>> brian: bob massi will be here, as well as michelle magazine cup. it will be an extraordinary event. >> gretchen: have a good day, everyone. good morning, everybody. the dog days continue. fox news alert on the state of housing in america and what your home might be worth. new indications the housing market is even worse than thought. there is new data just out to help prove that. and it is not great news on your doorstep this morning. i'm bill hemmer. welcome here to "america's newsroom". >> fwreeting us with happy news. bill: some of these days we feel like door mats. we hope not. >> good morning, everybody, i'm martha maccallum. hear is the news. national association of realtors will revise all their sales figures lower. turns out they had been overcounting home sales for the past five years. how did this happen? bill: we just see how bad might be. earlier in the year a real estate firm said the numbers

may have been overestimated by as much as 20%? stuart varney of the fox business network, what is going on here? >> we have not had reliable information on the economy that affects everybody. it means the housing crash was actually worse, far worse than we thought at the time. from 2007 to the present, they're going to go back and readjust how many homes were sold in each of those years. now in the great years of '05, '06, 07 we were selling between six and seven million homes a year. that's come all the way down to about five million as of right now. when we adjust these figures it will be below five million that is worse crash than we thought. bill: those were boom times, 05, '06, 07. how often like numbers like these revised stuart? >> we have not seen this before. no, we haven't. occasionally month to month you might get it but not a

five-year period. a california organization challenged the that you overestimated sales. it should be 20% less. they did a readjustment and next wednesday they will come up with a an official recount. we believe it will be 20% less sales than they originally said. bill: what is the real impact to homeowners on the value of their home or the effect on interest rates or anything going forward? >> it might have had an impact at the time had we known the full extent of the housing crash but now, simply backdating the numbers is a, not a fix, in any way shape or form and will not affect interest rates or prices. bill: stuart, thank you. we'll see you 9:20 on fbn. it is the number that got our attention. stuart. thank you. martha has more. martha: we look in the context of existing home sales the past few years. for all of us this is our biggest investment, right? look how it has shaped up. sales ranged from $4.9 million to 5.1 million from 2008 to 2010.

now economists say in a healthy economy people buy six million existing homes in a year. so we have been well below that for quite some time. bill: certainly are. we want to get to the race for the white house and that republican nomination. new polling numbers just out from "the wall street journal" showing newt gingrich leading mitt romney as the first choice of republican voters. the former house speaker, 40%. romney at 23. what does governor romney have to say about all that? we'll talk to him about that when he joins us next hour here in "america's newsroom." also in that polling numbers it will show you who men prefer and who women prefer and who conservatives prefer and who independents prefer. we'll talk about all that coming up. martha: very interesting numbers. this race is getting more exciting all the time. it is weeks away from those critical iowa caulks. less than three weeks away. republican presidential candidates facing a new challenge in the state as steve brown is live in

sioux city, iowa. what is the big challenge? >> reporter: candidates go where the votes are, where the voters are. in the state of iowa they have been missing things. we have videotape of a rick santorum visit in western psion november fifth that was the first time sioux city had seen a presidential candidate in two weeks. you might shrug your shoulders at home but consider this. this is rock-ribbed republican votes. traditionally candidates spend a lot of time. in the summer there was a drought of campaign visits if you will lasting over a month. campaigns and candidates have not been as active in republican turf in iowa. we're just winding down towards the caucuses, martha. martha: boy, it is fascinating, steve. seems like this process relied a lot more heavily on the debates. that certainly helped newt gingrich. but in terms of that handshaking on the ground, important factor in iowa as it has historically been, have these candidates made a mistake in that regard? >> reporter: well the state

party chairman is a polite gentleman by the name of matt strong but he believes candidates have overlooked western iowa. have a listen. >> that may be a mistake because one thing with we know the rock-ribbed republicans turn out on caucus night. even though there are more republicans across the state, one thing you know in northwest iowa the republicans will turn out and start whatever it takes to start the process to replace barack obama. >> reporter: a lot of folks in sioux city say yeah they have seen the campaign debates. they have seen the debates and campaign commercials and have the literature but what has been missing is the personal contact that usually sells the caucus-goers. it has been missing. there is a huge wildcard come to play on caucus night here in northwest iowa. a huge block of republicans feeling little bit underloved this caucus season. martha: not wise perhaps. i think we'll get some surprises on caucus night. that will be very interesting, steve, thank you very much. make sure you all at home turn to the fox news channel

tomorrow night. this will be the one to watch. the gop debate in sioux city, iowa. all of us will have a close-up look at the candidates as will the rest of us. 9:00 eastern, be there or be square. fox news channel, america's election headquarters. i'm looking forward to it. bill: we shall be there and not square. one of the reasons why this debate is growing in importance, it is the last time people in iowa will have a chance to see them all on the stage before they go to caucus. the last moment you get to make a lasting impression. as steve brown reports out there, this is nonconventional year in iowa. normally the men and women are pounding the pavement every day and every week. it has not been the case with the exception of santorum, who will go out argue, i've been to all 99 counties. i need gas money to get around. i'm putting all my hopes on iowa. martha: it may face off for him. mitt romney will give us a preview of that coming up in a few minutes. we'll have that too. bill: also new this morning,

martha. police discovering another victim linked to a deadly attacked in a packed city square. investigators finding the a body of a woman in the garage of gun man. police say the shooter lobbed grenades as he opened fire on a crowded market in liege, belgium, killing three, injuring 125 yesterday afternoon. this was a hot story breaking when we were on the air yesterday. it is not clear what motivated the attacker but the suspect had a long criminal record. apparently he was due in court very soon facing questioning in a sexual abuse case in belgium. martha: let's turn to iran. this is the biggest story overseas. there are new reports that iran is considering their nuclear plants to safer locations in the country. military officials there are claiming any danger to the plants from an outside airstrike is minimal but that the move may go through anyway to better protect that nuclear weapons program or nuclear energy program as they would call it.

now neither israel or the united states has ruled out a strike against the enrichment facilities which are believed to be created to be gearing up towards nuclear weapons. that is the big, big story. bill: iran also giving new assurances about oil prices after there were concerns that key oil shipping lane would close. those fears sent prices soaring hitting almost a four-week high yesterday. speculators scrambling on reports that iran's military may shut undo the shipping lane in the strait of hormuz. now an iranian foreign minister say the reports are not true and the waterway still remains open today. that was a hot topic. martha: that would be a big deal. bill: yes. martha: even the threat of it and practicing in that area obviously roiled the markets yesterday. bill: those are some of the stories we're watching n a moment here on "america's newsroom", a top secret drone campaign over iran led to the capture of some of our most valuable technology. defense officials say shutting it down is not an option. we'll explain why on that in

a moment. martha: so you want to call or text or check in with your friend or take care of a few things on the way home? you better pull over, folks. this is changing this game. federal authorities are calling for a nationwide ban on cell phones in the car. the head of the ntsb will be here to talk about that. they will reveal a little of their own secret habits. we want to know what you think about it. go to the website. foxnews.com /americasnewsroom. that's what it is. you can tell us, do you use your cell phone while driving? you can be totally truthful. bill: a payroll tax cut extension made it through the house. senate leaders say it its dead on arrival. that is what democratic leader harry reid already hasn't indicated. the clock is ticking. >> harry reid has in his lap a bill that will stave off tax increases for everyone who has a job in this country and make sure that

we get on the path to job creation. it is time for the rhetoric that has come from senate democrats as well as the white house to start matching reality. ok, people. show me the best way to design a vacation on a budget with expedia. make it work. booking a flight by itself is an uh-oh. see if we can "stitch" together a better deal. that's a hint, antoine. ooh! see what anandra did? booking your flight and hotel at the same time gets you prices hotels and airlines won't let expedia show separately. book it. major wow factor! where you book matters. expedia. and i swear by it. [ male announcer ] osteo bi-flex

