i want to go live to kristin walker. kristin, explain to all of us how is the obama administration reacting to the death, something north korea basically held as a state secret for roughly two days, and now we have this word about their test missile firing into the north korean sea. >> that's right. hi there, thomas. first to that missile you talked about. the white house is not officially responding to that, but i can tell you officials with knowledge of the matter believe it may be a pre-planned test or possibly a show of force in the wake of kim jong il's death. either way, the bottom line and the takeaway point here is that those officials do not believe this was a provocative action. so that's really the key here. white house officials are monitoring the situation quite closely, and they came out right after they learned about the death of kim jong il with a statement, and we want to read that for you. the statement says, quote, the president has been notified, and we are in close touch with our allies in south korea

kristin walker has the last-minute tactics. >> quiet christmas for the first family as they mark the holiday together at a church near their vacation home in hawaii. the president called members of service, thanking them for their sacrifice. political gains that could be short lived says former republican congressman tom davis. >> it scored him some points going into the new year, put him on top of an argument. >> the republican presidential candidates laid low this holiday. this week, they will blanket iowa, seeking last-minute support in the caucuses just nine days away. in new hampshire, the first primary state, a new boston globe poll shows 39% support mitt romney. gingrich and paul have the most, paul up since last month. gingrich is only up two points. >> mitt romney is ahead, far ahead. and, you know, ron paul continues to get a chunk of the vote. that certainly makes it harder for the other candidates to break out of the pack. >> reporter: more troubling signs for the former house speaker. gingrich, along with rick perry, failed to qualify for the virginia primary. neither ca