karen travers has more. >> reporter: it is not over until it's over. with a midnight deadline looming the super committee is ready to admit failure. >> [ inaudible ] >> reporter: the special panel was created to find 1.2 trillion in spending cuts. with too familiar disagreements overtaxes it may have been doomed to fail. now what? part of the agreement reached last summer if the super committee didn't identify the required spending cuts 1.2 trillion in automatic cuts would go into effect in 2013. on the chopping block, medicare, medicaid and the pentagon budget. partisan bickering has this congress stuck in neutral. >> if they will give up insistence of the bush tax cuts we can get this done. >> there's a group that will not cut a dollar unless we also raise taxes. >> reporter: markets opened down sharply. analysts said wall street had been bracing for the super committee to fail. >> because wall street has such low expectation there is hasn't been any real thought that they would get a deal done. >> reporter: the public also had little hope. a poll la

karen travers has more. >> reporter: it is not over until it's over. with a midnight deadline looming the super committee is ready to admit failure. >> [ inaudible ] >> reporter: the special panel was created to find 1.2 trillion in spending cuts. with too familiar disagreements overtaxes it may have been doomed to fail. now what? part of the agreement reached last summer if the super committee didn't identify the required spending cuts 1.2 trillion in automatic cuts would go into effect in 2013. on the chopping block, medicare, medicaid and the pentagon budget. partisan bickering has this congress stuck in neutral. >> if they will give up insistence of the bush tax cuts we can get this done. >> there's a group that will not cut a dollar unless we also raise taxes. >> reporter: markets opened down sharply. analysts said wall street had been bracing for the super committee to fail. >> because wall street has such low expectation there is hasn't been any real thought that they would get a deal done. >> reporter: the public also had little hope. a poll la

karen travers, abc news, washington. >>> a few hours after that debate, political junkies turned their channels to jimmy fallon. the night before, with michele bachmann coming out with the guest, the house band purposely played a song with an insulting and sexist title. later tweeting that the selection was meant to be something chic. fallon said nothing on his show. but he said he's sorry for the intro mess. >>> in egypt, three american students rnd arrest have been questioned by prosecutors. they were taken into custody monday while allegedly throwing firebombs at security forces from a rooftop. all are students at the american university in cairo. meanwhile, street battles near the city's tahrir square rage on. egypt's military rulers are offering to move up a presidential election to early next year. demonstrators are demanding that the military step aside immediately. >>> at penn state, more allegations of abuse are surfacing involving former coach jerry sandusky. they come from two boys that are still minors. that raises the possibility that the alleged abuse took place while san

and with more on the cain campaign, here's abc's karen travers. herman cain's wife, gloria, has stayed out of the campaign spotlight. until now. in an interview with greta van susteren on fox news, gloria cain defends her husband on the accusation of sexual harassment. >> he totally respects women. >> reporter: there are four women who say cain sexually harassed them when he was the head of the national restaurant association in the 1990s. >> he suddenly reached over. and he put his hand on my leg, under my skirt. >> reporter: gloria cain told fox news, she can't believe that her husband could do the things he's been accused of. >> that would have been something that was totally disrespectful of her, as a woman. and i know that's not the person he is. >> reporter: the sexual harassment scandal may be keeping the focus off of concerns that cain doesn't have a firm fwras grasp of the issues. in wisconsin, he got tripped up when asked if he agreed with president obama on libya. >> okay, libya. no -- that's a different one. i have all sorts of stuff t

karen travers, abc news, washington. >>> another sign of that gingrich momentum came overnight. a new bloomberg poll shows a statistical four-way tie in iowa between cain, gingrich, romney and ron paul. >>> the supreme court has agreed to hear arguments over president obama's controversial health care overhaul. at issue is a key provision of the law that requires every uninsured american to buy health insurance by 2014 or pay a penalty. the ruling is expected in june. >>> and the nba's players are now employing what could be a season-ending strategy in their labor battle with owners. the players' union is being dissolved, which clears the way for an antitrust lawsuit against the league. that legal battle could drag on for months. commissioner david stern says the league's nuclear winter is getting under way. >>> time, now, for the weather across the nation. a stormy day for much of the gulf coast. 80-mile-per-hour winds, hail, heavy rain and isolated tornadoes from san antonio to houston, new orleans, shreveport and memphis. thunderstorms around nashville, louisville, st. louis