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bill: the house now passing a one-year extension of the payroll tax cut. senate majority leader harry reid, a democrat, declaring it dead on arrival because democrats find parts of it unacceptable. senator reid on that. >> we already know this bill is dead. we need to begin real negotiations on how to prevent $1,000 tax hike on american families. the sooner we get this vote, the sooner those negotiations can begin in earnest. bill: so what now? california congressman, republican, kevin mccarthy, house majority whip. good morning to you, and welcome back to "america's newsroom". >> good morning, thanks for having me. bill: what indeed now on this? >> well, yesterday we passed a bipartisan bill that made sure everyone who is working would not get a tax increase. put accountability into

unemployment insurance. we fix a cut, 27% to doctors when it came to medicare. make sure the health care providers are still there we also put in there about keystone a pipeline for job creation that they have to make a decision, not just one way or another. you know in arkansas yesterday, 61 people were laid off because they have made politics into keystone about not making a decision after the election. now that's a bipartisan bill. there are things in there the president asked for, things in there the republicans asked for. the house passed it on a bipartisan vote and now send it to the senate. everything hinges on senate democrats. if the tax increase transpires. bill: you're saying harry reid is in a box right now. are you suggest you outflanked him in this deal? >> i'm not suggesting --, we simply followed the constitution. house pass as bill, senate pass as bill you go to conference. what reid is doing, he is playing politics with this. saying dead on arrival not allowing people to vote on

it. you have a number of members on both sides of the aisle want to vote on it. this is the same tactics he used with more than 25 job creation bills the house passed in a bipartisan manner sit on the senate. bill: why was it important to include the keystone pipeline? that really seems to be the issue that democrats have an issue with. >> jobs. bill: nancy pelosi called it a poison pill. steny hoyer called it in a stick in the eye. >> no. number one issue this america today are jobs. because the president refuses to make a decision and waits until after the election, 61 people were laid off yesterday in arkansas. it is going to happen more. we're not saying you have to say yes to keystone. what we're saying is, here's job creation, make a decision. don't postpone it. just like the president said, america can't wait. if we don't do this pipeline what will canada do? canada will sell the oil to china. the price for oil will go up in america we see time and time again. if we get an energy that is at lower cost, our economy can work. if we create jobs here that

can start right now, people will be back to work instead of being laid off. bill: we're hearing from the white house right now. dan pfeiffer, communications director, sending out a tweet. he says it is false for republicans to say that the pipeline will be approved based on what you passed yesterday. he is saying more accurate to say that the review process, the time period for that review process will be shortened and he concludes this guarantees the pipeline will not be approved. is he right? >> he's wrong because, listen to what the president has done. the president has looked at the pipeline says, no decision until after the election. well you know what? stop playing politics. what we're sighing is, make a decision. the process is there. the protections are there where you have all the reviews. one way or another america can't wait for job creation. we can't sit back and continue to have people laid off. we've got to have this country moving again. if senator reid wants to continue to play politics he will put a tax increase on every working american. and we think that's wrong.

bill: do you think they will pass this then? >> i don't know. bill: is it kind of the moment where you push it up to the end of the year and take it or leave it scenario. >> if past behavior works, they haven't passed a budget in a number about of years. we have trillion dollar deficits. i haven't seen anything come out of the senate. the senate should act. they should take it up. there are a number of senate democrats i guarantee will vote for the bill just like a number of members that voted for it yesterday on the house. bill: what do you think is the true number of jobs created by keystone? some say 20,000. some say 50. some say the number is much smaller than that? >> i know this for sure if we continue the path we are, more people will be laid off. i rather see people getting hired instead of pink slip notices. that is not the christmas i want. i want to see people hired. bill: thank you for your time we appreciate it. merry christmas to you. we'll see where it goes. to our viewers later, democratic congresswoman jan schakowsky is our guest.

we'll get reaction from the other side. as this goes back and forth the time is running. they will figure something out. i guarantee you that. martha: deja vu all over again. this is big story. we have a potential break through to report in the treatment of breast cancer. what doctors are now working on to stop the second leading cause of death in women. bill: big story. defense officials confirming the existence of a drone campaign in iran but our most sophisticated drone is in enemy hands. is it time to shut the program down? >> it's pretty clear that those operations have to be protected in order to do the job and the mission that they're involved with. i love the holidays.

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bill: 22 minutes past the hour now. reports that newt gingrich's

political director in iowa has resigned. this after he called the church of latter-day saints a cult. iowa caucuses less than three weeks away. i don't. new report says only 51% of u.s. adults is married. that is all-time low. new marriages dropping by 5%. study saying most blame the bad economy. jessica lynch fulfilling her dream. she will graduate from college friday. lynch was famously rescued after being held captive in iraq back in 2003. martha: congratulations to her. a fox news exclusive. defense secretary leon panetta speaking to fox news about the future of the u.s. drone campaign. iran has its hands on of the most sophisticated unmanned aircraft in our arsenal and they are of course refusing to give it back. no big surprise there. here is what secretary panetta told jennifer griffin about whether the drones will continue to fly over that region. watch this. >> it's pretty clear that

those operations have to be protected in order to do the job and the mission that they're involved with. >> will those operations continue since they're being flown out of afghanistan? >> absolutely. >> absolutely was his unequivocal answer. fox news national security analyst kt mcfarland joins me now. you say the president handled this all wrong? >> it was bad enough losing it. that was bad. there are a lot of unanswered lessons how did we lose it. did they take control, what happened? then refusing to destroy it was even worse. the final thing, obama goes and pleads with them, please give it back. what signal does that send to the iranians? that says that the president of the united states is unwilling to take military action of any course. i'm not saying send in the marines but he should have destroyed it. they realize when he threatens them over the iranian nuclear program all options on the table, they know he doesn't mean it. they're then emboldened to go ahead with the nair

nuclear program as fast as they can knowing they will not get in trouble with it with obama. the other signal it sends to the israelis who say, gee, if you won't even go and protect your most secret piece of military equipment we can't count on you we'll be on our own here. i think it is very bad and i don't think it is an accident yesterday, the iranians said we want to show you we can close the strait of hormuz anytime. martha: fascinating. the story is the president was presented a scenario. the military, pentagon said we could go in there and take this thing out right away. he was concerned that would be perceived as a act of war within iran. and that this thing went down apparently further east. wasn't sort of a right along the border issue. it was deep inside. it was deep inside of iran. what do you think about his decision-making process with regard to that? ramification of what might happened if we had gone in. >> this argument it is an act of war. gee, isn't it act of war when iranians send assassins

to washington, d.c. to take out diplomats? where is the quid pro quo there? the other thing, when the united states isn't willing to stand up for its own people, its own equipment, its own things there is a serious signal being sent. i went back to look and see what did jimmy carter do when the iranians took the u.s. diplomats hostage in the late 1970s? what did he do? he sent out a notice saying we'll not have military alert. we're not taking military contingency plans. we'll work through diplomacy. how did that work out? we never got the hostages back. he had a failed rescue mission it. wasn't until president reagan came into office the iranians released hostage. martha:s there is concern whether the technology was jammed. will we ever find out? >> it has to be biggest secret in government right now. how did we lose control of that drone? was it jammed? i kind of live in this world of the cyberspace intelligence blogs. one suggestion is that the iranians have the ability to confuse us.

