he's challenging mitt romney. >> jake tapper with us tonight. see you in the spin room. >>> we continue on politics tonight. the race taking so many twists and turns. the surge that jake reported on to the top of the republican pack might be the most surprising. jon cakarl is in the spin room. jon, good evening. >> reporter: good etvening, david. newt gingrich goes into this tonight the clear front-runner. the gingrich campaign had one of the mostdy disastrous start. within weeks of announcing his candidacy, gingrich was off on a cruise of the greek islands and facing questions about his $500,000 line of credit at tiffany's for his wife calista. his staff revolted, resigning en masse within just four weeks, making his campaign a punchline. >> he's not even president and he's all ready raising the unemployment rate. >> reporter: everybody thought gingrich was dead, except gingrich. >> now, we'll find over the next year who's right. >> reporter: in august, came the ames straw poll. he came in dead last. how did he come back? one word, debates. >> h

but for now, vingingrich is then of the hour. >> all right, jake tapper with a few snowflakes drifting around him. and as jake knows, the top republican contenders will come together in des moines, iowa, one week from saturday for abc news debate, 9:00 p.m. eastern. and george stephanopoulos and i will be moderating, we hope you will join us then. >>> and now, we held out west, where tonight, there is chaos caused by something that always sounds benign. the warm santa ana winds. they suddenly seemed like mr. hyde, tearing through towns with the ferocity of a hurricane. the worst wind storm in ten years, six states pummelled so far. the storm has three more in its sights. and abc's david wright is in pasadena tonight. >> the winds are really bad right now. >> reporter: early this morning, winds so fierce, local reporters and residents struggled to stand their ground. at lax, cameras were romming when the lights went out in all nine terminals. high winds blew out transformers, sending sparks into dry winter brush. and when the sun came up, traffic lights and trees toppled like toothpicks

>> all right, jake tapper with a few snowflakes drifting around him. and as jake knows, the top republican contenders will come together in des moines, iowa, one week from saturday for an abc news debate, 9:00 p.m. eastern, 6:00 pacific. and george stephanopoulos and i will be moderating. we hope you will join us then. >>> and now, today, a disturbing missive from the al qaeda leader, who took the helm after osama bin laden was killed. ayman al zawahiri released a message claiming that al qaeda has taken hostage a 70-year-old american man, warren weinstein. a u.s. aid worker, from rockville, maryland, who went missing last august in pakistan, kidnapped from his home near the indian border. >>> and now, to that abc news exclusive. a one-year investigation into foster care children. as you heard here last night, so many of them overmedicated with multiple, powerful mind-altering drugs, often used for disorders the children don't have. critics say it is happening because of kind of an unholy convergence. our taxpayer medicaid dollars pay for the drugs. the

jake tapper with us here in the hall. see you in the spin room. thanks, jake. >>> we continue on politics tonight. the race taking so many twists and turns. the surge that jake reported on to the top of the republican pack by newt gingrich might be the most unexpected turn of all. how did he do it? can he keep his place at the top? jon karl is in the spin room. where the campaigns will be watching their candidates very closely in this debate. jon, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, david. newt gingrich goes into this debate as the clear front-runner. it's a stunning turnaround for someone considered politically dead just a few weeks ago. the gingrich campaign had one of the most disastrous starts we have ever seen in presidential politics. within weeks of announcing his candidacy, gingrich was off on a cruise of the greek islands and facing questions about his $500,000 line of credit at tiffany's for his wife calista. his staff revolted, resigning en masse, and making his campaign a punchline. >> he's not even president and he's already raisi

this is jake tapper for "nightli

i want to bring in jake tapper tonight. jake, you see the romney team encouraged by their numbers. president obama's approval rating inches up ever so slightly. 47%, but the white house isn't celebrating this number. >> reporter: no, the numbers are going in the right direction, david, and that's key in polling. where are the numbers going? but still, president obama is under 50% approval rating. it's very tough to get re-elected when your approval rating is under 50%. in fact, the only way to do so is to make your opponent so outlandishly unacceptable, there's no choice that voters have but to pull the lever for you. that's what george w. bush did to john kerry in 2004 and that's what barack obama is probably going to have to try to do to whoever is republican nominee is in 2012, david. >> could be an ugly race. and you saw the headline that caught our eye today, robert reich who says it's going to be hill little clinton for vice president this go around. but this didn't get past the tapper truth squad today? >> reporter: no, it's kind of crazy talk. vice president biden doesn't w

