, we all loved anderson cooper, he was here for, ac. >> never heard of him? n, you are a model for all of us. jeremy hubbard one of the favorites of all time on the show. in denver working for a local affiliate. my predecessor. and vinita nair, happy to tell you, is taking a little time off because she is 8 1/2 months pregnant expecting a little boy next month. congratulations, vinita. and we got a lot of facebook messages about this man right here. and this man right here, willis is back in the house! the laughing legend of "world news now." you left here in april. how many years at abc? >> 31. >> 31. >> never a sick day. >> never. >> what have you been doing beside chasing ladies. >> can't say. >> ha-ha. >> very good. >> ha-ha. >> not dining except for chasing ladies. >> all he need to do. >> just having a great time. enjoying myself. rolling over every now and then say what time is it? >> back to sleep. we miss you here. we miss your laugh. viewers asked a lot about you. happy to see you. see you at the staff party tonight. >> oh, yeah. >> oh, yeah. >> will

this is the part of the program where i introduce myself. >> this is his big moment. >> i'm anderson coopernderson and we'll be true ♪ >> ha-ha. >> if you have any information -- on the fat lady? not the fat lady, not to be confused with the fat lady. if you have information about her contact us. >> that's the news for this half-hour. >> my name is anderson cooper, and i go to dalton school. i'm in the fifth grade. >> i boxed with the navy back in '56. >> that's right. [ laughter ] >> the boxing? >> after prison. golden gloves. [ laughter ] >> you're pre-featherweight. you're less than featherweight. you're teeny. >> i'm teeny? how long have you been here? can i just show you something. can we get a tight shot, what does this say? anderson cooper senior anchor. >> go, homey. ♪ i will survive >> the hats. >> there you go. >> oh, yeah. >> that's the news for this half-hour. merry christmas, everybody! >> hardest working man in overnight news is moving on to bigger and better things. >> come on over here. >> the new face of "world news now." >> rob nelson. welcome aboard. >> showers across, sp

now we go to anderson cooper now we go to anderson cooper down in times square. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> and good evening, everyone. welcome, we are live in new york's times square. >> and welcome to honolulu. >> it is warm here and it feels -- >> the tell prompter says welcome to honolulu. >> i won't say that. >> but already we are off to this start where we don't know what state we are in. >> unlike other shows where they have been rehearsing all day, we have not been like ryan seacrest. >> i cannot believe you said his name in front of me. >> we have a lot of ofolks performing here in times square, and lady gaga and cee lo green and none of them on our show. >> yes, for those of you dvring this, this is the one you want to play. do they replay it all night. >> yes. >> this is the up with to watch. >> unless you do something terrible like last year. you know what is sad about this? >> what? look it says both no nudity and no swear iing. >> that is for you. that is for you. >> no, we know who that is. that is your person. >> you have been swearing all day and so app

anderson cooper's bed. a lot of people want to be there, but i was there. >> kathy spent a weekend in my house in long island and sadly, that is a picture of her in my bed. >> well, tell us what we were doing. >> well, sadly i let kathy go for a day before i actually arrived at the house for the weekend, and i sent her the key. and i trusted her and while i was on the air that night on the news, she was texting me photos -- >> naked. >> sprawled out in my house in various compromising positions. >> extremely compromising. >> which didn't want to see. nobody wants to see. >> but your reaction was inappropriate, because it was not get out, and put your clothes op, but it was how is everything going? >> well, at that point i didn't want to make you mad, because i did nont what we you would do. >> this next one i thought would upset you and you were worried about my safety. because this is me on the floor. >> this is one of the low points of my life when you sent me that picture this year. >> i wanted you the t