that we thought we lost it but they had in fact taken control of it. that is one of the reasons it landed supposedly intact. martha: those are unanswered questions. >> irresponsible to speculate but there are questions. martha: kt mcfarland. we'll ask mitt romney coming up what he would have done in that situation. so that is still ahead. bill. bill: thing liked like gift wrapped. perfect condition. do you use your mobile device while you drive? the feds say that could lead to things like this. a deadly crash in missouri. a new policy that washington says that every american needs to know to keep you safe on the road. we'll tell you what that is, martha. martha: this is also developing into something. a big story. voter i.d.'s will be required in many states when you show up to place your vote on election day. supporters say it is supposed to cut back on voter fraud. now the department of justice is getting involved in this. what attorney general eric holder plans to do about these new laws. >> if we allow only those who hold elected office to

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martha: attorney general eric holder promises a thorough review of new state voting laws and calls for his resignation from dozens of lawmakers over the botched gun running operation known as "fast and furious". the justice department is reviewing new laws in a number of states that require voters to show up

with a photo i.d. in order to place their vote. supporters say these laws are intend to simply prevent voter fraud. opponents claiming restrictions are to prevent certain minority groups from voting. holder says it is time to leave politics out of the ballot box. take a look. >> call on our political parties to resist the temptation to suppress certain votes in the hopes of obtaining electoral success an instead encourage and work with the parties to achieve success by appealing it more voters. martha: byron york, political correspondent from the "washington examiner" out in sue sigh city, iowa. good to have you this morning. >> good morning, martha. martha: eric holder has been on the hot seat with the "fast and furious" issue but that has not prevented him coming out very forcefully on this issue. voter rights in several states in this country? do you think this is it good move on his part? obviously an effort to protect a huge bloc of voters that were very

supportive of president obama in 2008? >> absolutely. it is a very politically-charged thing to do as we head into the 2012 election season. he's targeting new laws that require photo i.d.'s, usually driver's license for people to vote. democrats say the election fraud that these laws are supposed to remedy doesn't really exist. and attorney general holder yesterday really made a strong indication that he is going to go after this quite strongly. the justice department is investigating some states including texas that have passed these laws. he says this is not only a legal issue but a moral imperative. republicans on the other hand say, look at the kind of things we're all required to present our driver's license to do? get on an airplane. check into a hotel. sometimes to buy over-the-counter drugs. sometimes to get into a building with security. americans are required to provide driver's license all the time. why not voting? martha: seems quite logical that you would have to present a photo i.d. in

order to match up with your name on the voter roles to go in and vote. a couple of other things he pointed out that raise some questions as well, byron. one of the things he singled out this litigation in florida over a new state law that restrictions availability of early voting including banning it on sundays before election day when according to these reports black churches traditionally follow services with get-out-the-vote efforts to go, right after church. let's go orally vote together. why would that be banned in florida? >> well, republicans have been upset with some early voting efforts across the country that unions, for example, or in this case, black churches have made very profitable uses of those, getting a lot of voters signed up or getting voters actually to vote early. that is something republicans have wanted to restrict and democrats have fought again to keep that open. the interesting thing is, the attorney general also spoke in favor of a new proposed law that would

impose criminal penalties on people who give out inaccurate information about an election. say remember to vote on wednesday or something like that. and he just happened to come out in favor of it on the day that senator charles schumer introduced it in the senate. so it seems kind of a concerted effort on the part of democrats at this moment. martha: with regard to this early voting issue, both sides try to do whatever they can to sort of rally their base to go out and vote in early voting efforts. does seem if that were the case and banning it on sundays in florida, that, you know, would potentially be discriminatory. >> well it could be. the justice department is doing this stuff under the 1965 voting rights act t was no accident that the attorney general gave his speech at the lyndon johnson library in texas. jobs sown signed the voting rights act. the justice department has the power to go after something if it has any sort of desparate impact. doesn't matter whether it

was intended to be discriminatory or not. i think will see a lot nor investigation on that. martha: byron, thank you. we'll see a lot more of you in sioux city, iowa. >> thank you, martha. bill: not wearing heavy coat. that is really good news down there in iowa. there is new criticism about the guest of honor traveling with president obama to fort bragg today. some say the iraqi prime minister does not deserve the recognition, even people from his own country. greg palkot streams live out of baghdad. what do the critics of maliki say, greg? >> reporter: hey, bill. as the u.s. troop pullout continues and accomplishments and sacrifices they are leaving behind, we have some questions too included about as you note, prime minister maliki. some people say he is gaining too much power. that is he excluding groups. that that could lead to trouble. that he is cozying up too closely with iran. we heard all of that and more from believe it or not, his number two, deputy prime minister.

here is little bit what i had to say to me about the style of prime minister maliki. >> maliki is looking for a dictatorship government. >> reporter: dictatorship government? >> which is led by one party and one man. >> reporter: those are strong words? >> yes it is. >> reporter: now granted mutlak has a political axe to grind. he is a sign my muslim -- sign think muslim and -- sunni muslim and maliki is shia. bill: what is the latest on the american troop with drawl? how is that going? what have you seen? >>. >> reporter: the latest we are hearing bill, from officials on the ground that the total number of u.s. troops are 5500 in country. that is down from 170,000 at its peak and number of bases here this two. down from 505.

everybody has to be out except for a small force by the end of the year. it should be quicker than that. one troubling note we got overnight from the oil ministry, they're telling us a major oil field in the southern part of iraq has been hit by bombs. half the production of this field has been put out. fear has been that the u.s. troops themselves might be targeted by militants as they leave. again, u.s. officials, today, are telling us all is going well. bill: good to have you back in the country. greg, thank you for the report. greg palkot in baghdad. martha: all right. let's get a look at the markets open about seven minutes now. investors are reacting to new concerns about europe. every day we're up and down whether europe will get its act together and how much we'll have to help it to do so. down 48 points. the concerns are out there about the straits of hormuz and any impact that would have on the markets. housing news, all of it. nothing really great out there to drive the market. bill: we're looking though, aren't we?