here is abc's karen travers. >> reporter: the pictures are dramatic. in warsaw, poland, after its landing gear failed to open. the aircraft was carrying 231 passengers from newark, new jersey to warsaw. ahead of their arrival, the pilots discovered the plane's landing gear would not open. they circled the airport for an hour to burn off fuel before deciding to attempt an emergency landing. with the run way covered in flame retardant foam, the plane landed on its belly without its wheels. sparks flew up from the friction of the impact. but the plane did not catch on fire and quickly came to a complete stop. >> very good. excellent landing. >> very good x lent landing. the pilot was really great, yeah. and a little bit, bad information before. but, everything, went really great. >> the captain was just, the plane, put the machine down. to the extent that the passengers thought that we landed on wheels. >> reporter: the president of the airline said there was no panic among the passengers because the crew prepared them well for a rough landing. he lauded

karen travers has the story. >> reporter: gabby giffords has endured 10 grueling months of surgeriesehabilitations through it all her husband astronaut commander mark kelly was by her sigh. he documented the long -- road of recovery through hours of videotape in the beginning no words just a few gestures. >> that's nice. that's better. >> we see giffords struggling to remember. and slowly learning to walk again. along the way moments of joy. also, immense frustration and sadness. one constant during giffords' journey, music helping her regain her voice. ♪ girls just wanna have fun ♪ >> reporter: and give her hope for the future. >> tomorrow, i love you tomorrow. >> reporter: as for her political future. >> we have to proceed like she is going to take the step and run this next term. >> reporter: today giffords posted on facebook a special audio message for her constituents. >> i want to get back to work reprrepresentingngngngngngngngne was a complete gentleman and we just all gave hugs and parted our ways. i was more of a group thingititg than an actual date. >> there was no kiss to

karen travers has more. >> slow and steady. that could be the magic formula for mitt romney to win the republican nomination. in a new abc news poll found that republicans overwhelmingly say that mitt romney is the candidate and as the best chance to beat obama. but just 24% actually want him to be the republican nominee. >> a good chunk of the people that say they will vote for mitt romney today also say they could change their mind. >> why is he not able to steal the deal? health care. republicans strongly opposed the law already put into place when he was governor of massachusetts, the one that his opponents say is just like president obama's health care bill. nearly half of all republicans in the new poll says that makes them less likely to vote for mitt romney. democrats and his opponents have tagged him as a flip-floper. >> you have a real problem. >> mitt romney trails herman cain when it comes to which candidate people think is honest and trustworthy even after sexual-harassment allegations against herman cain. >> we ar

more now from abc's karen travers. good morning, karen. >> reporter: good morning, rob.ood morning, sunny. in this republican race, what icahis republican race, what over again. surging. now, iw gi s wfr dea he talkedtece >> twills, dcf1 certainly a long, long way from june and july. >> reporter: a new poll has gingrich neck in neck with mitt romney for the lead. >> the last debate saturday night really affected a lot of people. they sort of clicked and said yep, i'm for him. >> reporter: since july, romney has been holding steady at the top or near the top of the republican field. but every month, a new face is there to keep him company. >> candidates, the republicans jump to, haven't been able to sustain a campaign. >> reporter: why would this gingrich surge be any different? >> newt gingrich has the capacity to have a staying po unlike the others in the race becausee -- experience at the national level. >> texas governor rick perry plummeted in the polls and seems to be trying anything to win over conservative voters. >> it is time to create a part-time congress where