. >>> don't forget to watch anderson cooper and kathy griffin ring in the new year. happy new year. >> i'm anxious to say the special all the best, all the worst 2011 stars in just a moment. first what's happening right here in new york's times square where thousands of people are gathering ahead of midnight. we've got about four hours to go but already it is filling up. the weather is mild. it's just about 45 degrees, which explains why there are so many people packed into new york's times square tonight. security is tight but people are still having a really great time. they're in great spirits, they're got their balloon, they've got their hats, and they're just soaking up the very unique atmosphere here in new york's times square. i'm going to be back at 8:30 with another update and i'm going to be doing a live show at 10:00 p.m., a webcast on cnn.com, take you behind the scenes and show you what it takes to pull off cnn's massive operation to show you how the celebrations are done here in new york's times square and show you what it takes to get that massive show

is the anderson cooper in for oscar the crouch on assignment at the dump. here with two legendary newscasters, oscar rather not and dan rather not. walter? >> grr! >> i can see this will be a tough assignment. >> i take it back. that was "sesame street" for crying out loud. this trial in ohio is serious news. how will you take a complicated corruption trial and turn it into a puppet show. how can that be compelling? >> is that the invoice you sent? >> yes. >> was that invoice ever paid? >> no. >> it's the same dog and pony show for fake invoices for two rolex watches valued at $10,000, wining and dining and a trip to vegas. >> a trip to vegas? i'm wondering what happened in vegas? i'm getting into this. let's roll more. >> and admitting to paying for the vegas trip including $8,000 in gambling money and one prostitute named suzanne. >> say what? your eyes and ears did not deceive you. that was indeed a puppet prostitute. if you would allow me to employ a little bit of parlance, that was what we call a bait and hook. we have to hear what happened next. >> wh

and there are a couple who love anderson cooper. a lot of people who love anderson cooper. it's a ron paul crowd here tonight. pretty passionate and excited. newt gingrich getting a lashing from fellow conservatives. check out the drudge report and links to gingrich in his own words saying some less than flattering things about reagan. and bob dole today wrote a letter saying quote, hardly anyone who served with newt in congress has endorsed him. that fact speaks for itself. he was a one-man band who rarely took advice. it was his way or the highway. on the campaign trial today, gingrich was on the defensive. >> i've been running a campaign based on large ideas, for example, the speech yesterday in latin america, the speech on what we ought to do in space. i get pretty good reaction from the american people on these ideas, then there's the washington establishment sitting around in a frenzy, having coffee, lunch and cocktail hours talking about how do we stop gingrich. >> why the push to stop gingrich and will it work is this he's got a lot of momentum in south carolina. jo

so it was an air of confidence all day long inside the gingrich campaign. >> anderson cooper is with anderson? >> going to be a fascinating night. this rain has changed completely from what it was a week ago. we're moments away from when the polls close in south carolina. that's where we're going to get our first glimpse of how this very important contest turned out. the republican race could turn into a freefall. john king is going to be mapping out the results and bring us the exit polling data. what are you looking at tonight? >> this has never happened before in the republican primaries. mitt romney had the support of the state's governor. how old was the electorate in south carolina today? pretty spread out. the largest group, 50 to 64. senior citizens, 65. they make up about 30%. this is more important, a very, very conservative electorate today. 66% of the vote, 2/3 of those casting votes in the presidential election describe themselves as born again evangelicals. the more moderate conservatives live here along the coast. up here, this is your bible belt up here. go back to 20

reality tv star carson kressly, actress cloris leachman, the ace of cakes duff goldman, anderson cooper, erin burnett and a special appearance by turtleman. >>> welcome. i'm tom foreman. each year has its hall marks, personalities, events, moments that define our times, things we will remember for years after all the other details have fallen away. this year was packed full of such milestones and perhaps more than ever before many had global implications. over the next hour we will sort through, remember and reconsider this year of very big news. ♪ >>> the word crazy keeps coming to mind. a crazy year. >> i think it was one of those roller coaster years. >> talk about unexpected, right? >> this year's been all over the place. >> the final liftoff of atlantis. >> this year was weird, wasn't it? >> i think it's been to tough year for the country. >> i agree. >> the iraq war is coming to an end. >> let's start with the biggest, best story of 2011. the wholesale return of american troops from iraq after more than eight years of combat, more than 4,000 lives lost, tens of thousands wounded,

