newt surges and mitt goes on the attack, we're on the ground in iowa with diane sawyer and george stephanopoulos on the eve of tomorrow's crucial abc news republican presidential debate. zw . >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, and terry moran in washington, this is "nightline," december 9th, 2011. >> good evening. we don't hear very often about the acts of citizen heroism that

and that will be moderated by diane sawyer and george stephanopoulos, who join us now.iane and george, this is really crunch time out there right now, with the caucuses just a few weeks away. especially for romney what does he have to do to stop the momentum of gingrich? >> i've been asking george all day, what are his strategists saying to him, how do you get somebody ready far prize fight? >> he's got to do it, it's the first time he had to do it his whole campaign. he's been attacked, not the guy being aggressive. he's given clues out over the course of today how he's going to do it. he doesn't want to get personal with newt gingrich at all. he does not want to do that. but he is ready to draw some distinctions. what newt can't do tomorrow night is show that, you know what he's been accused of in the past, losing his cool. he's got to find a way to take all this incoming fire and it's not just going to be coming from romney, but from the others, as well. >> right, and, terry, i was out today, i wandered through a supermarket, through a drugstore, and one man said, wh

. >>> a big night in iowa as the presidential contenders square off moderated by george stephanopoulos. now, a look at what we can expect. >> the iowa caucuses are quickly approaching and newt gingrich is looking strong coming into the debate while mitt romney appears ready to fight for the republican vote. >> mitt romney has a position at the top of the republican field. and now he is showing signs that he is ready to unleash the attack on newt gingrich. in an exclusive interview with abc news' muir, he stopped short of criticizing him directly, but opened the door to doing just that at tomorrow night's debate. >> we have differing views and we will be talking about differences. that's the nature of a debate. >> romney was much more blunts. he talked about the medicare plan offered by congressman paul ryan. a pln that conservatives liked, but gingrich criticized. >> he called this right wing social engineering. i believe it is a very important step to protect medicare and to protect social security. >> with less than a month until the iowa caucuses, gingrich now has big leads in three

i'm going to bring in "gma" co-anchor george stephanopoulos. so, george what are mitt romney's advisers saying to him tonight to get him pumped for tomorrow? >> reporter: this is your moment. every nominee has a fight on your hands. you have the fight right now. gingrich has come out of nowhere. you have to stop that momentum. but you have to do it in a way so you don't appear rattled. he's going to draw distinctions on policy, not on personality or temperament. >> he wants to do this? >> reporter: oh, yeah, oh, yeah. absolutely. you want the fight. you want to be able to beat someone who's had a head of steam. now, the challenge -- >> on the other hand. >> reporter: newt has to do something different than he's done in the past. he's never really been attacked. he's been able to play the statesman, say, we're all in this together. tomorrow night, not only mitt romney, ron paul, michele bachmann, rick santorum, they're going to be attacking him. he has to find a way to counter-attack, to deflect the attacks without appearing to get unhinged or wi

diane sawyer, who is moderating the debate with george stephanopoulos, has called this a political high noon. let's go to john berman in des moines at the site of tonight's debate. good morning, john. >> reporter: good morning, dan. what a moment for the debate. the atmosphere is electric. mitt romney took the campaign to a whole new level. a fairly negative one. and the question is, when he walks on this stage tonight, how far will he go? and will newt gingrich respond? when mitt romney steps up to the podium, will he throw down? he tells abc news -- >> i would expect that newt gingrich and i will have some differences. and we'll be able to discuss those as well. >> reporter: but will he discuss them or will he discuss them? like his campaign, which has launched a full frontal media assault. on video -- >> he doesn't have the discipline you want. in a president. >> reporter: and supporters on radio. >> his mind isn't so hot and his discipline and commitment is terrible. >> reporter: romney says, that's not me. >> heaven knows, i can't write a script for all the people that support me.