martha: we're looking. bill: "time" magazine revealed a personal of the year. it is not really a person, the protester. magazine editors say traditional leadership has failed the american people and failed people around the world. that's key now, that second part. and that true leadership comes from the bottom of the pyramid, not the top. this will get some attention. martha: it will get some attention. the fact that the "occupy wall street" issue is sort of enveloped into the arab spring issue, a lot of people say there are not really too many parallels there. i don't like it when they pick a group. person of the year should be a person. bill: couple years ago it was --. martha: whistle-blowers one year. you. remember that one. thanks a lot. bill: i guess it will sell magazines. martha: bill hemmer, person of the year. bill: i heard the "time" magazine editor talking on another network earlier today. he said the how the cairo protester helped change the world. a nod to wall street and zuccotti park and various protesters across the

country we do not know how they will play out yet. martha: i like a person, one person. bill: e-mail us or tweet us let you know what you think. martha: think about this on the way home, folks. your car may be a cell phone -- no cell phone zone. this is why it is becoming a deadly issue. a deadly crash caused by a texting teenager caused for changes in the law. hands-free device, how will they play into this? the chair of the ntsb will talk about that. bill: that is pickup truck underneath that school bus. a little more than three weeks, less than three weeks, 20 days before the voting begins in iowa. today, mitt romney live in studio talking about his campaign strategy in the final weeks as we close in. martha: lots to ask him about. that's coming up. a car run up a light poll and not just any car. it is a police cruiser. i wonder if there was a cell phone involved there.

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martha: all right. this is just coming into the newsroom. key battleground state ohio, set to hold its 2012 primary in may a bill is quickly moving through the state legislature there. earlier lawmakers said separate primaries for local, state and federal primary elections but this bill will consolidate all that. the critics said the maneuver would cost more and confuse voters. candidates balk at resolution of that issue. may in ohio. bill: meantime, new recommendations urging all states to band the use of mobile devices behind the wheel, even a hands-free device like an earpiece that would go in your ear while you drive. this is one of the reasons. look closely here, in the middle of this mess is a

pickup truck and the driver was texting moments before he rammed a tractor-trailer. two school buses then crashed into them. the 19-year-old driver of the pickup is dead. so is a student on one of the buses. 38 others were injured. the ntsb chairwoman is with me now. good morning to you. >> good morning. bill: i imagine you've been working on this for some time because i know it's, been a point of contention now for a while. what is your message in this and how you get people to cooperate? >> well, i think at the end of the day our message is very simple. no call, no text, no post is worth a human life. we've investigated too many accidents in all modes of transportation where we've seen fatalities because crashes like this. bill: well, it's a good message but you have no power to pass laws or enforce laws? >> that's right. bill: how do you get people to listen? >> well, you know, i think

we have to look back at successful campaigns when it comes to highway safety. in our generation we have really seen improvements when it comes to seatbelt use, drunk driving and get our children in proper child restraints in the vehicle. we changed societal attitudes how acceptable it is to drink and drive and even smoking. i think that is what needs to happen here. bill: i have seen now, the message is being picked up by various states. you have 35 states that ban texting while driving. you have nine states that ban the use of handheld cell phones by drivers. there are zero states that ban hands-free devices for drivers. so that message is spreading. but i will tell you, i'll show you an image from upstate new york that happened here in the empire state in 2007. these four high school girls were killed in this accident right here. and you look at things like this, and you wonder how in the world can we stop this because the mobile devices are just becoming more and

more frequent, not less and less. >> that's right. and every year they're coming out with new devices that can do more for you. but all of those distractions, don't have a place when you're behind the wheel. we want to make sure that people are focused on a driving task. when you split your attention between multiple tasks, you reilly are diverting your attention away from the task at hand. bill: what is that length of time? >> well, it really depends. looking down, to type a text, or, dial a phone number, you may be looking down for five seconds, or the length of a football field so you're really traveling blind. but it is also having those conversations and that cognitive distraction where your brain is not engaged. we see people talking on the phone their perception narrows. they actually see 50% of what they usually see when they're not talking on the phone. bill: do you find younger people bigger violators than middle-aged folks or is

there much of a difference? >> this is a definitely a generational issue and certainly from the feedback we're seeing and hearing and from the surveys we are taking it is generational issue particularly when it comes to texting. this will be harder and a more important message but the good news is we're getting really good feedback from young peoples groups as well recognizing the danger. bill: that is nice to hear. this is a number i want to put on the screen for viewers. this is what our organization believes happened in 2010, 3092 distract shun-related deaths? that is remarkable. >> it is. and we think this is a really underreported accident cause because most of the time law enforcement officials that are on the roadside can't attribute an accident to distraction but subpoenaing records, getting cell phone records, that takes a lot of time. that is usually not done at the roadside. bill: thanks for getting message out. if it saves lives who could

not be for that. >> thank you. bill: our question of the day, do you use a mobile device while you drive? so far, line is open 45 minutes. 54% say yes. 46% say no. martha: you think they're telling the truth, the 46%? bill: i'm not sure. i'm in the former i'm afraid to admit that it's true. do it less and less. martha: me as well. i want to say one thing what we need on this is a national campaign like they're talking about. you think about what madd did, mothers against drunk driving, kids do not drink and drive. there are so conditioned to have a designated driver, college students and the like. bill: good point. martha: we really need this to become a priority, police, troopers friends of mind out there say this is much bigger problem than drinking and driving these days. it is really important to talk about. also this as well, on the way to a cure for the second leading cause of death in women. could we be? what doctors are now working on to fight breast cancer. this is an exciting development but will it work?

we'll talk about that. bill: also new polling numbers out today potential matchup between a republican candidate versus president obama. who wins if it is romney versus obama? who wins if it is gingrich versus obama? mitt romney will be in studio that answer that moments away. stay tuned. why settle for a one-note cereal? ♪ more, more, more... get more with honey bunches of oats 4 nutritious grains come together for more taste, more healthy satisfaction. get more with honey bunches of oats.

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bill: so run this up the flagpole or utility pole as the case may be. miami, florida. man, how in the world do you do that? police officer running his cruiser up the light post. the officer does not have a scratch but probably has a lot of paperwork to fill out. this is daylight version. i guess took it all night to get it down. martha: looks like an eddie murphy movie. bill: good point. the cop says he dropped a pen and reached down to grab it and was diverted.

he wasn't texting apparently. no. martha: this is a big story today. a possible new breakthrough in the fight against breast cancer. researchers are testing a new vaccine that may help to treat the disease. fooks news medical a-teamer, dr. manny alvarez. dr. manny how promise something the vaccine? how will it work? >> it is very promising. basically the science is you take your own immune system and fighting cells teach them to recognize cancer. in this particular experiment with breast cancer. and the natural cells of your body can destroy the cancer cells. what they have shown is in the animal model this science works and is 90% reduction in the cancer cells. so now what has to happen is, you have to have human trials but at least the scientific portion of this experiment is very positive. martha: so, you know, when you get a flu vaccine,

you're getting a tiny bit of that flu and your body is reacting to it. if you get a cancer vaccine are you getting a tiny bit of cancer cells? >> no you're not. all cells basically have specific sugars outside and basically what scientists have been able to do to teach the immune cells they wanted to recognize the sugarcoating outside the cancer cells so when they see that they know it is a cancer cell and go ahead and attack it. you're not getting a piece of cancer and therefore teaching immune system. teaching outside structure. martha: to recognize it? >> exactly. that's why it works very well. martha: there is a vaccine for cervical cancer young girls are given when they go for checkups. is this where they see this going? young woman who don't have cancer would get it or for cancer patients? >> this is for cancer patients. this is another option. we have the chemicals, what we call the chemotherapy, and you have the surgical option. there is some medication reducing the growth by choking the cancer tumor.