. >> he is the one, the only anderson cooper. how are you doing, anderson?first freak newscaster so that you can anchor my newly incorporated wwfn. >> wwfn? >> worldwide freak network. you're going to bigger than blitzer. >> bigger than wolf blitzer? no, that's crazy. i'm not going to work for your stupid network. >> please? >> no. >> pretty please? >> no. >> i've got to deal with kathy griffin, she's bad enough. >> come on. >> are you insane? >> do i look insane? >> yeah. yeah, you kind of do. >> well, yeah, but only in the best sense. >> i'm not going to work for your network. cnn would sue me for breech of contract. they'd sue you, too. >> oh, i'm so scare. >> you should be scared. it's spidey time. ♪ >> sorry it took me so long. times square was a zoo. >> spiderman! you missed me, you spider joke. >> you've got to get some better lines, goblin. >> yeah, we'll see about that, news boy. you'll be singing a different tune when you're all beautiful like me. >> spiderman, would you mind hurrying up a bit? >> yeah, no problem. got you covered. you, too, goblin

be sure to join wolf blitzer, anderson cooper, erin burnett, and john king tonight for live coverage of the new hampshire primary, 7:00 eastern, only on cnn. >>> we'll get right back to politics in a moment. first, we want to tell you about some other stories making news right now. we're learning more about 26-year-old robert champion, the florida drum major who died in november. champion's friends have told the attorney that he was gay and that may have been one reason why he was treated more harshly than other band members. but champion's family attorney says this was not a hate crime. >> we are shocked, we're outraged, we're devastated that a band director would suggest that an institution that he himself has a leader of a band is exonerated for the death of a band member on his watch, just because that band member was gay, that now this makes it a hate crime? no, this is hazing. >> champion's family is expected to sue the bus line and famu. >>> now to syria, where president bashar al assad gave a rare and defiant speech. he blamed the violence in his country on, quote, external c

remember to join wolf blitzer, anderson cooper a mobile guy there.ers used a mask specifically designed for dogs to help save this little one, but firefighters were not able to save two other dogs they found in the house. the owners of the dogs were not hurt. >>> now to oshkosh, wisconsin. sad news for the green bay packers. the son of packers offensive coordinator joe philbin was found dead in the fox river. 21-year-old michael philbin visited friends over the weekend and later was reported missing. no cause of death was determined. an autopsy is planned for today. the packers' gm says the team's thoughts and prayers are with the philbin family. >>> and to indianapolis where you'll need deep pockets to pay for superbowl parking. they're reporting a space that normally goes for $10 a night right now will cost 200 on superbowl weekend, and it will cost 900 a day to park an railroadrv nearby. you might want to bring a bicycle. but it's not scaring drivers. spaces around the city are apparently selling pretty fast. >>> south carolina voters are listenin

anderson cooper here live at times square with none other than kathy griffin. how are you? hour before the broadcast. >> half an hour to the broadcast. >> this is the point where i try to get you comfortable. >> right. >> i think that you are feeling like she is not going to be bad here tonight. >> i feel like you are lulling me into a false sense of security. >> no, everything is fine, baby. i would not do anything inappropriate. >> and we will be ringing in the new year, so grab your kids and the grab the -- >> no, not the kids. >> and is your mother watching? >> my mother is half away through the wine right now and she is tipping it and the spig got is not, and your mother, gloria vanderbilt, icon. >> she is watching. they are expected to have record crowds here at times square, because the ten years i have done this have never been so warmer. >> how did you snag our performer justin bieber, and he is is going to be on this riser right here. >> well, he is not. he is performing right now. >> he is much skinnier, and he has a red skull cap and looks like a bank robber. >>

