second at 18%. another poll out of iowa shows it much closer. let's go to south carolina, as well. south carolina, of course, the first southern state to vote, it goes number three in the calendar and votes on the 23rd of january. this is also, again, showing newt gingrich on top. far ahead of mitt romney. romney at 23%. gingrich 18 points ahead and rick perry at 9%. kyra, i guess newt gingrich to take his national poll numbers and translate it into an operation and make sure he gets the teams in place in theearly states to get the voters to the caulks and primary sites, kyra. >> nancy pelosi is saying that she has information on gingrich and newt is sending her a warning. what the heck is going on here? >> yeah, this started yesterday and, remember, this goes back to the late 1990s when gingrich was house speaker and he was facing 84 ethics investigations and pelosi said she maybe will unearth some of the stuff that was never made public. here's what she said. i know a lot about him. i served on the investigative committee that investigated him. four of us locked in a room in an aundisclosed location for a year. a thousand pages of his stuff. that's what nancy pelosi said. here's what newt gingrich said to our jim acosta yesterday in new york after the story broke. >> i want to thank speaker pelosi for what i regard as an early christmas gift. >> are you concerned about that information reemerging? >> we turned over a million pages of material. we had a huge report. the total, 83 charges were repudiated as false. the one mistake we made was a letter written by a lawyer that i didn't read carefully. >> in all, it was just a couple years ago that pelosi and gingrich made that commercial together for global warming. the times have changed between the two. the story far from over, kyra. >> interesting to see what this 1,000 pages of stuff, paul, that you describe. we'll track it. for all the latest political news, go to our website to cnnpolitics.com 24/7. time is running out to extend the payroll tax cut. no deal by the end of the year, you could pay higher taxes next year. senate democrats are floating a new proposal and our congressional correspondent kate bolduan has all the details. what is in the plan exactly, kate, and what are the chances it will succeed? >> yes, the very important question of what are the chances it will succeed, kyra. democrats are calling this a compromise offer but republicans probably not a surprise do not see it that way. we'll get to that in a second. first, what's in this new proposal from senate democrats. like the original offer to extend the payroll tax cut the democrats put on the table last week, but failed in the senate last week. this new plan would extend and expand the employee payroll tax taking the tax from a 4.2% tax cut down to 3.1% tax cut. also, a major difference that democrats say in this new proposal is that democrats are scaling back the so-called millionaire surtax. a surtax on income over a million dollars. now, they're changing the tax to be just under 2% tax down from just over a 3% tax. they are also making the millionaire surtax temporary, which they say they've done as a concession to republicans because republicans were opposed to this. they say, in part, because they do not support imposing a permanent tax to pay for a temporary economic stimulus policy. that's not the only reason, of course, that republicans oppose this millionaire surtax. another major difference just to point out is that this new plan does not provide a tax cut to employers and democrats have done that in order to bring down the overall cost of the package and to try to win over more republican support. we could see a test vote on this latest measure, kyra, as early as friday, but it's not likely to move very far as republicans do not support it. just listen here to, i'll read you a statement from orrin hatch, republican from utah. he said in response to this latest package, it's hard for the majority to call this a compromise when the other side hasn't been involved. he called it a political show vote and said it is going no where and a lot of this has to do with the millionaire surtax. kyra? >> kate bolduan on the hill for us, kate, thanks. so, there's a grim warning for eurozone countries today. standard & poor's says it may downgrade the credit ratings of the 15 of the 17 eurozone nations. european leaders are scheduled to meet on friday. now, german chancellor angela merkel and french president nicolas sarkozy want amendments to european treaties to deal with the fls crisis. our zain verjee is in london and she has a look at what european newspapers are saying about all this. good morning, zain. >> good morning to you, kyra. great to see you. let's go straight to the papers and see what the headlines are. "the scotsman" says this. implementing treaty changes could take months but a commitment to tighter coordination could open the way for further emergency aid from the european central bank or the international monetary fund or some combination of the two. "the wall street journal" says what's berlin and paris wroth. get a good look at whether the continents two largest economies truly found common ground or merely diluted their principals into meaninglessness. finally, the scenario affa multi-speed europe says, too, sarkozy could not allow his partners from the euro zone of choice on what to do about the single currency. he wants to set them on a force march to save the common currency. the bottom line is by friday, kyra, they need to get it done. there's a danger they'll have to kiss the euro good-bye. and, obviously, they don't want that to happen. the u.s. can't have that happen, either. a big push to make sure they delivered. kyra, i've missed you. >> i missed you, too. i'm glad you're back. let's have a good week, zain, thanks so much. move on to afghanistan now and two explosions in two different cities to tell you about. they hit on the shiite holy day of ashura. >> 58 people were killed and dozens more injured. nick paton walsh is live in kabul. nick, we just saw the video there of the explosion and you are actually there. tell us exactly what happened. >> well, we arrived after the blast and the image you're seeing was shot by a photographer who was there as it actually happened. i can tell you from his experience there, we are talking about a tensely packed crowd there and shia worshippers moving to this location to a shrine there to celebrate, to pass the morning of this day, ashura. looking to cause as