home that is going to be a hard position for him to defend with about conservative voters in iowa karen traversington. >>> in new zealand helicopter spins out of control. how the pilot managed to walk away from this freak accident. >> have you of called a cab and it took forever to show up? >> or never showed up? >> smartphone app that can help you catch a taxi just in time for your ride to the airport today. >> the plan to make you3q lysol believes your family should never have to touch a germy pump again. so we developed the lysol no touch handsoap system. it automatically dispenses the perfect amount of soap to kill 99.9% of bacteria. for healthy tips, visit lysol.com/missionforhealth prove it. enough's enough. d-con baits are specially formulated to kill in one feeding, guaranteed. d-con. get out. scrubbing on their hands and knees. they're using new resolve easy clean to deep clean their carpets. its upright brush with activating trigger removes three times more dirt than vacuuming alone. it's just one, two, three easy steps for beautifully clean carpets. resolve easy clean. don't just vac

karen travers has the story. >> reporter: gabby giffords has endured 10 grueling months of surgeriesehabilitations through it all her husband astronaut commander mark kelly was by her sigh. he documented the long -- road of recovery through hours of videotape in the beginning no words just a few gestures. >> that's nice. that's better. >> we see giffords struggling to remember. and slowly learning to walk again. along the way moments of joy. also immense frustration and sadness. one constant during giffords' journey, music helping her regain her voice. ♪ girls just wanna have fun ♪ >> reporter: and give her hope for the future. >> tomorrow i love you tomorrow. >> reporter: as for her political future. >> we have to proceed like she is going to take the step and run this next term. >> reporter: today giffords posted on facebook a special audio message for her constituents. >> i want to get back to work representing arizona is my honor. >> reporter: if gabby can't run don't look for mark kelly to step in. he told abc news his job is to make sure his wife recovers and gets back to servi

abc's karen travers is joining us from washington with more on this. >> reporter: good morning, rob.d morning, sunny. this study did not look at the health risks associated with bpa. but scientists say findings are raising concerns about what's in our food. millions of americans will sit down tomorrow for thanksgiving dinner. but should they think twice about the canned vegetables and cranberry sauce. a new study found there's a hidden danger lurking inside those cans. bpa is a chemical used in plastic products and in the lining of cans. bpa keeps them from corroding. but it may also be creeping into your food. researchers at harvard compared people who eight 1 12-ounce can of soup for 5-straight days with fresh soup. what scientists found surprised them. a massive increase of bpa in the urine of people who ate the canned soup. after two days without canned soup, the bpa levels were back to normal. >> consumers cannot tell how much bpa may have gotten into the food in any canned food item they may pick up. and the story here is, you don't know. and you can't know. >> reporter: in 200

. >> abc's karen travers has more. >> sharon says she went to herman cain for help with a job. >> he put his hands on my legs under my skirt and reached for my again talls. he also grabbed my head and brought it towards his crotch. this isn't what i came here for. mr. cain said you want a job, right? >> she told three people at the time but didn't file complaints because she didn't work for cain. a spokesman for cain dismissed the charge autos we're pitting fact or message in the story. >> plitly. cain seems to be weatherering the storm. a poll had him neck in neck with mitt rom any. more than half of the republican veters said the controversy is not serious. and almost 70% said it won't impact whether they'd support cain. >> we don't know how much longer he can hold on to that top spot if voters question whether this is a one-time incident or whether there is a pattern here. >> the attorney said her client is not asking for money, not planning to write a book, and not filing a lawsuit. >> i'm coming forward to give a face and a voice to those women who consider k.not or for whatever

tonight from karen travers. >> there are just 6 week to go before the iowa caucus. at tonight debate there seems to be a greater sense of your honoren situation among the republican contend theers. there were significant disagreements over key foreign policy issues. afghanistan. >> our effort is to keep afghanistan from become ago launching pinto for terror against the united states. we don't want to literally pull up steak and run out of town after extraordinary investment we made. >> we didn't need 100,000 troops. many of them can't even cross the wire. we need a presence on the ground that is more like 10 to 15,000. >>reporter: pakistan. >> bottom line is they showed us time after time that they can't be trusted. and until pakistan clearly shows that they have america best interest in mind, i would not send them one penny. >> with all due respect to the governor i think that's highly naive because we have to recognize what is happening on the ground. these are nuclear weapons. all across this nation. potentially al qaeda could get ahold of these weapons. >>report