now you're going to have the immune system also working to kill the cells, the cancer cells. this is another strategy to give women options for, that really have very little options, especially when you have advanced breast cancer. martha: how long, one last question, they're using knit mice. >> yeah. martha: how long pef we start to see this in action? >> this is good team. university of georgia, mayo clinic, expect the vaccine to go on trial the next two or three years. martha: dr. manny, thank you very much for the update. we appreciate it. bill: a big deal. 20 days until the first contest in the 2012 election season. how does newt gingrich stack up against mitt romney today? there is new polling out from "the wall street journal" showing romney might have the advantage where it really matters in a national campaign. governor romney reacts to that in moments. also reacts to this hit from newt gingrich yesterday. >> i would just say that if governor romney would like to give back all the money he's earned from bankrupting companies and laying off employees over his years at

bain, that i would be glad to listen to him. i bet you $10, not 10,000, that he won't take the offer. what's this? it's progresso's new loaded potato with bacon.

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martha: a surging newt gingrich leaving mitt romney behind according to one new washington poll. it puts newt gingrich ahead by 17%. that is the overall number right now. 40% to 23 among registered republicans coast to coast. that's how we start a brand-new hour much "america's newsroom." i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. we are counting down to the critical iowa debate. the seven candidates take the stage tomorrow night. now it looks like a two-man race. elections have a way of changing things. martha: who likes to watch that more than carl cameron. carl has another's numbers that

are telling a bit of a different story. >> reporter: sure. it's important to remember 20 days, 20 days before the first in the nation caucus. while gingrich is sailing in a lot of national polls and national polls are not as important, there is one, gallop poll that showed something substantially different. newt gingrich has 31%. romney is at 22%. he has been steady in the 20s the whole year. the 32% that newt gingrich has is down 6 percentage points from the preceding week. mr. gingrich has been criticized on the stump by virtually the entirety of the field. he's been hit by attack web videos taking him to task on a whole host of issues, and ads have been critical as well. it's a leer sign that the gingrich likability is slipping a little bit. the internal numbers in the poll suggest that some of

mr. gingrich's tpaeufrb built is starting to slip largely as a consequence of these attacks. there is a huge debate tomorrow night, gingrich is expected to do particularly well, it's his strong suit. that could make a difference for him. many of his rival candidates have been withholding their attack ads until after the debate so it won't become an issue at the debate. it's going to start in earnst after. martha: what are the candidates up tonight, carl, ahead of this big night tomorrow night? >> reporter: there is a forum this evening hosted by mike huckabee. the winner of the iowa caucuses four years ago and a fox news contributor. it's titled the gift of life forum, it's an anti-a portion p r-rb pro life debate. mr. romney who has not been competing aggressively in iowa

is not attending. he's only became pro live in 1995. ron paul is not attending. he believes it's not a federal issue, he believes abortion and the prohibition of it should be handled at the state level, so he won't be there either. martha: mitt romney joining us live right here in "america's newsroom." and that is only moments away, folks. we will speak with him. stick around, coming up. bill: in the meantime california has more red ink on its books than anywhere else. democratic governor jerry brown rolling out massive budget cuts. he's having for a billion dollars in cuts to make up for a $2.2 billion shortfall e. says it musting done. here is the governor. >> billion dollars in cuts, more to follow in january and hopefully not any more to follow in november, because we will have more trigger cuts premised on whether or not people vote for taxes. all i can say is, that you can't

provide money you don't have. and that's really the point here. you either cut, or you tax, there is no third way. bill: on the topic of taxing, there is a proposal for a referendum on the ballot in california to raise taxes on just about everybody in that state. california faces another cut of $2.5 billion that would go into effect automatically if state revenue does not meet expectation. they have a big hole in the golden state. martha: how about the hole in europe, another slide in europe kwraps common currency. the euro falling against the dollar below 1.30 since january. it was initially launched on january 1st 1999 with the first coins and notes issued in january of two. it is shared by 17 european member states and it peaked at an all time high of 1.60. that happened back on july the

15th of 2008. it's in jeopardy of collapsing as the debt crisis in europe brings a credit disaster closer. big issue for them and for us at home. bill: the director of the f.b.i. facing tough questions over killings of americans overseas. catherine herridge watching all of this out of d.c. good morning there. what do you expect from robert mueller today. >> reporter: we can expect tough questions on the legal justification for killing american citizens overseas such as the cleric anwar al awlaki, an alleged terrorist and commander for al-qaida in yemen without any due process. the freedom of information act has the ucla wants all information released. on september 30th the first american on the killer's captured list 40-year-old anwar al-awlaki was killed in that kreurbgs a-led operation. and samir kahn that was also

traveling with him and was killed at that time. the cleric's son was killed. this comes from the fox special unit. u.s. officials include the teenager was not the intended target. he was traveling with a senior member of al-qaida yacht. despite calls by dianne feinstein there is no thought of releasing the documents regarding the killing of the cleric. >> as others who are here when this happened i'm just not going to engage in a conversation about that. >> reporter: the reason that's important is we have a growing number of terrorism case necessary this country with american sis tense. administrations will face this again in the future, bill. bill: we are expecting fireworks today on the detainee matter? what is up? >> reporter: well, yeah, that's right. the defense authorization act in

a nutshell says that all terrorism suspects are supposed to go to military custody. there is what is called the national security waiver the executive branch can use to send cases to federal courts. the administration -- the white house has promised to veto on that the f.b.i. director has expressed serious reservations as well. bill: catherine herridge in washington. martha: it looks like a grand jury is now investigating the bankrupt solar company known as solyndra. invoices show attorneys for solyndra which lost more than a half a billion taxpayer dollars have apparently worked for more than 300 hours on this case so far. the invoices reveal a slew of subpoenas and face-to-face meetings between u.s. attorneys and solyndra lawyers. they declared bankruptcy back in september and it was raided by the f.b.i. a few memorable days later. bill: on the floor of the senate moments ago it got quite

heated. harry reid the democratic leader and mitch ma tkopb mcconnell the republican leader going back and forth on whether to pass the jobs bill. reid slammed newt gingrich referring to the government shut down of 1995 during his time in the speakership. he also slammed mitt romney and a fellow democrat for voting on all this. trish teurpb is our producer on the senate side. she puts a note in here that says, on and on it goes, it's like watching wome wimbeldon. martha: newt gingrich surging past mitt romney in one national poll. when it comes to a head-to-head with president obama mitt romney still is in a better position against the president than is newt gingrich. the former governor of

massachusetts is live here in "america's newsroom" three minutes away. bill: also a marching band member apparently beaten to death in a violent hazing ritual. the new claims from another person saying the same group sent her to the hospital as well. martha: it's got the wingspan of a football field. try to put your head around that one. and it could be flying you to outer space by the end of the decade. sounds like fun. bill: road trip. martha: want to race? are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