abc's jake tapper sat down with the new front-runner. >> reporter: in iowa, former house speaker newt gingrich told us that his rise from asterisk afterthought to front-runner is different from that of other former republican flavors of the week, michele bachmann, rick perry, herman cain. >> those guys were the new kids on the block. and isn't this wonderful? and boy it'd be great if it worked out. and we don't know anything about them. i'm the guy that's been around forever. >> reporter: and with this new status come vicious attacks from his opponents. but gingrich, never known for a small ego, is undeterred. >> i'm going to be the nominee. it's very hard not to look at the recent polls and think that the odds are very high i'm going to be the nominee. >> reporter: but some republicans have reservations. two, specifically, that i keep hearing. they worry that even though you are a familiar figure, that maybe there still are skeletons in your closet that we don't know about. are there any skeletons that we don't know about? >> not that i know of. i mean, again, given the nature of the

we begin here with abc's jake tapper in iowa, where it all went down. jake, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, david. well, the abc news debate was the most watched debate in the entire campaign season so far. and it was the talk of the town throughout iowa. at the machine shed restaurant in urbandale today, iowans chewed over eggs, bacon and last night's debate. >> very, very eloquent on how he answered the holt questions. >> reporter: this gingrich buzz is no small thing, given that last night, he was the primary target of attacks. >> well, he's been on different positions on so many issues. >> for 20 years he's been advocating -- the individual mandate in health care. >> if you cheat on your wife, you'll cheat on your business partner. >> reporter: he tried to swat away the salvos like flies. >> the real difference is our backgrounds. >> the only reason you didn't become a career politician is because you lost to teddy kennedy in 199 1994. >> he's the most intelligent and he's the best debater. i think he can debate with barack obama. >> reporte

here's abc's jake tapper. >> reporter: even mitt romney's wife wasn't crazy about his proposed $10,000 bet with rick perry. >> i'll tell you what. 10,000 bucks? $10,000 bet? >> reporter: democrats and his republican opponents are using the wager to depict romney as out of touch with regular folks. >> that wouldn't be a number i would throw out. >> reporter: romney's number one rival suggested romney's not only touch with the economic realities of regular americans, he's out of touch with governors. >> i was startled just because i know rick perry pretty well. i can't imagine he can cover a bet like that. he's been a public servant all his career. >> reporter: after all, putting $10,000 on the table? that's more than 10% of the average american's net worth. though, it's only 0.004% of romney's estimated $250 million net worth. this moment could not have come at a worse time for romney. in the midst of the newt gingrich surge. and an attempt to change the conversation. romney said gingrich should return the $1.6 million he was paid by mortgage giant freddie mac. >> one of the things that

jake tapper, abc news, the white house. >> so many questions on where things go from here. >>> otherews now, the blizzard sweeps in from new mexico to kansas. a white christmas may be in store for those of us here in the northeast. the storm dumped up to two feet of snow in the mountains, bringing visibility down to zero. major highways were shut down. at least two people died in all this. the system changes over to rain as it moves into the midwest. but another storm could bring snow to parts of the northeast this weekend, just in time for, yes, christmas. >> maybe a white christmas. >> maybe. >>> time, now, for weather from across the country this tuesday morning. that blizzard tapers off by noon, as a mix of rain and snow comes from kansas city to omaha and chicago. thunderstorms from new orleans to memphis. light rain around nashville, detroit, cincinnati and pittsburgh. and showers from seattle to olympia, washington. a couple inches of snow in the cascades and northern rockies. >> a wet 46 in seattle. 36 in salt lake city. and 60 in phoenix. mostly 30s from fargo to kansas city

the professor and politician with the moxy of a prize fighter sat down one-on-one with our own jake tapper. and the former speaker of the house seemed ready to claim the man the. here's jake now. >> reporter: in iowa today, former house speaker newt gingrich told us that his rise from asterisk afterthought to front-runner is different from that of other former republican flavors of the week, michele bachmann, rick perry, herman cain. >> those guys were the new kids on the block and isn't this wonderful and boy it'd be great if it worked out and we don't know anything about them. i'm the guy that's been around forever. >> reporter: and with this new status come vicious attacks from his opponents. but gingrich, never known for a small ego, is undeterred. >> i'm going to be the nominee. it's very hard not to look at the recent polls and think that the olds are very high i'm going to be the nominee. >> reporter: it has been a short, strange trip. not even six months ago, your entire staff resigned en masse. >> the line used, i was like bruce willis in "the sixth sense." the debates changed eve