many casualties as possible. one describing what he saw eyewitness to the attack found out a fan-like direction around the explosion and so tightly packed together were they, people fleeing across the nearby river and very dirty river, indeed, just to escape the scenes of carnage, actually. absolute terror in the center of kabul and another element to today's horrific scenes. people not quite sure why shia muslims were targeted on this vitally important day. i know the phrase is something that we're very familiar with from iraq but it has not been an element thus far, really, in the decade of war here in afghanistan. people can see themselves as passionate in the south, but not really. the sectarian violence between muslims and deep concerns here today when the taliban come out and deny anything to do with this attack and, in fact, condemn it. question as to who was really behind it. are we embarking on some new element and really can the afghan people take any more. >> appreciate it, nick. we'll continue to follow what's happening there. he was convicted of trying to sell the president's old senate seat, now, rod blagojevich is back in court for sentencing. we'll talk to the reporter of "chicago sun-times" who has been following the story from the very beginning. queen elizabeth's picture is on the money, but that doesn't mean she has an unlimited supply herself. cost cutting at bucking hm palace, just ahead. brad, where we going? just a second. just, just one second. ♪ what are you looking at? don't look up there. why are you looking up? ♪ get outta the car. get outta the car. ♪ are you ok? the... get in the car. get in the car! [ male announcer ] the epa estimated 42 mpg highway chevy cruze eco. from spending time together, to spending your lives together, chevy runs deep. is best absorbed in small continuous amounts. only one calcium supplement does that in one daily dose. citracal slow release... continuously releases calcium plus d for the efficient absorption my body needs. citracal. here's a quick look at news from across the country. bp has filed a lawsuit against its drilling partner, halliburton. now, bp claims halliburton destroyed evidence of problems with cement in the wall. the explosion killed 11 people and set off that massive oil leak. take a look at what people in new mexico are dealing with. icy, snowy storm hit the state yesterday. been so bad that some parts of interstate 10 and 25 are closed. there is a winter storm warning in effect until late this afternoon. some places could get more than a foot of snow. if you have a christmas tree, better check it for snakes. the family in idaho found one slithering around the branches and called the fire department to get it out. former illinois governor rod blagojevich will find out his fate. his sentencing hearing today begins in federal court. one of the crimes he was convicted of, trying to sell or trade the senate seat vacated by president obama. joining us now nutoshy korecki at "chicago sun-times." how much do people really want to hear him apologize and do you think he actually will? >> you know, i think the people of illinois have been living with this saga since 2008. the investigation years before that. i think the people of illinois really want to hear an apology from him and lots of experts are saying, that's what he needs to do. he needs to step up to the plate today and actually one of his chief lawyers told "sun-times" today that he will step up to the plate and going to make a statement in court, as you may expect, and he will step up to the plate and say something. so, we'll see how that apology goes, but he definitely needs to do that, if he wants to get any leniency from the judge today. >> but we've all seen his live interviews since all of this has gone down. and i think it's pretty fair to say he's got quite the ego. but do you think he's freaking out a little bit about how much time he could spend in the pen since tony rezgo got 10 1/2. >> i think that probably shook his world. if he had any idea that he would get off light, one of his fund-raisers got 10 1/2 years. that's an incredible sentence for public corruption and he's not a public, he's not a public official as blagojevich is and he is not considering the head of the conspiracy as blagojevich was. a lot of experts are seeing that as a starting point. he doesn't have to see it that way, but a lot of people are saying that would only be fair. >> what's your gut on sentencing and how do you think this is going to play out? >> you know, i think it's going to come down to a lot of factors. this is a very methodical judge. i don't think he is going to be driven by emotion and trying to just send a message. i think he's going to go through a law and in federal court it's a complicated system. we have to make a lot of, a lot of decisions and he's going to go through each factor. i wouldn't be surprised if we were overten. >> all right, natasha, you know better than anyone else. you have been following this from the very start. natasha korecki, thanks for calling in. i appreciate it. >> thank you. >> you bet. the holiday shopping season started out strong with record black friday and cybermonday sales, but it could be fizzling out. a new study says that many americans are pretty much finish would the spending. we'll go to the new york stock exchange for a few more details and it seems like everyone is trying to make do with less these days. even britain's queen elizabeth. we'll tell you how she's actually tightening her royal belt. so 12 seconds ago. we should get him a present. thanks for the gift basket. you're welcome. you're welcome. did you see hr just sent out new... ...office rules? cause you're currently in violation of 6 of them. oh yeah, baby? ...and 7. did you guys hear that fred is leaving? so 30 seconds ago. 