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bill: 12 minutes past the hour now. top stories in "america's newsroom." evangelist billy graham recovering from pneumonia. he is getting ready to spend the holidays with his family before

getting back to work. we wish him the best. the u.s. post office postponing a plan to shut down 3500 outfits. they are waiting for con to come up with a khraoug with a solution that would allow them not to do that. high demand used in traditional christmas dishes leading to a major shortage. the situation has got even so bad it's kicked up several online smuggling rings. who would have thought. martha. martha: thank you very much. presidential candidate newt gingrich surging past mitt romney in the race for the gop nod. the latest "wall street journal" gingrich -- the poll shows that gingrich is at 40, mitt romney at 23 perfected, a lead of 17%. we'll show you a moment from now the former massachusetts governor actually does better in head-to-head match ups with president obama. that is getting a lot of attention this morning as well. we are now just weeks, can you believe this. away from iowa, the caucuses are

about to get underway. the first contest in the 2012 election season. then we'll have actual votes to look at instead of polls. the new poll shows the race in the hawk-eye state tighting a bit with gingrich, romney and ron paul in a fairly tight race this. iowa thing could go in a lot of different directions. governor mitt romney joins me now. governor, welcome. >> thanks, martha. martha: let's talk a little bit about iowa and what has been going on there. newt gingrich is still ahead but ron paul seems to be pulling up. would i you rather it be ron paul if it's not you? >> i don't know how quickly this is going to be resolved. it may be done in a few weeks, but it may go on for months. stay tuned. this is good news for you guys. you'll be talking about the political process for a longtime. martha: i'm not sure it's great news for you.

initially when all this was started you wanted to kind of be in a better position right now to win a few of the first four big ones. when you look at the "real clear politics" gingrich is beating you in iowa. you're only up about 8 in new hampshire right now and south carolina and florida as well. this long haul we might be going until june thing is not what you were saying a few months back. >> it's very hard to predict how the political process is going to play out. everybody gets their chance to be put under the microscope. as time goes on people make up their minds on who will lead our country. people are looking at who will defeat president obama and getting america back to creating the jobs they need, people are coming to the conclusion increasingly that i'm the person with the experience, and the temperament and capacity to actually lead america and defeat president obama. that i think is what they want to see in the final analysis.

martha: if they come to that conclusion. it's not evident right now in the polls. right now you're hoping to come in third in iowa according to the latest numbers we're looking at. is there anything that you wish you had done differently in the early stages of this campaign, really? >> absolutely not. of course we recognize that no one gets cor corinated in a primary progress. people made their minds up based on what they see. they look at the different candidates. over the last year there have been a number of people leading in the polls, whether it was donald trump, michael bachmann,. martha: trent lott said he wish you had been more aggressive out of the gate, he wished it was wrapped up by now. what do you think about that. >> i think he's wrong. people do get a chance to be looked at. in my case we are absolutely confident that as people have a

very good chance to look at all the candidates they'll continue to believe that i'm the right person to lead the country. by the way, numbers look good in polls, you know what, they come and go, i'm looking for the votes. martha: let's take a look at head-to-head we talked about against the president because that is very important as well. we take a look at you, you are at 45 versus the president at 47%, and then newt gingrich doesn't fair as well he's at 40. that's got to give you some encouragement. >> there is no question but that the real task that we have to focus on as a party is replacing president obama with someone who understands the economy and who believes in american principles. and the fact that i'm doing relatively well versus the president is an encouraging sign. he's failed the american people, they recognize that. they want a leader who can replace them and get them on the right track again.

martha: i want to know what you think of the iran drone situation. what if they came to you, mr. president a drone has gone down, it's one of our top technology. we have an opportunity to take this out. the president said he didn't want to do that, he thought it would be seen as an act of war. >> absolutely take it out. he was weak in a critical moment. it was a terrible mistake on his part. i find it incomprehensible that he didn't destroy it or go get it. i think destroy it would be a good deal easier. or go get it. to let it fall into the hands of people who will use it against us. use the intelligence capacity against us is an extremely enormous mistake on the part of this president. martha: i want to get to the whole bane capital conversation and the $10,000 bet and the idea of you as an elitist.

>> if mitt romney would like to give back all the monies earned from bankrupt companies and laying off employees over his year at bane i would be glad to listen to him. and i'll bet you $10 not 10,000 that he won't take the offer. martha: give back all the money that you took in the bankruptcies, and the lost jobs and all that. what is your reaction? >> unfortunately the speaker is way off in that. we had the occasion to help build tens of thousands of jobs. he doesn't understand the economy if he doesn't understand that sometimes businesses succeed and sometimes fail. the four enterprises i've led have all succeeded. we invested in over a hundred different entities, not awful them succeeded. but to suggest that there is something unamerican or wrong in investing enterprise that ultimately doesn't suggest say he doesn't understand the economy. a suggestion that he returns the

money from freddie mac follows his own comments. he profited $1.6 million from the agency that helped bring down the entire competent, he ought to give it back. martha: the question is whether or not you're going to embrace capitalism. yeah i made money. some of those companies were going to go bankrupt any way. we may have helped them along in that direction, in doing so we provided a lot of jobs for other people. i guess people feel you haven't embraced your work with you saying, yeah i'm going to do so in washington. are you going to be embracing it more forcefully in terms of your capitalism. >> i don't know that anyone in america can imagine that i don't embrace capitalism. >> using it in terms of your campaign, your wealth, your success all of that. you bet i did that. >> of course i talk about my success and the enterprises i run time and time again. we helped create tens of

thousands of jobs. i understand how the economy works. what distinguishes me from the other people on the republican stage is that i spent my life in the economy, i know how it works. i'm proud of capitalism, it's lifted people out of poverty around the world. even the chinese finally copying some aspects of free enterprise are coming out of poverty. unlike speaker gingrich who spent his life in washington i spent my life helping create jobs. martha: we have to leave it there, governor romney thank you so much for being with us today. we look forward to seeing you tomorrow night on the big stage and thank you so much for stopping by america's news room. i hope to see you again as the process rolls through it. the republican debate 9pm eastern. 6pm pacific. bill: it will be a big night. thank you for coming in today, governor. in a moment here an extension of payroll tax cuts and

unemployment benefits. it's getting heated on the floor of the senate. sitting on the table in fact right there. >> what reid is doing, he's playing politics with this. he's saying, dead on arrival, not allowing people to vote on it. you have a number of members who want to vote on it. this is the same tactic he's used with 25 bills that the house passed in a bi-partisan manner. bill: a democratic councilwoman will react to a bill that some say is dead on arrival. she is come up in moments. martha: it could soon be the largest aircraft ever. guess where that one can go? when we come back.

martha: another brutal hazing reportedly at the hands of a marching band.