. >>> a big night in iowa as the presidential contenders square off moderated by george stephanopoulos. now, a look at what we can expect. >> the iowa caucuses are quickly approaching and newt gingrich is looking strong coming into the debate while mitt romney appears ready to fight for the republican vote. >> mitt romney has a position at the top of the republican field. and now he is showing signs that he is ready to unleash the attack on newt gingrich. in an exclusive interview with abc news' muir, he stopped short of criticizing him directly, but opened the door to doing just that at tomorrow night's debate. >> we have differing views and we will be talking about differences. that's the nature of a debate. >> romney was much more blunts. he talked about the medicare plan offered by congressman paul ryan. a pln that conservatives liked, but gingrich criticized. >> he called this right wing social engineering. i believe it is a very important step to protect medicare and to protect social security. >> with less than a month until the iowa caucuses, gingrich now has big leads in three

viewers as usual and joining her at the round table was the man who hosted the show before her george stephanopoulos> george, how do you think mitt romney measured up in the sort of aggressive tactics that people talk about? how did they measure up against each other? >> well, i got to say i was a little surprised right there at the top. i thought governor romney was going to hesitate at all. >> days later, abc announced that stephanopoulos will be continuing to host while co-hosting "good morning americ america". amanpour will become abc's global affairs anchor and split time between that and cnn international. joining us to talk about the short-lived sunday experiment, here in washington, david zurich, television and media critic for "the baltimore sun." in new york, marisa guthrie, reporter for "the hollywood reporter." she lasted maybe year and a half at most d. she ever really, truly establish herself as a sundays most? >> yeah, that's part of the problem. i don't think she ever did. it was 16 months, i think, was her tenure, and worst part -- abc essentially went from second in the mornings, a

at hid at tonight's big republican presidential debate moderated by abc's diane sawyer and george stephanopoulosand a napa valley growers who sacrifice valuable farmland to correct a perren yell flooding problem and help the fish hey guys, what can i get for you? i would like a decaf 360 calories please. and for you? i'll have a triple iced 410 calories please. you want the 40 whipped calories on that? uh, you know what... i'll have this instead. [ female announcer ] swap one thing a day for a yoplait light. with 33 flavors all around a hundred calories, a swap a day adds up to amazing. now you caadd some crunch to your creamy. yoplait light with granola. try it today. as the republican presidential contenders square off in a debate moderated by abc's diane sawyer and george stephanopoulos. which client is likely to be targeted by all the others? >> mitt romney has lost his position at the top of the republican field and now he has shown seens he's ready to release attacks on newt gingrich. romney stopped short of criticizing gingrich directly but opened the door to doing just that. >> we have d

george stephanopoulos, an excellent job co-moderating that debate.h a pleasure to have you on this sunday morning. we'll see you back here tomorrow morning on "gma," and there will be much more from last night's debate from our abc news political team later on "this week" and christiane amanpour is going to go one-on-one with jon huntsman, he's the republican who is skipping iowa and is putting all his chips on new hampshire. a huge bet there. she'll be going one-on-one with him on "this week" in just a little bit. >> huntsman had a lot to say about that romney $10,000 bet. started trending on twitter right away. >>> all right, let's check the other top stories developing right now with rob nelson who's in for ron claiborne. good to see you, rob. >> good morning, guys. good to be back here. good morning, everyone. >>> we're just days before former penn state coach jerry sandusky faces his accusers in court. we've learned of a contradiction in one eye many witness account of his alleged abuse of boys. a pennsylvania newspaper says former graduate assi

. >> be sure to watch diane sawyer and george stephanopoulos tonight on the debate. download yahoo!'s into now app. >>> let's go to the latest on the penn state scandal. the intensifying focus on jerry sandusky's wife? did she know about the abuse and could she be prosecuted? abc's t.j. winick is with us this morning. >> reporter: good morning, dan. he may be free on bail but jerry sandusky is under house arrest with three days before he faces his accusers in a pennsylvania courtroom. his wife may also now have to answer serious questions about what she knew and when. it was dottie sandusky who bailed out her husband of 45 years after jerry sandusky was accused of molesting two more boys from the second mile foundation. his attorney visited him this morning. >> this is the legal battle of my life. i've had some big ones. i compare this to climbing mot. everest from the bottom. >> reporter: victim number nine told the grand jury, he saw dottie at the house, she never came downstairs. at one time, he screamed for help knowing she was up there and no one came to help. this attorney repr

and be sure to join diane sawyer and george stephanopoulos who will moderate the first postcain debate this saturday, december 10th. live from iowa. should be some debate. >> thank you, bianna. >>> switching gears, there is a new wave of outrage this morning after jerry sandusky gave his first extended on-camera interview for claiming his innocence to the "new york times." abc's t.j. winick has been talking to people who represent the victims. they are not happy about this. >> reporter: that's right, dan. the attorney for one alleged victim called this latest interview another punch in the stomach, many are questioning what good jerry sandusky really did himself by going public. he admit to many of the questionable behavior he's accused of, but stopped short of saying he broke the law. this is interview that has so many so angry this morning. >> i didn't do those things. >> reporter: making his case to a "new york times" reporter. jerry sandusky admits to showering with young boys. those who he's accused of molesting were more like my children. >> so many of them would say. >> reporter