we are joined by abc's karen travers in washington. r: good morning, rob, sunny. just a few weeks ago, herman cain was at the top of the republican field. now we might start playing the waiting game of when is he going to drop out. in michigan, herman cain made no mention of his latest controversy. new allegations that he had a 13-year extramarital affair. >> national security is the commander-in-chief's, the president of the united states' number one responsibility. >> reporter: could this be the end of the cain train? >> we have to do an assessment as to whether or not this is going to be too much of a cloud in some people's mind as to whether or not they would be >> reporter: ginger white, an atlanta businesswoman, said she has been having an affair with cain for 13 years. >> this was not something that i wanted to hurt anyone. not a fun -- not a fun thing. >> reporter: white says she gave the fox atlanta station cell phone bills and text messages that show up until this september, cain was contacting her day and night. >> i acknowle

abc's karen travers has the latest. good morning, karen. >> reporter: good morning, rob and sunny.al harassment scandal is consuming cain on the campaign trail. yesterday the only thing he was asked about at a press conference. and soon it could begin to threaten his standing in the polls. herman cain says sharon bialek the latest woman to accuse him of sexual harassment is a liar. >> yes, i am saying that. you know, in as nice a way as i can. i've don't know any other way to say it. >> reporter: in an exclusive interview for the abc news yahoo! newsmaker series, cain fired back against the allegations. >> i have absolutely not acted inappropriate with this lady or anybody else in my career. >> reporter: bialek is the fourth woman to accuse cain but first to come forward publicly. >> he put his hand on my leg, under my skirt. >> reporter: bialek, a registered republican says she told three people about the incident at the time but didn't file any work place complaints because she didn't work for cain. >> i am not a liar. everyone know that knows me knows i speak the truth. >> repor

abc's karen travers has the latest. good morning, karen. >> reporter: good morning, rob, sunny.lican audience made it clear they felt it had no place when the focus was on the economy. it wasn't the first question asked at the cnbc presidential debate but was the most contentious. you have been the ceo? >> yes. >> why should the american people hire a president if they feel there are character issues? >> the american people deserve better than someone being tried in the court of public opinion based on unfounded accusations. that's what -- romney is neck in neck with cain at the top of the polls? >> would you keep him on if you bought his company? >> romney didn't take the bait. >> herman cain is the person to respond to these questions. he just did. the people in this room and across the country can make their own assessment. >> reporter: there was very little engagement between the candidates. a good thing for the front-runners. rick perry has struggled in the debates and he may have had his worst moment yet. >> the third agency of government i would, i would do away with educ

abc's karen travers joins us with details. good morning, karen. >> reporter: good morning.dent's jobs agenda. but this is about as noncontroversial as it gets. tax incentives for businesses to hire veterans. republicans were on board because this wasn't paid for with tax increases on the rich. after a stalemate of nearly a month, the senate finally passed the first piece of president obama's jobs bill. >> on this vote, the yeas are 95, the nays are 0. >> reporter: the measure provides businesses with tax incentives to hire veterans. the bill provides assistance for job training skills as veterans return from service and transition back to civilian life. >> we need to make efforts to -- take efforts to help veterans who have been fighting for us come back to the country and not have to fight for a job. >> reporter: the unemployment rate was 12.1%, well above the national average of 9%. up from 10.6% a year ago. >> it's a national disgrace. >> reporter: senators from both parties were patting themselves on the back. >> this attempt at bipartisanship has been used to get them