abc's jake tapper explains. >> reporter: mitt romney today took a new track against his opponent newt gingrich. mockery. >> zany is not what we need in a president. >> reporter: in an interview with "the new york times," romney sought to turn the concept of gingrich as a bold, intellectual ideas-man into that of, well, kind of a kooky entertainer. >> zany is great in a campaign, but in terms of a president we need a leader. >> reporter: making fun of an opponent has become a popular form of attacking this campaign season. >> two men trapped in one body. >> reporter: as romney surely knows, since that's the main way democrats are going after him. when the billion dollar donors went to a manhattan fun raiser for romney today, if they looked up, they saw this banner, referring to romney's now-infamous $10,000 wager. >> 10,000 bucks. >> reporter: democrats are mocking mitt by mischief-making. though of course, they insist this is all very, very serious. >> i don't think that calling this a stunt is really very fair. campaigns are all about getting your message out. >> reporter: why all th

and our jake tapper is in iowa with a preview. >> reporter: at dobb's grocery store in the heart of des moines, iowa voters were taking it all in. >> it's kind of a tossup. i haven't decided on anybody specific. and it will be interesting to see how things play out. >> reporter: as the clock ticks down to the caucuses, candidates look for any edge and any chance to hit the leader, newt gingrich. mitt romney is using surrogates to do his dirty work. >> i don't think newt gingrich cares about conservative principles. newt gingrich cares about newt gingrich. >> reporter: but gingrich continues to hover above the rest of the pack in iowa polls and hover above the fray. >> i'm going to stay positive. i'm going to talk about how we solve the country's problems. others are allowed to do what they want to. >> reporter: so, what's the gingrich appeal? polling shows several candidates, including gingrich, are seen as authentic, truly believing what they say. not romney, though. meanwhile, romney and gingrich both score well when it comes to qualities of competence. meaning only one candidate, gin

it was one month ago, former speaker newt gingrich made this bold prediction to jake tapper right here on "world news." >> it's very hard not to look at the recent polls and think that the odds are very high i'm going to be the nominee. >> that was then, but tonight, the newest polls showing newt gingrich quickly dropping, now in fifth place, after being the front-runner in iowa for a time. and today on the trail, what was it that made gingrich tear up? abc's jon karl was one-on-one with gingrich and reports in from iowa now. >> reporter: iowa saw a different side of newt gingrich today. it happened when he was asked about his mother, who suffered from bipolar disease and depression before she died in 2003. >> my whole emphasis on brain science comes in directly from dealing with -- see, i'm getting emotional. in dealing with the real problems of real people in my family. >> reporter: a genuine moment of emotion reminiscent of four years ago, when candidate hillary clinton teared up, just before the new hampshire primary. >> i just don't want to see us fall backwards. >> reporter: earl

and it has speaker gingrich so confident, bordering on cocky he said this to abc's jake tapper a short time ago. they are not going to be the nominee, meaning his rivals. i don't have to point out inconsistencies of people who are not going to be the nominee. jake asks, you're going to be the nominee? speaker gingrich says, i'm going to be the nominee. it's hard to look at recent polls and not think the odds are very high. >> it's a shock newt gingrich would present himself with such an ego. so uncharacteristic of the man we know. >> you would be confident if your polling in florida went from 11 to 50 in a month. >> maybe it wouldn't be the best political strategy to exercise. that's the overall concern to those who know and served with newt -- i was part of his revolution -- that ego, that inability to deal with what were the more politics things to say and do, and that is what concerns a lot of us. were he to become certainly the republican nominee and especially if he were to become president. >> so dana, we've watched the anybody but romney ball as we call it passed from michele ba

might be a regular part of the program. >> they have people like jake tapper.en christiane got the job, i was one of the people who said, you know, jake tapper's really doing well here. he could do. it and he brings an enthusiasm. and he's so plugged in. look, i think george is going to do it through this election season. he's going to do it until he can't do it anymore. because they have tapper, they have backup. they can -- you know, if he's having a week where he's stressed out, they can plug tapper and not lose anything. that's a good thing. on mean, that really is a good thing. let me say one thing in defense of george because i watched a lot of these interviews that he had to do. and i -- and all of us in the media as our publications and as our broadcast -- >> briefly -- >> try to -- >> he's a good sport. >> yes. i don't mock him. he's still a tremendous journalist. >> cnn's candy crowley the only woman hosting a sunday show. and "face the nation" expanding to an hour if a half-hour. schieffer's wanted that for 20 years. >>> chelgsy clinton made her debu