she will be replaced by george stephanopoulos who she replaced abc last august. >>> also knew, tim tebowback in the headlines. vonn is denying reports dating the quarterback. questions arose after vonn a pose after winning a week.ast was also spotted in his box during the game this past sunday. she says she is just friends with the teeth of family -- the family. >>> those these are hard to get the football bought the why it is so obvious. -- those skis are hard to get the football box. that is why it is so obvious. there is no sign of any big storms. outside, beautiful shot of that rising full moon. oh my goodness. the moon, when it is low, orange because of the the like. of is why weight, that a blue sky, it should -- scattered. our current temperature is not unreasonable. degrees. average high is into the high-40's. four degrees above average. look to the temperatures of run washington. the 30's.o you folks in the suburbs are 30's also. be as cold tomorrow morning. clouds coming our way. in northwest canada, it is not all that cold. not a pool of cold air yet to come our way. maybe tha

. >> george stephanopoulos and our political team have their score cards ready. live from iowa. >>> bloody basketball brawl. a bench-clearing fight breaks out during a big college game. this on the heels of an nfl player stomping on an opponent. what's happening to good sportsmanship? >>> green monday. tomorrow is shaping up to be another huge day for web shoppers and retailers with more than $1 billion expected to be spent online. how will the shipping companies cope on their busiest day of the year? >>> big-screen debut for michael jackson's little girl. the lead role paris will play in an upcoming motion picture. >>> and abc, speaking of abc, was the network to watch last night. what a lively debate that was. >> it was a fascinating evening. we'll get to that in just a moment. >>> also this morning, though, alec baldwin makes his first tv appearance publicly apologizing, kind of, for that temper tantrum on the plane and the ensuing twitter rampage. his surprise late-night appearance coming up on "good morning america." >>> plus, we're learning more about the m

when diane sawyer and george stephanopoulos moderate the abc news republican presidential debate froma. for all of us here, thank you for watching and we'll see you next week. >>> people buying guns for chrisman mass join shawn saysy billy murphy and lisa orenstein on square off sunday morning at 10 on abc2.

george stephanopoulos was on my radio show the day before.ayers and brought it to his attention, he didn't even know about it. >> how about this for a fact? >> and i got yelled at for taking a question from hannity. that's how the press covered tank you fed me a softball here. you first covered it in february of 2008. it took seven months for the networks to do a story after you broke it. >> did you look that up? i don't remember. >> we do our homework here. >> well, i'm glad you do. >> if not, we make it up. >> let's compare that to nbc regurgitating a 15-year-old bias for newt. let's make a comparison and say is your media fair? >> because of newt gingrich, in 1995 republicans re captured the house for the first time in 40 years. >> i am a genuine revolutionary. >> and working with president clinton, gingrich piled up real achievement, a balanced budget, a historic welfare reform. but his speaker ship also was markedpy chaos, solarization, and after four years he was forced out by his own troops. >> you think why don't they give the same co

diane czar and george stephanopoulos. good to see you both of you this morning. diane, viewers were expecting a rumble, how do you think it stacked up in the fisticuffs. >> i think they came to engaged. as jon was saying it was gingrich who was in the testing zone last night. george told me that the dnc this morning, have already decided to target him. >> first time they have done that. they're out there trying to define him before mitt romney. he has a legitimate shot at being the nominee. >> the big question, how was mitt romney going to deal with the front-runner newt gingrich who has stormed by him. george, you opened the door a little bit for him. let's watch how he handled >> it speaker gingrich crystallized his argument, he said i quote, i'm a lot more consecutive than romney and lot more electable than anyone else. >> of course, i don't agree with that. i don't think most people agree with that. places where we disagree, let's see, we can start with his idea to have a lunar colony that will mine minerals from the moon. i'm not in favor of spending that ki

diane sawyer and george stephanopoulos moderate. >>> voters in russia have delivered strongman vladimir putin a setback there. the united russia party will hold a slim majority. the vote went to the communist party, who looks to get to% of the seats. put season still looking to win back the president's seat. >>> the powerful santa ana winds picked up steam today. utility crews scrambled over the week end to restore power. winds as high as 150 miles an hour toppled trees, overturned trucks, and damaged cars and homes. rough weather in california. >> those folks need break out there. we hope they get it in the next couple of days. >>> flood advisories in nearly a dozen states. heavy rain in little rock, shreveport, memphis, louisville, cincinnati. that will spread to the northeast. thunderstormses from houston to new orleans and montgomery. a foot and half of snow across new mexico and several inches in west texas. >> a snowy 21 in albuquerque. just 14 in fargo. 21 in minneapolis. 34 in kansas city. a mild 61 here in new york. and 52347 boston. >> a balmy 61 for the beginning of december.

