe 2014. you have to keep in mind they said 2010 and 2011. >> what does this man for the overall economy. look at the economy in 2012? a nice uptick? >> the housing market reflects the economy and depends on the broader economy. we need the jobs to come back. and we really need to see incomes going up, which for the most part they're not right now. they're very flat. we're seeing gradual improvements in all of those things. again, the recurring theme nobody likes to hear over and over is it's just taking way longer. >> what do you think growth at 2% 3rks%? >> if we're lucky and there's

not a recession and some other huge crisis in europe that puts us back in a recession. 2% 3rks%, that feels like a stagnant economy to most people. >> it's better than negative, rick. >> you mentioned jobs. are we wee going to see a reduction of this hovering around 9% so we're hitting 8%? >> i think we're not necessarily going to see the unemployment rate coming down. people who are not even looking for a job will start looking again and that could push the rate up. but we will see more hiring, about at the pace we've been seeing, which is not real strong but at least we're adding some jobs. >> finally, it's been said business has $1 trillion to $2 trillion sitting on the shelf. are they going to release that money? >> no. i don't think we should count on that. they know the european debt crisis needs to get resolved first and it hasn't so far. it could come to a head in the first part of 2012. second, they're looking at

what's going on in washington saying there are a lot of problems coming up, big decision need to be made at 2012. they look at what's happening in washington now and say i'm just going to sit on the sidelines as long as i can. >> rick newman, i thank you so much. always a pleasure. >> thanks for having me. >> 2011 is coming to a close. a look back at the year that was, including congresswoman gabby gifford's remarkable recovery from a gunshot to the head. they didn't take a dime. how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money ? if your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense.

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mission accomplished for tom cruz's latest blockbuster. it's on track to be cruz's biggest success in years. "ghost protocol" took $26 million. the new "sherlock holmes" finished second. >> january 1st is less than a week away. that means along with making new years eve plans and compiling

resolutions, it's also a time to look back at the year that was. our hearts are broken by their sudden passing, and yet our hearts are full of hope and thanks for the 13 americans who survived the shooting. >> she is a fighter like, you know, nobody else that i know. >> liftoff of the maiden voyage of "endeavor" on a satellite rescue mission. >> the space shuttle spreads its wings one final time. >> the wedding that wowed britain and the world.

>> catastrophic 8.9 earthquake in japan today. the quake sent tsunami waves barrelling across the pacific. >> we plan on rebuilding. this is our home. >> these are the hurricane force winds and it's brutal, i got to tell you. >> you need to know that america will be with you in your hour of need.

>> president hosni mubarak is giving up his powers. >> moammar gadhafi, libya's long-time dictator has been captured and killed. >> the united states has conducted an praying that killed osama bin laden. >> this ends an era. >> i'm proud to finally say these two words, and i know your

families agree, welcome home. i will support this legislation but with very serious reservations. >> i reluctantly cannot support it. >> it stinks to high heaven. >> what i think ts & p thing di was to hit a nerve and it hit the self-esteem of the united states. . >> we are the 99%. we are the 99%. >> the withhohole world is watc!

>> the country we love is in peril. i'm running for president. >> i'm running for president of the united states. >> i'm ready to lead. >> we did this together! >> 9-9-9. >> nice to meet you. >> as a nation we must do better. and when i'm president, we will. >> be with me for the next eight years as together we get america back in the right direction. >> good to meet you. >> about a year from now you're going to wake up and turn the tv and the tv says "mitt is it." >> and that was 2011. that wraps up this hour of coverage. thanks for joining us this day after christmas. we'll keep you updated on the news throughout the day. i'll see you back here tomorrow at 3 p.m. eastern. tomorrow msnbc returns with its

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