for more we're joined from washington by abc's karen travers. ning, sunny. good morning, t.j. the sexual harassment allegations against herman cain just won't go away. two weeks ago the story was first reported. and now his wife, gloria, is breaking her silence and defending her husband's character. in an interview with greta van susteren airing on fox news gloria cain defends her husband against the allegations of sexual harassment. >> he totally respects women. >> reporter: there are four women that say that cain sexually harassed them when he was the head of the national restaurant association in the 1990s. >> he suddenly reached over, and he put his hand on my leg, under my skirt. >> that would have been something that was totally disrespectful of her as a woman, and i know that's not the person he is. >> reporter: the sexual harassment scandal may be keeping the focus off of concerns that cain doesn't have a firm grasp of the issues. in wisconsin he got tripped up when asked whether he agreed with president obama on libya. >> okay. libya. um

abc's karen travers joining us from washington with the latest. good morning, rob and cecilia. herman cain repeatedly denied he sexually harassed anyone, but his recollection shifted all week. in an interview yesterday he said this is just washington, d.c.'s culture -- guilty until proven innocent. last night a third woman, a former employee from the restaurant association came forward to say that cain behaved inappropriately towards her in the '90s. cain tried to deflect the charges by pointing the finger at a political rival. >> and we now know, and have been able to trace it back to the perry campaign. >> reporter: cain's chief of staff backed down from his accusation that a specific perry staffer leaked the story. team cain isn't saying the perry campaign is blameless. >> let's just say there aren't enough bread crumbs that we can lay down and connect that leads us anywhere else at this particular point in time. i don't see any other way it could have come out. >> that knew anything about this that's associated with my campaign. in any form or

more now from abc's karen travers. good morning, karen. >> reporter: good morning, rob. good morning, sunny. in this republican race, what goes up keeps coming down. every time we see a candidate surge, they drop in the polls just a few weeks later. now it's newt gingrich's turn to get a chance at the top of the polls. republicans say this time it might be legitimate. in the race for the republican nomination, it's deja vu all over again. another week, another candidate surging. now, it's newt gingrich whose campaign was written off for dead last summer. he talked about the race with sean hannity on fox news. >> there will be ups, downs, counterattacks. certainly a long, long way from june and july. >> reporter: a new poll has gingrich neck in neck with mitt romney for the lead. >> the last debate saturday night really affected a lot of people. they sort of clicked and said yep i'm for him. >> reporter: since july, romney holding steady at the top or near the top of the republican field. but every month, a new face is there to keep him company. >> candidates, the republi

abc's karen travers joins us from washington with details. karen. >> reporter: good morning, dan, sunny. the senate has passed some part of the president's jobs agenda. this as it but as noncontroversial as it gets. tax incentives for businesses to hire veterans. republicans were on board because this wasn't paid for with tax increases on the rich. after a stalemate of nearly a month, the senate finally passed the first piece of president obama's jobs bill. >> on this vote, the yeas are 95, the nays are 0. >> reporter: the measure provides businesses with tax incentives. to hire veterans. the bill provides assistance for job training skills as veterans return from service and transition back to civilian life. >> we need to make efforts to -- help veterans who have been fighting for us, come back to the country and not have to fight for a job. >> reporter: the unemployment rate was 12.1%, well above the national average of 9%. up from 10.6% a year ago. >> it's a national disgrace. >> reporter: senators from both parties were patting themselves

abc's karen travers has the latest. : good morning, the sexual harassment controversy around herman cain has been swirling for a week. but so far the women involved have remained anonymous. that changed yesterday when we heard from a chicago area woman that said cain behaved inappropriately toward her back in the 1990s. sharon bialik said that in 1997 she went to herman cain for help with a job. but she says she got much more than she asked for. >> he put his hand on my leg, under my skirt, and reached for my genitals. he also grabbed my head and brought it toward his crotch. this isn't what i came here for -- mr. cain said, "you want a job, right?" >> reporter: she told three people about the incident but didn't file work place complaints. she didn't work for cain. a spokesman for cain dismissed the charges as false allegations. >> we are getting back on message. end of story. >> reporter: politically, cain seems to be weathering the storm. an abc news/"washington post" poll had him neck in neck with mitt romney at the