want to see the candidates square off in iowa, keep it here on abc2 news, diane sawyer and george stephanopoulos will be here. first caucus will be held next month. >>> hello i'm roosevelt leftwich, coming up, brand new at 6:00 , the push so make a dirchg rouse intersection safer arguments petition making the rounds, where is the money? we will look at how many crashes have been there in queen ans county. an in depth look at one of the men behind the extreme makeover home edition build in eastern maryland. see what pushes simmss to be the man he is and create the homes he does. those satisfactories and more coming auto6:00. -- those stories and more coming up at 6:00. >>> a look at today's stocks, dow jones industrial average was up 186 points, nasdaq closed up 50. standard and poors closed up 21 points. in tonight's consumer alert, household health take as dive. according to the federal reserve , the net worth of households took the biggest hit since the height of the financial meltdown during the third third. household net worth fell 4% to a little more than $57 trillion in the july-sent quart

diane sawyer and george stephanopoulos. >> we welcome all of you back. we thank the republican candidates for president of the united states for debating here tonight. i want to return to the yahoo! question which brings the struggles of the middle class down to something personal. many of us are forced to make cuts to continue necessities such as mortgage payments, groceries, transportation to work and health care. and then the question continues. they want to know, when is the last time you had a personal financial strain that forced you not only to give up a luxury but also to cut back on necessity? and what were the consequences you faced? this is from an undrew in texas. i'd like to start, governor perry with you. >> well, obviously, growing up where i grew up, there were some people that probably said -- as a matter of fact, i was on a radio station here, w.h.o., yesterday and talked about my upbringing. growing up in a house that didn't have running water till i was 5 years old. and my mother sewing my own clothes for me till i went off to college

george stephanopoulos, anchor of "good morning america," is here. george what do you make of this day? >> you called it a pivotal day. that is not an overstatement in any way. both campaigns made strategic decisions to get more ruthless and more personal and that's exactly what happened today. you saw, first, governor romney make that shot. before newt gingrich said he was going to be relentlessly positive but his campaign told me today if he's hit, he's going to hit back hard. again, make no mistake. when newt gingrich went after that record, that is the argument that ted kennedy used against mitt romney back in 1994 to devastating effect. it's exactly the argument barack obama wants to use in the fall. for newt gingrich to do that, that's going nuclear and the romney campaign reened spoed right responded right away. they'll say that's a sign of a flip-flopper. they said in 2010 newt gingrich said governor romney createded more jobs than the entire obama cabinet combined so that's another flip by newt gingrich. that's what the romney campaign will s

pacific when diane sawyer and george stephanopoulos moderate the abc news republican presidential debateiowa. for all of us here, thank you for watching and we'll see you next week. >>> in the news this sunday, the chp is investigating a collision that killed a bicyclist in burlingame on the freeway. concord police are searching for a suspect who shot and killed several geese at a popular park. join us next for the news at 9:00.

pacific when diane sawyer and george stephanopoulos moderate the abc news republican presidential debateiowa. for all of us here, thank you for watching and we'll see you next week. [ male announcer ] r without the internet, facebook would be faceless, amazon would just be a river in south america, and yahoo! would be... [ man ] yahoo! [ male announcer ] ...well you know. but thanks to broadband network companies, the internet's alive and kicking. even in these tough times, broadband companies invest billions in new technology. building the networks that are the backbone of the new economy, supporting over 3 million jobs, inspiring new ideas, and making america more competitive. broadband for america: building the future today. the first droid that becomes self-aware. itit remembers what you do and does it faster. createtehortcuts like automatically syncing while you sleep. instinctively shape-shifting from a music stream for your workout to newsfeed during breakfast, then a gps for your morning commute. powered by verizon 4g lte, this droid is too powerful to fall into the wrong hands.