our own anderson cooper and erin burnett and a special guest appearance by turtleman.time for "ac 360" all of the best, all the worst 2011. >>> welcome, i'm tom foreman. each year has its hallmarks, personality, events and moments that define our time and things we'll remember for years after the details will fall away. this year was packed with such milestones and perhaps more than ever before many had global implications. over the next hour we'll sort through, remember and reconsider this year a very big news. ♪ ♪ ♪ >>> the word crazy keeps coming to mind. a crazy year. >> i think it was one of those roller coaster years. >> talk about unexpected, right? ♪ ♪ >> it was all over the place. >> the final liftoff of atlantis. ♪ ♪ >> this year was weird, wasn't it? >> i think it's been a tough year for the country. >> i agree. >> the iraq war is coming to an end. >> let's start with the biggest, best story of 2011. ♪ ♪ >> the return of american troops from iraq after eight years of combat. more than 4,000 lives lost, tens of thousand wounded and whether you supported the w

join wolf blitzer, erin burnett, candy crowley, john king, anderson cooper. >>> and what does the taste of beer have to do with picking presidents? >> i'm voting for ron paul. >> i'm voting for newt gingrich. yeah, go, newt! >> doesn't that look good on a saturday night? before that. not this. >>> this is a coast guard cutter and plowing through waters in alaska. we'll tell you why they're going and buy it's being called historic. back after a very quick break. welcome. i understand you need a little help with your mortgage, want to avoid foreclosure. smart move. candy? um-- well, you know, you're in luck. we're experts in this sort of thing, mortgage rigamarole, whatnot. r-really? absolutely, and we guarantee results, you know, for a small fee, of course. such are the benefits of having a professional on your side. [whistles, chuckles] why don't we get a contract? who wants a contract? [honks horn] [circus music plays] here you go, pete. thanks, betty. we're out of toner. [circus music plays] sign it. come on. sign it. [honks horn] ...homes around the country. every single day, saving

. >> phone in twitter at anderson cooper. i'll be tweeting tonight. just reached 2 million followers. so thank you for that. up next, the kings to winning florida. john king walks us through it. also, millions and millions of dollars being pumped into shadowy super pacs. people writing big checks, apparently getting big results. the question is, who, if anyone, is regulating them. gabrielle gifford, just over a year since she was shot and almost killed. now she's stepping down from congress. we'll talk about why. now, we'll talk to isha. >> in the southeast, people are trying to salvage what they can after a powerful storm system did tremendous damage. we'll tell you what happened and how people are coping when "360" continues. [ monica ] i'm away on a movie shoot and it hasn't been going exactly as planned. cut. cut! [ monica ] i thought we'd be on location for 3 days -- it's been 3 weeks. so i had to pick up some more things. good thing i've got the citi simplicity card. i don't get hit with a fee if i'm late with a payment... which is good because

hosted by anderson cooper and kathie griffin at 11:00 p.m. that's eastern.l our players in place. we are standing live in times square with the ball dropping at midnight, and john zarella in the beautiful florida keys. let's start with aysha, is it getting crazy there? >> it is getting totally crazy here. guys, make some noise! a little louder. a little louder! just a small taste here. you know, as you say, we are still some hours away from midnight, but times square is filling up rapidly for the ultimate street party, because that's what it is. it is 17 blocks here in manhattan with people crammed in behind the barriers here to sample the very unique atmosphere that you get here in times square. there's music, which you can probably hear a little bit behind me, and there's a lot of dancing and singing. just a lot of comrade tree. people come from all over the united states. why do you want to come to times square on new year's eve? hey, guys, tell me, what's your name? where are you from and why are you here? >> my name is juliana and i'm living in virginia

meanwhile, tonight, join anderson cooper because he is going to take a look at the last minute push fora votes. we've had some great specialists on cnn where you've really gotten the chance to understand the candidates and their positions. you want to join anderson for that last-minute look. countdown to iowa and you can see that at 8:00 p.m. eastern. just 48 hours left. >>> now, on to the other headlines this morning. iran seems to be one step closer to being a nuclear nation. the country's news agency reports scientist successfully built and tested their first nuclear fuel rod. joining me now on the phone from tehran is cnn producer -- i'm going to mispronounce your last name. can you say it for me? >> sure. >> thank you very much for being with us. what is this significance of these fuel rods? >> one of the significance is that iran has successfully enriched uranium from 3.5% to 20% which is needed for the fuel rod. and the other one is that it's a signal to the european group that is about to reportedly resume talks with iran about the nuclear program that iran does not really need