new charges at florida a & m university, three alleged members, a violent click within the school's marching one hundred ensemble accused of beating a female band member so severely that she had a fractured femur and blood clots in her legs. now her attorney is blaming the school. >> they claim that they couldn't do anything because it was off campus, it would be ridiculous. and i would hope they would not make such a claim but rather accept responsibility. martha: that beating took place in october, about a month before drum major robert champion died. bill: what a story that has become. so u.s. space travel, this is a fun story, poised to take another giant leap with the bigot aircraft every built. microsoft co-founder paul allen designing a plain with the wingspan of a football field. he hopes this is the next thing to get in space. look at the size of this thing

hanging out of this hangar. i want to bring in skwro*pl jones a former astronaut and a fox news contributor. he wrote the book, an astronaut's memoir. i think this thing is so cool. is it possible? >> it's certainly possible. it builds on the concept of air launching rockets. it becomes the first stage of the rocket and it's reusable. it lowers the cost of getting into orbit. you can travel and are not limited by bad weather, for example. bill: you liftoff from a regular airport and you would wary a rocket on board. >> that's right. bill: once you reach a certain altitude you launch the rocket. >> you go about six miles up, up above all the bad weather. you can fly closure to the equator where you get more push from the earth's rotation. bill: the company's moth tee is any orbit, any time. i love the motto. you're a space guy. is this the future for space

travel as you see it? >> it's terrific that the commercial sector is rolling out innovations now that is helping our market for launch, and this lowers the cost of getting people into orbit and cargo. you may see this mushrooming as a result of these innovative ideas. bill: how does it lower the cost? is that because the plane flies back down and it lands and you can reuse it? i guess you could do it at the level a space shuttle never good. >> it's more rapid in turn around than the space shuttle, you get more bang for the buck. this is a chance to send medium pay loads, even tourists some day to the space station at a reduced replies. bill: powered by six 747 engines. >> they'll be recycled. bill: what was the plane they tried in the 1950s. the spruce goose. >> it had the world's largest

swing span. this one is even bigger. bill: that project failed. >> i'm betting on success. bill: all right. okay. well you're on the record. thank you, tom. we'll see how well they can go, okay. tom jones on the telephone there. i wonder if the flight is as cool as the animation. martha: it looks pretty good. bill: let's go, road trip. come on. martha: sounds good to me. moments ago you heard live from republican presidential candidate mitt romney. he was saying why he has the business experience that he believes is needed for the white house. chris wallace will react to that coming up. bill: a group in one town calling for a nativity scene to be taken down asap. my name's jeff.

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bill: want to get back to the conversation martha just had with mitt romney moments ago here in america's news room. here is how romney reacted to an attack from newt gingrich over romney's economic background. >> what distinguishes me what the other people on the republican stage is that i spent my life in the economy. i know how it works. i'm proud of capitalism, it's lifted people out of poverty around the world. even the chinese finally copying some as pebts of free interest tere price are coming out of

poverty. it is the distinguishing feature of my background is that unlike speaker gingrich who spent his life in washington, i spent my life helping create jobs. bill: that was about as energetic reaction as we've heard from him. chris wallace anchor of fox news sunday is live in fair banks, alaska this morning. he's in iowa getting ready for the debate. what did you think of romney's reaction to that? i would anticipate we'll get more of that tomorrow night during the debate. >> reporter: yeah, i think it was a mistake for gingrich to go after romney on that issue, because that is essentially the line that liberals, at the left, the democrats, that president obama about companies like bane capital, they are laying off people and bankrupting companies. a lot of people would say that is the free market system, and there are going to be winners and losers, it's called creative destruction. obviously there is some human misery.

eventually companies get stronger and people get more stable jobs. to hear that from a conservative like newt gingrich i think a lot of conservatives viewed that as a mistake. i think you're exactly right that mitt romney is going to try to wrap newt gingrich with that. to make the distinction between what romney was doing, trying to build companies like staples which has a thousand employees, and what gingrich was doing, consulting and getting paid millions by a government-sponsored enterprise like freddie mac which ended up needing hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer bail outs. bill: you have been in iowa two days now i believe. correct me if i'm wrong on the calendar there. what is your sense, be it in souix city, or des moines, what is your sense on where iowa citizens are right now on the nomination process, chris? >> reporter: i'm not going to even pretend that i have a

sense. i will say this. you cannot watch tv for 20 minutes in iowa now without seeing just all of these commercials that we occasionally play on fox news. every commercial break, of an entertainment show, a news show, you're seeing ron paul, or rick perry or newt gingrich or mitt romney. we are being day hraoupblgd wi delug ed with this. they are not solid gingrich supporters. half of them say, yeah, i can change my mind, which is why the debate tomorrow night, thursday night on the fox news channel is so important because it is the last time that voters are going to see the seven folks up on the stage, be able to compare them, see how they punch and counter punch and how they make the case that they are the person who should be standing up on the

debate stage next fall with barack obama. of course that's what really everybody here is focused on, republican caucus goers beating president obama next fall. bill: the viewership is going to be tremendous. as you rightly point out it is the last good look that folks in iowa will get before they caucus 21 days from now. you wonder how iowa citizens react to how the campaign has changed too, whether they brings he will at the fact that candidates are spending less time in their said save for rick santorum and a couple of others because they are conducting these national campaigns. it will be fascinating. we look forward to it. chris wall as in a coat and tie tomorrow night. he'll lose that big jacket. fox news presidential debate. access to instant analysis with our viewers and fox news

contributors. at the end he just unzipped that thing and took it off. maybe it was a prop. martha: some folks in texas want to put up a holiday display that could take a little more explaining than most. an atheist group is not pleased with one town's nativity scene. have you heard this before? now they'd like to send a message of their own. kris gutierrez is live in dallas with the latest. what is going on with this. >> reporter: good morning to you, martha. athens texas is about an hour or so from dallas. county officials say no way, know-how are we taking down this nativity scene. people are fuming down there in henderson county because an atheist group based in wisconsin wants this small texas town to take down a nativity scene that's sat in this courthouse square for more than 30 years. the atheist group says one of its members down here in texas complained about it. the group's leader now wants a banner to go up to reflect its

members beliefs. it reads in part, at the season of the winter solstice let reason prevail. there are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. >> we would row mind the government in henderson county once it creates a public forum they can't reserve it only to christianity. they have to open it up to the atheists. the spaghetti monsters, and nonbelievers. >> if the jews want to put a sign up there have at it. if you want to put a sign up there that there is no sign saying, there is no god, there is no hell, there is no devil, no, that's crash, garbage. >> reporter: local residents have launched a drive to make sure the nativity scene stays put. local leaders tell us that the banner is not going up, the nativity scene is not going

down, and martha, this could all end up, surprise, surprise in a will you suit. martha: boy. we've seen enough of that. thank you very much. kris gutierrez. bill: the spaghetti god? martha: i remember in the lincoln tunnel last year, let reason prevail, a picture over the nativity. why? bill: an admission from the leader of the free world. president obama saying he did not realize just how bad the economic crisis was when he took office. what that means for his re-election chances. we've got a great panel on that moments away. martha: bill, see that. bill: i see it. martha: that's one way to rob a convenience store. even this guy did not get away with it. >> it's unbelievable when you first look at the damage, his entrance and exit was real bold. hapbt anyone anything with this magnitude with this sort of damage.