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[ male announcer ] more people are leaving bmw, mercedes, and lexus for audi than ever before. take advantage of exceptional values during the season of audi event. are you prepared for your retirement years -rge. take advantage of exceptional values 25 or more of them? do you have a financial plan for you family that works, in good times and in bad times? having the right perspective can help you answer the big questions. for more than 140 years, pacific life has helped find answers for those navigating the path to financial security. ask a financial professional about pacific life - the power to help you succeed. livic like a queen or a king is not what it used to be folks. hard times caught up with britain's queen elizabeth. irresistible stuff for conan o'brien. >> queen elizabeth is taking a pay cut. that's a true story, yeah. she's also looking for a roommate on craigslist. snow f no fatties. >> not quite that bad, but the queen is facing a salary freeze. let's get straight to zain verjee in london. zain, what is this? down and out at buckingham palace? >> kyra, you could be the queen's roommate. things are pretty tough over there. >> oh, good, you're saying i'm not fat. >> i could see you there and a little room there. >> i might get on her nerves, zain. let's just lay it out. >> well, here's the deal, right? she needs to share the pain and what is decided, she will take a pay freeze over the next couple of years or at least until 2015 is what a lot of people are saying. that means her pay is now oonly $50 million. there has been a reduction of what she has paid. prepare a lot of the things that need repairing at the very old palaces and she can't have as many lavish parties or state affairs that she's been used to. but the money that she does have, the 15 million, she will be able to run the palaces and travel the world and just be the queen. she's got to make some of these sacrifices and one of the things they're thinking about doing is rent out rooms at st. james' palace or other places as the olympics come up, but people need a place to stay. but you have to be on this list, kyra. >> i could just imagine. >> well, you definitely don't have to be vetted, you know, the royals like you. the rest of us, but the queen actually gets 15% from what's called the profits of the crown state. so, that's something like $10 billion from region street, half the uk coastline, as well as great windsor park, so, the money's coming. i wouldn't worry too much. >> prince charles will be affected by these cuts, as well. >> yeah, poor guy. he is going to be affected, too. but the one thing it's going to impact is will and kate. they're emerging as big superstars around the world and prince charles has been told that he has got to use his money to pay for their expenses and underwrite everything that will and kate need or the duke and duchess of cambridge. that's one of the ways it is going to hit him, kyra. >> all right, it shall continue. the economy is impacting everybody. even the royals. zain verjee, thanks for the scoop. eurozone lingers are holding au flurry of crisis. talking downgrade and recession. alison kosik at new york stock exchange. let's talk about how it's affecting u.s. stocks today. >> you know what, kyra, surprise, surprise. not seeing the reaction that you would think, we're looking for stocks to open slightly higher in eight minutes when the opening bell rings. those gains will be limited today after standard & poor's warned after the closing bell yesterday, it may downgrade the ratings on 15 euro zone countries including germany and france. those are the richest countries in the eurozone. but the reaction pretty subdued at this point. analysts say it shows investors were not too surprised about this move. wall street holding out hope that the debt crisis sort of has this light at the end of the tunnel because what's happening now is euro zone leaders are holding these make or break meetings this week and the summit of euro leaders at the end of the week is really the last chance to stop the crisis from spiraling out of control. you're seeing a little bit of optimism today that things be stemmed a little bit, kyra. >> tell me if this is a good thing or bad thing. it's only december 6th but a lot of people already finished with their holiday spending. we wanted people to spend, spend, spend all the way until the end, right? >> exactly. but if you're the one out there going through all the crowds and spending all that money, you're sort of relieved at this point. if you look at the economy, kind of bad timing because of what you said. economic growth in this country is still very sluggish. it needs people to get out there and continue spending, spending, spending. but guess what reuters says 32% of americans, they've already finished most of their shopping in november. analysts say retailers may have to wind up offering more sales to lure people back in. because people surveyed are worried about europe and political gridlock in washington. the rising cost of living and unemployment. so, you have lots of people out there looking for discounts or focusing their shopping on discount stores. also they took advantage of black friday. many people went out there and spent everything they had on that black friday frenzy and they're saying, that's it, i'm done. that doesn't help the economy, as well. kyra? >> alison, thanks, opening bell in six minutes. we'll talk more about europe's possible credit downgrade. ali velshi and christine romans joining us live in studio. of course, we're not the new book, of course not. >> not this book. >> no, not that book. no. >> plus, life after death for larry king, maybe. our former colleague says he wants to be frozen when he dies. find out why in today's "showbiz headlines." to find you a great deal, even if it's not with us. [ ding ] oh, that's helpful! well, our company does that, too. actually, we invented that. it's like a sauna in here. helping you save, even if it's not with us -- now, that's progressive! call or click today. no mas pantalones! [ male announcer ] don't miss red lobster's surf & turf. 3 grilled combinations all under $20. like our maine lobster with peppercorn sirloin, or our new bacon-wrapped shrimp with blue cheese sirloin for $14.99. i'm john mazany and i sea food differently. checking top stories now. nearly 60 people are dead after two suicide bombings in afghanistan. one at a shiite shrine in kabul. condemn the attacks coming on the shiite holy day of ashura. president obama travels to kansas for a speech on the economy this afternoon. he plans to talk about this make or break time for the middle class and the need for equal opportunity for all. "occupy movement" members are taking it to capitol hill. they plan to occupy congressional offices for the entire day. all right, u.s. markets open this hour with new uncertainty. standard & poor's worries it may downgrade eurozone nations. now two of our top financial experts here with in atlanta. ali velshi, christine romans. so great to have you guys here. >> you actually have a book signing, is that the deal? we'll talk about the book in just a minute. let's talk about the u.s. mark