abc's karen travers has the latest on this. hi, karen. >> reporter: good morning, rob.ny. we have seen herman cain defend himself against charges of sexual harassment. but last night's defense was remarkable. we heard from the candidate before we heard from the woman. herman cain once again on the defensive. >> we will basically show when the details become available that i didn't do anything wrong. >> reporter: the former pizza mogul burst into the top of the republican field this fall. then came the flurry of sexual harassment charges. now he is accused of an extramarital affair. ginger white an atlanta business woman who told her story, she said she and cain have been involved in a 13-year relationship. >> reporter: are you sticking by your story that it was a sexual relationship? >> absolutely. i can only, can't imagine him actually confirming. it's the name of the game, i guess. >> reporter: in an interview with cnn, cain called the accusation baseless. he said he will stay in the race as long as his wife supports him. things are looking better for a surging newt g

abc's karen travers has the latest. good morning, karen. >> reporter: good morning, rob, sunny. a good night for mitt romney and herman cain. the sexual harassment allegations against cain did come up at the debate, but the republican audience made it clear they felt it had no place when the focus was on the economy. it wasn't the first question asked at the cnbc presidential debate but was the most contentious. you have been the ceo? >> yes. >> why should the american people hire a president if they feel there are character issues? >> the american people deserve better than someone being tried in the court of public opinion based on unfounded accusations. that's what -- romney is neck in neck with cain at the top of the polls? >> would you keep him on if you bought his company? >> romney didn't take the bait. >> herman cain is the person to respond to these questions. he just did. the people in this room and across the country can make their own assessment. >> reporter: there was very little engagement between the candidates. a good thing for the front-runners. rick perry has s

abc's karen travers joining us from washington with more on the fallout. porter: good morning, rob, good morning, sunny. the obituary on the deficit super committee will say that failure was probably inevitable. no indication that democrats and republicans would ever reach a deal on taxes and the full committee hadn't even met for a month. the deficit super committee ended in a super failure. seven of 12 panel members met yesterday afternoon. finally they said in a statement they were unable to reach a bipartisan deal. president obama pointed the finger at republicans. he said they were the main stumbling block. >> there are still too many republicans in congress who have refused to listen to the voices of reason and compromise. >> reporter: the special panel was created to find $1.2 trillion in spending cuts. with the all too familiar disagreement over taxes it may have been doomed to fail. since the super committee didn't agree to the required spending cuts, $1.2 trillion in automatic cuts could go into effect in 2013. on the chopping block, medicare, med

abc's karen travers is in washington now with details. orter: good morning. newt gingrich's experience in washington is one of the reasons republican voters like him. but there is a fine line between experience and being an insider. and gingrich's work for freddie mac may be a tough pill for conservatives to swallow. just two days ago, it didn't the headlines about gingrich focused on his dramatic comeback in the polls, but it didn't take long for the scrutiny to set in. during the height of the housing boom and bust, gingrich received $2 million as a consultant for freddie mac, the government backed mortgage giant. gingrich told abc news he had no comment. >> the answer is no. >> any comment at all? >> none. >> reporter: earlier, gingrich tried to do damage control. he said he did no lobbying and was paid for advice as an historian. >> they paid a fee which is a relatively standard washington fee for that kind of advice. >> reporter: he later said the fees were not out of the ordinary. >> i was approached to offer strategic advice. i was

karen travers joining us from washington. with more on the debate. ter: good morning, rob. good morning, sunny. we saw more disagreements among republican candidates than we have seen so far in any debate. this is their 11th debate of the season. the biggest moment came towards the end when newt gingrich broke from the republican party on a very controversial topic. there were just six weeks to go before the iowa caucuses. there seemed to be a greater sense of urgency among republican contenders. there were significant disagreements over afghanistan. and key foreign policy, use. >> our effort is to keep afghanistan from becoming a launching point. for terror against the united states. we don't want to literally pull up stakes and run out of time after the investment we have made. >> we don't need 100,000 troops. >> we don't need 100,000 troops. many can't cross the water. we need a presence on the ground more akin to 10,000, 15,000. >> reporter: and pakistan. >> bottom line they have shown us time after time they can't be trusted. until pakistan clear