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he uses his pickup truck to smash through the front door, then he jumps out. watch the left staoeu side here. starts throwing all the goods in the back of his pickup truck. hang on. martha: we'll believe you on that one. bill: there he goes. got about a thousand dollars worth of goods from inside that store. martha: really? bill: he's loading it up, ready to go, thinks he's cool. he tries to get out of here. rubber burning. the smoke filling up the back of his truck. the truck got jammed on the inside. nowhere to go. he made a run for it. the police caught up to him a few hours later. well played. martha: not the sharpest tool in the shed. the white house may be changing its tune on the economy as far as the race for 2012 is heating up quite a bit. over the last three years president obama has repeatedly called our financial crisis the worst recession since the great depression. this is the president back in 2009. >> not one month into this administration we responded to the worst financial crisis since

the great depression by putting in place a sweeping economic recovery program that has already made an enormous difference in people's lives. martha: worst since the great depression. during an interview this week on radio he said, quote, i think we understood that it was bad but we didn't know how bad it was, adding, i think i could have prepared the american people for how bad this was going to be if we'd had a sense of that according to president obama. joined now by alalan colmes who is the host of the alan colmes radio show and tucker carlson the editor of the daly caller and fox news contributor. did you buy that, alan that he didn't know how add it was? >> he didn't know how bad it was. the bureau of economic analysis which all administrations use that came out with new numbers, the commerce department came out with new numbers the past july showing the gross domestic product was much worse than we thought. this it was information by nonpartisan groups. he did say it was terrible,

almost as bad as the great depression. so we knew it was bad and then we found out that it was even worse than that. those are not conflicting points of view. the attempt to make him into some kind of a live is not accurate. martha: the real estate group released news today that they have been miscounting for the last five years, tucker. there is some evidence that things are worse than we thought. >> we new it was like the great depression but we just didn't know it was bad, really bad. these guys are making it up as they go along, clearly. their economic message, like their economic program is completely muddled and selfcontradictory. even if he argues that, it is much worse than we thought it was, his sur owe tkpwalts are out there karg aoug that the economy is getting better and is in fact better than most people think it is. which is it? the truth is none of this makes sense, these guys have no idea what they are doing. they focused on healthcare when the economy had not recovered even after the stimulus plan

didn't work, they thought they fixed everything, they said so in public, and they hadn't. in some sense he's telling the truth. >> when did the president say the economy is fixed we can relax now. >> no-no that things are getting better. >> they are getting better. >> for the next two years they focused on this healthcare. martha: it's really been the message from the administration that things are getting better and there are some indications that there are improvements in the economy. what i almost key in on more in his comments is i could have done a better job preparing the american people. i wonder if that doesn't come from a place of, perhaps i haven't communicated all of this as well as i should of. if people really think things are still terrible maybe if i would have prepared them that they were worse maybe they would think they were better. >> i think had he known everything -- everything we eventually found out then he would have perhaps had an even more dire forecast.

but once we got new information we are then able to say now we know exactly how bad it was. martha: i'm not sure any of this matters. you look and go 8% unemployment, right and people are going to go to the voting booth, they will decide whether they were better off than four years ago, right, tucker? >> that's true. i think it's more like 17% in real unemployment. this is a theme here and i think it's revealing of the president's management style. the idea that this was a communications problem, that president obama didn't talk enough, that he didn't address the american people sufficiently. this is a president who of course can't stop talking. everything comes down with this administration to communication. we just haven't explained it, the path hasn't been out there enough. no. maybe the ideas don't work. at some point that is the conclusion you reach if you're a logical person. >> i don't reach that conclusion. i guess i'm not logical. >> come on, alan. martha: thank you, alan, thank you, tucker. bill: coming up on "happening now" a few moments away, jon scott standing by to tell us what is going on.

good morning. >> reporter: we have got breaking political news. new polling out from the ap, reuters, gallop and the "wall street journal" giving a clearer picture of the republican presidential field and a race for the white house. we'll talk with carl cameron, bret baier and charlie phurt. the president and the first lady speak to troops at fort bragg about the end of the iraq war. we will carry that for you live. revealing new secrets from inside the great pyramid. the possibility that you won't be able to text or talk in the car on your phone, we'll have all that. bill: see you in a couple of minutes. martha: this is another big issue out there. it passed in the house. some say the gop payroll tax cut plan is dead on arrival in the senate, which looks like the case. what is next? illinois congresswoman january chalkowski joins us. bill: christmas lights are good

for more than running up the electric bill. the good that they are spreading, the good cheer that they are spreading this year. ♪ [singing] ♪

♪

bill: as we approach the end of the year this will be a classic battle now. it's up to the senate after the house passes a payroll tax cut extension. several democrats blasting republicans foray tafpg the keystone i'll pipeline project to that bill. earlier today a top house republican, kevin mccarthy defending that vote. >> the president has looked at the pipeline and said, no decision until after the election. well, you know what, stop

playing politics. what we are saying is make a decision. america cannot wait for job creation. we can't sit back and continue to have people laid off. we have to have this country moving again. if senator reid wants to continue to play politics he's going to put a tax increase on every working american and we think that's wrong. bill: illinois democrat jan kowalski voted no. good morning to you. what tk ar didn't you like about this. >> talk about playing politics. this plan was designed to fail by adding the keystone pipeline, by asking medicare recipients to pay more in exchange for allowing 160 million americans not to see their taxes go up. to extend unemployment benefits for people who no fault of their own will be out of any kind of income if this is not done. bill: you don't really think our colleagues on the other side are going to allow that to happen, do you? >> well i hope not, except that

yesterday's vote included measures that were positio poision pills, that they knew the democrats would vote no, that they new when it was sent over to the senate that the priority was to make sure there was no tax increase on middle class people. i think what they are showing is contempt for middle class people. bill: really? >> yes, because not a hair on the head of millionaires or billionaires is being touched. at the same time they want to extract all these things from medicare beneficiaries to pay for milt class tax cuts. bill: republicans would argue that democrats are only going to be satisfied when millionaires are taxed, or people making more than $250,000 a year see their taxes up. only then will they find agreement with you. >> well, excuse me, it's people

who make $250,000 or a million dollars or more which is the proposal in the senate can well afford to pay their fair share rather than taking it out of the hydes of medicare resi recipients. bill: what do you think is their fair share. >> people who earn a million dollars a year out to pay a 45% ratcheting up to 49%. bill: on the federal level, then you have state and city after that. you're up around 60% of your income, is that enough? >> that is historically low. under the reagan administration the top tax rate was lowered to 50% for the highest earners. this is not about revenge or hatred for rich people at all. this is about paying one's fair share. it looks like the republicans would rather go after mid class

people and old people to pay for a middle class tax cut while saying nothing about the rich. bill: the computer is about to cut me off. i know you had a very tough schedule this morning and we squeezed you in at the last minute. democrats would like to protect the social security trust fund. creates jobs. we'll see if we can get an agreement on the senate side. could yo couldjan kowalski, thank you for your time. we'll be right back. [ jill strange ] osteo bi-flex is a great product.

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[lock clicks] martha: ready to see some show offs? a mini winter wonderland than can rival the north pole. more than 100,000 christmas lights lighting up the family east house all for a good cause. they're raising money for samaritan health care and hospice. look at that. i can't get my lights on the front door and bushes on the side to stay lit.