be sure to join us for the republican debate moderated by diane sawyer and george stephanopoulos in iowa. it takes place, at 9:00 eastern, 6:00 pacific. >>> more remains were mishandled. the remains of troops that arrived at dover air force base were incinerated and dumped into a virginia landfill. the practice that was ended three years ago was never authorized by the pentagon. there are no plans to alert the families. >>> the obama administration is out with some pretty strong reaction to our abc news exclusive barbara walters interview syrian president bashar al assad. he said he did not order the violent crackdown against his own people, ludicrous. the white house say assad is simply not credible. and the united nations is dismissing assad who called a report of widespread torture in syria, a false allegation. >>> people are digging out after getting blasted by a snowstorm. eight inches of snow fell in parts of pennsylvania, with higher elevations bearing the brunt of it. much of it will melt today, as temperatures warm up. >>> and time, now, for weather from across the country. a bl

diane sawyer and george stephanopoulos will moderate the big event. it starts at 9:00 p.m. eastern, 6:00 pacific. >>> now, turning overseas to russia, where authorities are on alert for more political protests today. hundreds of protesters were arrested in moscow last night. they're angry over reported widespread fraud in sunday's elections. in that election, vladimir putin's party lost a large bloc of cities. but will maintain a majority. >>> meanwhile, in syria, new video of that nation's ongoing rebellion, which has claimed as many as 4,000 lives since march. the u.s. is expanding contacts with the ruling regime. the ambassador of syria is returning to damascus after a six-week absence. and secretary of state clinton met with opposition leaders for a second time. and our reporting on -- >> in jail. pictures in libya of moammar gadhafi. >> our reporting on syria does not end here. look for barbara walters' exclusive interview with syria president bashar al assad later today. >>> officials confirm that drone that crashed inside iran over the weekend was one of a fleet of a

. >> abc's diane sawyer and george stephanopoulos will moderate the presidential debate this weekend. you can watch it on saturday at 6:00 p.m. on abc7. it should be interesting. >>> the food and drug administration could decide to end the age restriction on who can buy the plan -- emergency plan b emergency contraceptive bill. the fda would allow the pill to be moved from behind the counter out to store shelves. opponents say they are concerned plan b could keep parents from adequately monitoring their teenagers' behavior. >>> on to the weather. the bay area air quality management district entered the first spare the air alert for wednesday. the order bans the fireplace and the wood stove use for 24 hours. officials predict that air quality in the bay area will be unhealthy because of weather conditions that will trap the smoke and the air close to the ground making it dangerous to breathe. all right, meteorologist sandhya patel is here with a chilly forecast. and she can explain this process a little better. sandhya? >> i want to explain the process from the high definition sue trow

rest of the field will be debating in -- debating in des moines moderated by diane sawyer and george stephanopoulos. you can watch saturday 6 p.m. here on abc 7. >>> americans across the south and southwest are about to share slivering and shovels with the northeast it is -- and shivering and shovels with the northeast. here's tahman bradley with more. >> reporter: the east coast is bracing for a blast of winter, snow and rain pushed through western and central states now threatens to strike several major cities across the southwest, residents are digging out after snow shutdown interstates and closed schools. in roswell, new mexico it looks like christmas arrived early. >> normally we don't have snow until january or february. >> reporter: in albuquerque, temperatures dropped into the single digits, almost 30° below average. >> definitely below freezing. >> reporter: outside phoenix mountaintops dusted with snow. in texas, cities are covered in white. the weather is causing problems. icy roads continue to wreak havoc for commuters in el paso drivers dodged black ice in springfield, missouri, worke

. >> abc's diane sawyer and george stephanopoulos will moderate the presidential debate this weekend. you can watch it on saturday at 6:00 p.m. on abc7. it should be interesting. >>> the food and drug administration could decide to end the age restriction on who can buy the plan -- emergency plan b emergency contraceptive bill. the fda would allow the pill to be moved from behind the counter out to store shelves. opponents say they are concerned plan b could keep parents from adequately monitoring their teenagers' behavior. >>> on to the weather. the bay area air quality management district entered the first spare the air alert for wednesday. the order bans the fireplace and the wood stove use for 24 hours. officials predict that air quality in the bay area will be unhealthy because of weather conditions that will trap the smoke and the air close to the ground making it dangerous to breathe. all right, meteorologist sandhya patel is here with a chilly forecast. and she can explain this process a little better. sandhya? >> i want to explain the process from the high definition sue trow