let's check in with anderson cooper. continuing to cover cooper with a look at what's on "a.c. 360". >> there's new evidence that it wasn't the first time the ship sailed so close to the coastline, and the company not only knew about it, but condoned it. they seem to have known about this in the past. we'll have the latest on that as well as a continued search for the missing. and you just kind of gave reference to it, what everyone should know about legal options if you get injured on a cruise ship. the bottom line is you may not have many legal options because of maritime law. >>> plus, tonight, raw politics. "newsweek's" cover story has a lot of people talking with its headline, "why are obama's critics so dumb?" the author of the article, andrew sullivan, join mess tonight along with republican strategist and mitt romney adviser, bay buchanan. >>> and an unbelievable story. 12 teenage girls in upstate new york are suddenly all suffering from a mysterious condition that looks and sounds a lot like tourette's syndrome.

. >> anderson cooper in cairo tonight. what is the mood as we lead up to this march. >> you made -- it was a nice way to get into breaking news. how did you feel about it? >> i spent my life back in britain as a journalist involved with breaking news. it was no difficulty for me to report on this. the only thing i wasn't sure, could i actually anchor a cnn breaking news hour over these momentous times because it's really important to the brand of cnn i could do that job properly, as larry king had done for 25 years when he had to. i found it exhilarating, slightly terrifying. what you found and i found very quickly, you have this extraordinary team of people that work at cnn. they have the greatest number of bureaus overseas. they have the best anchors, best foreign correspondents and most incredible resources. suddenly, i was aware of the power of cnn around the world. there was no network like it when a big story breaks. we could go anywhere. in teher square, in iraq, very few netted works others were. that kind of power

. >> phone in twitter at anderson cooper. i'll be tweeting tonight. just reached 2 million followers. >>> and the keys tonight. >>> and millions and millions of dollars being pumped into shadowy super pacs, writing big checks for big results. the question is, who if any is regulating them. >>> congresswoman gabrielle g e giffor giffords, we have watched her make incredible progress. now, we'll talk to isha. >> in the southeast, people are trying to salvage what they can after a powerful storm system did tremendous damage and how they are coping when "360" continues. ♪ ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves. the most innovative companies are doing things they never could before, by building on the cisco intelligent network. here you go. driver's license. past five years' tax returns. high school report cards. and i'm gonna need to see a receipt for that watch you're wearing. you know, you really should provide us with a checklist of documents we're gonna need up front. who do you think i am? quicken loans? at quicken

(laughter) anderson cooper couldn't keep the president honest. he couldn't even keep kathy griffin's shirt on. (laughter) still, i cannot believe barack obama signed the provision. >> the president signed it reluctantly. >> jon: oh. (laughter) well, now i didn't realize that. i didn't know that as long as he signs the bill allowing for americans' indefinite detention while sighing... (laughter). perhaps he included an appropriate emoticon with his signature. (laughter) oh, i'm sorry, i don't want you to not have a lawyer but... (laughter). actually, when signing the bill, the president issued a signing statement. the presidential expression of objection or interpretation which said in part "although this bill authorizes the government to detain americans indefinitely..." i'll let him finish. >> my administration will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of american citizens. >> jon: whoo! see, presidents can-- but he won't-- which is great since he'll always be president. (laughter) >> hi, jon, how are you? >> jon: i know