nut gingrich in a feisty one-on-one with abc's jake tapper. the newest front-runner makes a bold prediction tonight. >> i'm going to be the nominee. >>> wild winds. 100 100-mile-per-hour gusts crash gas stations shut down schools out west. every 12 seconds, another 911 call and it isn't over. >>> abc news exclusive. and our year-long investigation. we track down the doctors

here's abc's jake tapper if our series, "it was a good year for." >> reporter: there they were, the "ark" guys. at the march premiere of "the book of mormon." >> people, i think get the wrong impression that we do stuff to piss people off. we just want to make people laugh. >> reporter: it's safe to say they succeeded. "the book of mormon" is a hit, with rave reviews, a grammy nomination and a whopping nine tony awards. >> the book of mormon! come on! >> reporter: the show is signature stone and parker, brilliant and profane, hilarious, making people laugh often while making them extremely uncomfortable at the same time. >> gay people are evil. >> reporter: a trademark of the pair for the past 14 years with their show about those four profane cartoon kids. your show, "south park," has made fun of every religion. >> you're not going to lay that hanukkah crap on me, are you? >> reporter: why mormonism? >> we use it to just talk about religion in general. i don't think either of us think mormonism is any goofier than christianity. >> reporter: is that almost the point, that it's about re

and from the white house now, abc's jake tapper. jake, i know they spent some time in the white house war-gaming this transition, looking at all the dangerous scenarios. how do they think this transition is unfolding so far? and what more do they know about ki jong-un? >> reporter: they don't know much about kim jong-un. of all the countries they want to know about, north korea is the most closed, the most opaque we know. he is inexperienced. he is thought to be brash but we don't know much more about him. in terms of the war-gaming going on, the possible scenarios run the gamut from the most optimistic, the idea this could usher in a new era of relations with north korea, to the most pessimistic, and that is that kim jong-un has something to prove. he has only three years to prepare for this. and he might start off by being bellicose, belligerent with south korea. some think he was behind the attacks with south korea in 2010. so president obama has been laying low, reaching out behind the scenes to south korea, members of his admini

abc's jake tapper is live in iowa tonight. and jake, they're setting up behind you. >> reporter: that's right, david. just 24 dames after the republican candidates square off here for the abc news debate saturday night, republican voters will go to the iowa caucuses and most of them say they still could change their minds. at dahl's grocery in the heart of des moines today, voters are taking it all in. >> it's kind of a toss up, i haven't decided on anybody specific. and it will be interesting to see how things play out. >> reporter: as the clock ticks down to the caucuses, candidates look for any edge and any chance to hit the leader, newt gingrich. mitt romney is using surrogates to do his dirty work. >> i don't think newt gingrich cares about conservative principles. newt gingrich cares about newt gingrich. >> reporter: he continues to hover above the rest of the pack in iowa polls and hover above the fray. >> i'm going to stay positive. i'm going to talk about how we solve the country's problems. >> reporter: so, what's the

and leading off our coverage tonight is abc's jake tapper. also just back from iowa, tracking this pivotal day in the campai campaign. hello, jake. >> reporter: good evening, diane. what a day. gingrich is surging, and romney needs to stop him. so romney is attacking gingrich, and he is not turning the other cheek, newt gingrich. it is on. even mitt romney's wife wasn't crazy about his proposed $10,000 bet with rick perry. >> i'll tell you what, 10,000 bucks -- $10,000 bet? >> reporter: democrats and his republican opponents are using the wager to depict romney as out of touch with regular folks. >> that would not be a number i would have thrown out. >> reporter: and, today, romney's number one rival suggested romney is not only out of touch with the economic realities of regular americans, he's out of touch with governors. >> i was startled just because i know rick perry pretty well. i can't imagine he can cover a bet like that. i mean, he's been a public servant all his career. >> reporter: after all, putting 10,000 on the table? that's more

the guest list as jake tapper called it, a progressive and liberal media folks including msnbc hosts and ezra cline, new york times frank bruney and ariana huffington and think progress to think of a few. jim, were you not invited? >> i was not invited. look, this is, you know, every white house has a base and there's the base and curious who they are. >> the group chatted with the president about economic messaging, including conservative-- i'm sorry, about his agenda for 2012, and the various campaign arguments against different g.o.p. candidates, and the desire among some democrats to highlight his foreign policy accomplishments, and fighting corporate influence and the quote, crappiness of the senate fooibl. >>-- filibuster. >> and there were a few who would-- >> jack tapper is generally-- >> ai'm not talking about the-- >> and just at the white house news conferences. >> the progressive people have been tough on the president and gotten a lot of criticism from the left. probably more than anywhere else than the light, but the mainstream media is much easier on him than a lot of

