republican candidates gather in the shadow of the white house tonight for the big cnn national security debate. it is the first test for newt gingrich as front-runner. cairo bracing for a million-man sit-in. police beating demonstrators on the fourth straight day of violence, and now late word three americans have been arrested. is there anybody out there? nasa relaunching a program to listen for alien life, searching for signs, on this "american morning." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning. it's tuesday, november 22nd. ali and christine are off this morning. i'm alina cho along with carol costello on this "american morning." so glad you're with us. >> glad you're with us. up first this morning, breaking news out of cairo. three americans arrested outside the interior ministry in tahrir square accused of throwing molotov cocktails. thousands of demonstrators are packed into the square for a million-man sit-in. a short distance away, our reporter says soldiers are pelting the protesters with tear gas. 24 people killed, 17 injured during four straight days of violence. a live report from cairo coming up. a big story we're watching this tuesday morning -- it's a chance to convince voters you're commander in chief material. the national security debate takes place just a few feet away from a place every candidate wants to call home -- the white house. there's a look at the stage and time lapse video of it going up and just hours before the contest, a new candidate surged to the lead in a new poll. >> a cool video. isn't it? >> yeah, it is. >> i just want to watch it go. it's complete, almost. joining us, joe johns, paul steinhauser and chris lawrence with voters shifting opinions on the war. first question, the debate is foreign policy. ed super committee's implosion. well, i'm sure that will come up. >> reporter: hey, carol. i hope i can hear. i'm having a difficult time hearing what you are saying. i can tell you this, number one, this was sort of about what you could expect. the questions tonight that are sure to come up include, what happened to the super committee? in some ways it's political science 101. had you put a system in place in washington, d.c., it's very difficult to change. now, of course, we have another element of political science 101. that is, of course, the blame game. democrats blaming republicans. republican blaming democrats. we all know the outlines of all this. it's tax cuts against entitlement spending. so is this over? certainly it's not over. a long way to go. we have automatic spending cuts that will go into place starting in 2013 if nothing else is done. we'll also hear from the candidates as we move towards next november's election. we've got a preview, of course, from some of the republican candidates running for president. themes we'll probably hear in tonight's debate. let's listen. >> the failure of the super committee, which i had suggested several months ago was the dumbest, single legislative idea i have seen. >> you have a president who didn't get involved in the process. who didn't pick up the phone, bring in the republicans, bring in the democrats. make a proposal of his own. >> the problem isn't we aren't paying enough in taxes, the problem is the government is spending too much money, and the president has been awol. no disrespect to the president, it's kind of like, "where's waldo?" >> reporter: the president, too, would like to see some other arrangement than the spending cuts, but if they try to go around what is now in place with the automatic spending cuts, he says he will certainly veto that. back to you. >> thanks, joe. >> all right. we want to bring in cnn deputy political director paul steinhauser now. paul, newt gingrich for the first time in the front-runner in our cnn/orc poll heading into the debate, but mitt romney seems more electable. how do you see it playing out? >> with gingrich on top, according to poll numbers, you'll see him maybe the target of the other candidates for the first time. look at the numbers. cnn/orc out last night, as you mentioned. 24% gingrich. 20%, mitt romney, former massachusetts governor, second bid for the white house that four-point margin, and basically it's all tied at the top. in third place, herman cain. you can see there at 17%. he was tied for the top with romney but his numbers have been slipping with kroerchs covntro. these debates have been extremely influential. all eyes on tonight's contest. >> part of the reason why newt gingrich is polling better. all right, paul steinhauser, thank you. >> let's bring in chris lawrence live at the pentagon. chris, moments ago cnn and orc released foreign policy polls. what are they showing? >> reporter: they show some of the candidates may be in a tricky position tonight when they have to defend some of the positions they've taken on national security. look at this first poll. loop at the difference from about seven years ago and how americans feel about attacking another country. the cnn/orc poll asked, should the u.s. attack another country that has not attacked the u.s.? look at in a change. only saying yes, about 24% now. no, the answer from about 74% of americans. that could cause problems for candidates like mitt romney who said yesterday that iran needs to understand that the u.s. does have military options, that america will take military action. he may be asked to explain that position tonight. another big issue on the table is getting troops out of iraq. obviously, the president announced all troops out by the end of the year. take a look at this next poll. it asks, should president obama remove combat troops from iraq by the end of the year? nearly