wolf blitzer, erin burnett, anderson cooper, candy crowley, john king, live docoverage tuesy night 7:00 p.m. >>> we have other news to cover, including this story. an american teenager wrongly deported to colombia now back on u.s. soil. fwaenl-year-old jakadrien lied her way into i serious immigration problem. now she's back, the government wan -- family wants the government to pay for not figuring it out. ed lavandera is there. >> reporter: -- >> we're so happy to have her back. >> reporter: friday night here at the dallas airport turner walked out of the airport, hand in hand with her mother and grandmother. it was her grandmother who spent months and months scouring the internet trying to find any kind of sign of her granddaughter who had ran away from home in november of 2010. that was when this story all began to unravel, when turner was arrested in houston in april of last year, gave authorities the fake name of tika cortez, said she was illegally there from colombia. she got herself deported and now is it back in dallas. there are still a great number of questions that remain u

as always anderson cooper is here as well. >> brand-new exit poll information just in. >> we can showow but we can't tell you who the people of of florida are voting for but we can tell you about the florida electorate tonight. this is the first time we have a much more diverse elect tore rita. latino population 15% of those voting in the republican primary today in the state of florida latinos, 82% white. a very small only one percentage african-americans. the breakdown by gender, 52% of the electorate today, 48% are women. look across ideology. south carolina was our last contest. a much more conservative electorate there. florida 37%, the largest group describe themselves as somewhat conservative. 34% describe themselves as very conservative and 30% moderate to legal. important distinction from south carolina. the tea party movement was huge in florida in 2010, big today as well. 66% voting in this presidential primary 66% supporters, 22% neutral. 8% oppose the tea party. evangelical born again christians big constituency in iowa and in south carolina, a smaller constituency in flo

anderson cooper 306 starts now. >>> we begin with breaking news from mississippi. a judge issued a temporary injunction a short time ago to keep pardoned prisoners behind bars for now, in response to a move by outgoing mississippi governor haley barbour. hundreds of criminals from shoplifters to rapists and murderers granted pardons. he approved full pardons for 199 people, including 14 convicted murderers. he declined invitation to be on the program. mississippi attorney general jim hood will be on tonight. went to court to block some of the pardons. he says they're a slap to the face of everyone in law enforcement, he will be with us with jeff toobin in a bit. first, four of the convicted murderers that got pardons were released sunday, according to department of corrections. one link between them, they all worked at the governor's mansion on a work release program. one of the men is david gatlin. the shooting victim he left behind and family of the victim that didn't live to tell the story are in a word scared. martin savidge joins me live. martin? >> reporter:

anderson cooper will give us a better sense of how we determine these results, the official results as. anderson? >> we've been getting a lot of the numbers in here where we have folks who are crunching the numbers. what are you looking at here? >> this is what the entrance poll data is. at 40 precincts we had interviewers out there that were asking the questions who are you, who are you going to vote for, what have you. this gives us an indication of where things are going, but this isn't the data. we slide over here, this is where we see the raw data come in, the raw vote. these viewers are asking questions initially then when the room happens and we see the vote even before it is officially coming in, it is being telephoned back to our folks who are crunching the data. we have a team of half a dozen people led by our director, statisticians, political professionals, journalists putting this stuff together creating an overlay. that's where we'll get a statistical model to then decide who will be the next winner of the iowa caucus. >> to give a projection. >> we will. but right now, t

. >> tomorrow night at 7:00, our coverage of the iowa caucuses, wolf blitzer, anderson cooper, our politicalanalyzing the results here on cnn at 7:00 p.m. eastern. got to tell you we got the -- the acrobatic wall. it is very, very cool. all right, so now let's turn to james carville, strategist and cnn contributor. >> from the wall to me. i can't compete with that wall. >> that wall. that wall is something. >> all right. what do you think about kevin madden's point. they try to make the point he doesn't go below. doesn't drop. he is stable. resilient. don't worry that he will never go above. >> it is a good point for them to make. he is kind of steady. but i know that the romney people are banging their heads against walls. the last thing they wanted to know was for romney to say we are going to win tomorrow and talk how he is going to build momentum across the united states. and talk campaign strategy. i am sure that they would have much rather him talk about message and, said we are going to do fine here. do fine as he goes on. i thought that was, he doesn't make many mistakes. not a major