abc's jake tapper has the perspective now from the white house. >> reporter: of all the countries thatmation on, north korea is the most difficult, intelligence experts say, it is the most closed society, it is the most opaque. so there is not much that is known about the new leader, kim jong-un, other than he is young and inexperienced and thought to be rather brash. the options that the obama administration has been preparing for when it comes to this day, ever since kim jong-il had his stroke three years ago, include the gamut in terms of war gaming it out. they range from the most optimistic that kim jong-un will usher in a new era, and they also range to the most pessimistic that he will be belligerent and bellicose, thinking that he has something to prove, that he has to consolidate power among the ruling generals of north korea. president obama has been laying low, reaching out behind the scenes to the president of south korea, having members of his administration reach out to others in the region, to japan, china, other countries, trying to keep temperatures low at what is a ve

jake tapper, abc news, the white house. >>> godfather of gridlock. with the front-runner status.e himself. bachmann, cain, perry now your turn. >> don't know how hable do when he is scrutinized. >> a lot of political and personal demons he will have to answer for big time. and how donald trump became king maker. fascinating to me as well. >> thought he hosted at pren tis. >> race for president, not the reality show. interesting times, huh? >> very. >> be sure to watch saturday night's debate here on abc news. it starts at 9:00 p.m. eastern. 6:00 pa sieve pacific. >>> former governor rod blagojevich is going back to court. he could face ten or more years in prison for trying off to sell president obama's former senate seat. the hearing promises to be full of blagojevich's trademark drama and expected to speak to the junk directly. his sentence will be pronounced tomorrow. >>> those hoping to attend next week's hearing for jerry sandusky will have to win a lottery. applications for seats can be filed tomorrow on a pennsylvania courthouse website. those attending will get an earful.

abc's jake tapper has the roundup of this dame's political thrills and one oops. jake? >> reporter: that's right, diane. the race is on, the candidates are working hard and today has been a day of vicious attacks and at least one candidate gaffe. iowa is teeming with candidates. >> thank you. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. >> reporter: they're here for tomorrow night's debate. >> great to be here. >> reporter: and to win support. >> there's rick santorum. there's sarah palin. there's mike huckabee. this hat's been around, hasn't it? >> reporter: a task made more challenging by oops moments, as when rick perry today forgot the name of a supreme court justice. >> uh -- montemayor -- >> sonia sotomayor? >> sotomayor. >> reporter: back in washington, newt gingrich laid low, appearing in a podcast interview, where he explained why romney opposed the contract with america. >> he couldn't possibly have been for the contract because how do you run in massachusetts to the left of teddy kennedy favoring a gingrich contract? >> reporter: the airwaves in iowa are starting to g

as jake tapper reports, that surge has brought new scrutiny to the former speaker. >> reporter: as newar front-runner newt gingrich enjoys his stunning new status, his opponents and skeptical conservatives are just now beginning to unleash the hounds of hell on his record. >> he's demonstrating himself to be the very essence of the washington insider. >> reporter: congressmen ron paul is taking to the airwaves to lambaste gingrich for being paid $1.6 million by mortgage giant freddie mac in the years leading up to the housing and economic crisis. >> it's about serial hypocrisy. >> reporter: in the new abc news/"washington post" poll, one of gingrich's greatest strengths, where he beats mitt romney 2 to 1, is standing up for what he believes in. so that's exactly what his opponents are attacking his beliefs. >> if you take a look at the top contenders, mitt romney and newt gingrich, it's very hard for a tea partier to see them as the consistent conservative. >> reporter: congresswoman michele bachmann is portraying romney and gingrich as two peas in a liberal pod. >> i would love to hav

jake tapper has the story. >> reporter: riding a wave of poll numbers and publicity newt gosh visited donald trump in manhattan today where he continued to talk about changing the culture of poverty by putting poor children to work. >> i suggested to donald trump that he adopt a program of apprentices, and take one of the poorest schools in new york city and create ten apprenticeships that would be paid for part-time work and he liked the idea a lot and understood exactly what i was getting at ♪ money money money >> reporter: some republicans disparage the role in the party currently played by the reality television star and real estate mogul. they say he further fosters a circus-like atmosphere. but not newt. >> you know, donald trump is a great showman. he is also a great business man. i think that we have to be open to new ways of doing things and new ways of approaching things. >> reporter: there are other candidates with loyal supporters like congressman ron paul. but in some ways, the republican race seems to be coalescing around two distinct candidates. >> very excited -- >> re