two-thirds of americans say, yes, we should. now let's drill down on that topic just a little bit more and look at the breakdown. president obama should remove combat troops from iraq by the end of the year. think was asked of democrats, republicans and independents. take a look at the difference knop surprise. democrats at about 71% agree with that. but look at the disparity between independents and republicans. that 4-point gap could cause problems for candidates like newt gingrich who last month when the policy was announced said obama is right. no short-term advantage for iran to even be in iraq, also it was ushering in defeat. thousands of lives would have been lost for nothing more than defeat. it really shows the very fine line the candidates have to walk appealing to the base now to get the nomination, but also taking positions they'll have to defend if they are to be the nominee. >> wow. what a change. >> this round-robin we have going, joe, question with you, a debate focusing on the national debate and foreign policy. which candidate or candidates will benefit the most, do you think? >> reporter: it's funny. when you look at newt gingrich's comments, he's been pretty consistent saying this was just a bad idea. the super committee was not going to work. so that's an interesting point of view. he's always tried to portray himself as the adult in the room, and to that extent, it might be to his benefit. there's any number of questions in all this. you look at mitt romney. this is a guy who says, yeah. i can do better. i have a better idea. i think the president of the united states has really sort of been asleep at the switch, if you will. so it might help him, too, but right now this is largely a talking point on the campaign. i think a lot of people know what the voters believe, and a lot of people also think that the voters haven't been real engaged on this issue. so, we'll see. >> okay. to you, paul. who needs a breakout performance tonight? >> i think a couple people. first of all, herman cain. foreign policy has not really been his wheelhouse. maybe he's been studying up and will have a breakout performance. rick perry, the texas governor, was the front-runner in august but stumbled because of poor performances in debates. no doubt about that. we've seen it several times. some of the lower tier candidates, rick santorum and jon huntsman. a lot of foreign policy and national security experience. this may be a format for them to shine. who's in the bull's eye? gingrich and romney. they're the front-runners. when you're at the top, could you have more scrutiny. we could see that play out tonight. >> chris lawrence, you're an expert in foreign policy and national security. what's the one thing we should be watching for tonight? >> reporter: well, i think you know, some of the candidates obviously, you've got -- have different expectations. herman cain has to show he sort of has the chops to be commander in chief. that he has a firm understanding of foreign policy. look, even hope to the economy is far and away the number one issue for most americans heading into this next election, there's still a baseline that people expect from a commander in chief. a certain knowledge of foreign affa affairs. the ability to command troops. to make decisions on an international level. so i think some of the candidates will be trying to meet that baseline. others who have already surpa surpassed it, such as mitt romney, will have to explain some of the more definite positions they've taken on issues, like libya and iran. >> joe johns, paul steinhauser and chris lawrence, thanks so much for being with us. we'll catch you in the next hour of "american morning." thanks. coming up at 8:05 eastern time republican presidential candidate congresswoman michele bachmann will join us live. >> don't forget. tonight is the night. cnn hosts the national security debate starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern. wolf blitzer hosts. that's live at 8:00 eastern right here on cnn. still to come, chaos in cairo. violence erupting again in tahrir square as the entire interim government in egypt resigns. and actor hugh grant fighting back against the british press calling tabloid reporters cowards. the latest on the hearings into the uk hacking scandal when "american morning" continues. it's 12 minutes past the hour. you saved us hundreds. what was that? 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[♪...] >> announcer: now get a $250 airfare credit, plus save up to 65%. call 1-800-sandals. certain restrictions apply. welcome back to "american morning." breaking news happening right now. deadly fighters between protesters and the military government raging for a fourth day in egypt. 24 people killed. more than 1,700 injured. hours ago, egypt's cabinet resigned, just days ahead of a parliamentary election. our ivan watson is watching all the developments live in cairo this morning. ivan, demonstrators are staging a million-man sit-in today. set the scene for us. >> reporter: well, i don't think we're quite at a million people yet, but definitely the numbers have swelled, if you want to see, alina. joe will pan out across the crowd. thousands of people slept in the square overnight, they're establishing camps, first-aid stations as well. we're going to zoom in and show you the direction where the clashes have been going on now for three straight days and nights, in the direction of the interior ministry, where riot police are firing pretty much every minute canisters of tear gas, despite that and despite the effects it's had, where you have people being rushed out, overwhelmed by the tear gas, by ambulances, the angry egyptian young men and women, facing off against police, are not backing down. they are continuing to stand their ground. they are not going to give us this territory. in addition to the 24 people killed here in egypt, according to the ministry of health, i expect that number to rise due to the number of ambulances we saw streaming out of here through the night. at least one person killed in alexandria in similar clashes and at least 60 people killed there. alina -- carol. sorry. >> reporter: that's all right. we heard a reportedly american was among those detained in egypt. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: well, alina, the images of these three prisoners were shown on state tv last night. they were shown their i.d. cards. it looked like they were students at the university of cairo. we haven't confirmed that yet. one appeared to have a driver's license from indiana. now, the prosecutors office here is accusing these three americans of hooliganism, saying they were caught throwing molotov cocktail. now, the u.s. embassy here says it's looking into this report. it hasn't been able to confirm the detention of these three apparent americans, but they say one american female student was detained yesterday, and later released. there's a large number, a large expatriate population in cairo and egypt. this is a major tourist destination as well as a place of study for a lot of students. so it's not surprising to hear that foreigners and americans are getting caught up in this. the bigger picture, elections are just six days away. can you still hold parliament rip elections with this kind of violence going on in the egyptian capital ? alina? >> ivan watson live in cairo. thank you so much. also an armed standoff at an air force base in colorado ended peaceful peacefully. an aamerican with a gun surrendered after 12 hours after barricading himself in a building at the base. no shots fired. no one injured. the airman was facing a discharge over legal action in a civilian court. more than $1.2 billion in customer funds may be missing from the bankrupt brokerage firm mf global that nearly is double the original estimate. the fbi is now investigating by a firm headed up by the new jersey governor, jon courrzine, and interstate 30 in little rock, arkansas was closed. a stretch of roadway almost every trucker in the country knows well. more rain is on the way this morning. jacqui jeras, more rain? >> mostly south of i-40. that's the good news. this whole system is moving now, and pushing off to the east, but we still have a lot of areas impacted by it. really from the central plains states through the ohio valley then stretching on down into parts of texas, and some really intense thunderstorms crossing along i-20 in northern parts of louisiana. the rainfall has been incredible. every city you see listed here in arkansas, this is a daily record rain report. so little rock itself, more than six inches, and this is a record now also for the month of november. so flood watches and some warnings remain in effect. this is going to be the area we're concerned of. you see the i-30 corridor as well as along i-55 and paducah, kentucky. a good one to two inches on top of what you have in those area. on top of that, getting really warm air pulling up ahead of our system. so thunderstorms could be severe later today. places like new orleans, over towards birmingham, up towards cincinnati. cold air on the back side of this system. so highs only in the 30s today for you in minneapolis, but we're pushing 80 in places like atlanta. not great for a lot of travelers out there today, guys. >> already, jacqui jeras, thank you very much. the so-called super committee blew it. soon you could pay for it. coming up, how washington's failure could affect your paycheck with a matter of weeks. >> ouch. planning online shopping at work or maybe even black friday, beware of the boss. a crackdown on online shopping? 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"minding your business" this morning. u.s. markets closed sharply lower yesterday, and stock futures are already up today following european markets higher. but volatility is very high right now because of concerns about europe's debt problems about also the u.s. super committee's failure to cut a deal. stocks sank on that news, but at the same time investors breathed a big sigh of relief when both s&p and moody's ratings agency reaffirmed america's credit rating. the third agency called fitch this morning announcing it could knock down the u.s. rating but won't have a decision until the end of the month. up next for congress and your money, whether or not to extend the payroll tax holiday or let it expire at the end of the year. it's worth about $934 to the after worker. critics argue it could hurt the growth rate of the u.s. economy. delta is cutting back on international travel. much of the cuts come from transatlantic flights. the changes to the routes are necessary because of high fuel costs and economic uncertainty. delta plans to trim its flight capacity by 2% next year. bad news for bargain hunters this holiday. companies are apparently cracking down on online shopping at work. a new survey finds that 60% of companies interviewed have blocked shopping sites. and a warning for those who do have access -- nearly a quarter of companies track your every online move. and some good news on the jobs front. big three automaker general motors is restarting its plant in spring hill, tennessee, bringing back about 700 jobs. the company plans to bring the assembly plant back online to boost up extra production needs. 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