mitt romney on the defense. we are just three weeks away from the first presidential contest of the 2012 campaign, and the attacks are in full force. >> let's be candid. the only reason you didn't become a career politician is you lost to teddy kennedy in 1994. >> wait a second. now wait a second. that's -- wait a second. >> paul steinhauser is joining us from des moines. gingrich survived. how did he do it? >> exactly, kyra. listen, newt gingrich, the reason he jumped in the polls and surged the last couple of months is because he has been doing very well in these debates. we saw it again saturday night. as everybody suspected, newt gingrich now that he is a front-runner here in the first state to hold a contest in the caucus of primary calendars, we knew he would come under attack. he did. from mitt romney and from the others. but he seemed to have the measured response each time. now, this squabble that you just played over the debate saturday night has been continuing between gingrich and romney since then. they also argued saturday night over gingrich's controversial comments on the palestinian people being an invented people. this morning, mitt romney on the campaign trail in new hampshire talked about gingrich's erratic 3w5i6r. behavior. and said he is campaigning more like a candidate and less like a president. this tough talk between the two candidates, more from romney directed towards gingrich, i think will continue for some time. another debate thursday night right back here in iowa. >> and also let's not forget the backfire for mitt romney. let's take a listen. >> rick, i'll tell you what. $10,000? $10,000 bet? >> i'm not in the betting business. >> oh, ok. >> yeah. and, paul, as you know, many have said, hey, wait a minute, he's mormon. he shouldn't be betting. do you think voters are going to remember this moment? >> a lot of people are talking about that moment. listen, romney and perry have been battling over this. and it was perry's claim that romney in the latest edition of his book talked about support for the health care individual mandate. so that's why romney said, listen, i'll bet you. and perry said no. a lot of people after that moment happened said, this is maybe not a great thing for mitt romney, a multimillionaire, trying to relate to average people struggling in tough economic times. this morning, in an interview, romney said, you know what? i made that outrageous bet because what perry is saying is outrageous as well. so this back and forth between those two candidates will continue. perry had a pretty good debate, kyra. he needs it right now. he needs something to generate some excitement and buzz and raise those polls here in iowa. kyra, tomorrow, three weeks until the iowa caucuses. >> paul, thanks so much. we'll have another political update in about an hour. for the latest political news, you can go to our website. so what does president obama think about newt gingrich and his rise in the polls? well, here's what he told steve croft on "60 minutes" last night. >> what do you make of this surge by former speaker gingrich? >> he is somebody who's been around a long time. and is good on tv. is good in debates. and, you know, but mitt romney has shown himself to be somebody who's good at politics as well. he's had a lot of practice at it. you know, i think that they will be going at it for a while. when the republican party has decided who its nominee is going to be, then we'll have plenty of time to worry about it. >> and on capitol hill optimism is pretty high, even as time is short. this is the white house's countdown clock showing when the payroll tax cut will expire if lawmakers can't hammer out a deal. democrats and republicans cannot agree on how to pay for the cut, which saves the average american worker about $1,000 a year. >> i believe that we should extend the payroll tax holiday another year. avoid a tax increase on working people for another year. also i agreed with senator reid, my counterpart, we ought to not do it again next year. we know that's an emergency package, coupled with an extension of unemployment with some reforms. but at the same time, chris, we'd like to create some jobs. >> all right. kate baldwin it sounds like there's some agreement that exists here. so could this actually pass by the end of the year? >> i'll tell you, kyra, there has been a general thought on capitol hill throughout this latest battle that eventually democrats and republicans would come together to reach agreement to extend the payroll tax cut before the tax cut ran out. but i should also say how to get there, to get to that point of agreement, has become increasingly more and more difficult to see over the past few weeks. democrats, they want to extend the payroll tax cut and cut it even further for employees. republicans, i should specify republican leaders at least, want to extend the current payroll tax cut. and in the house republicans proposal that was formally unveiled friday, they also want to lengthen any extension with a provision to speed up the approval of the keystone pipeline, which has become the latest political football on capitol hill. president obama has said he will reject that, saying it's unrelated and other democrats calling it a poison pill. but the house republican leaders included that in order to win over more support from conservatives in the house, who at least until last week had been quite lukewarm to the idea of extending the payroll tax cut at all. there are republicans who say they don't think it's good economic policy and they think it's draining money from social security. so all of this is coming together to kind of the bottom line to sum it up saying they are still fighting, they don't really see a path to compromise yet, although we are hearing from leaders on both sides that they do want to extend the payroll tax cut in some way, shape, or form. and it's not even getting to the big question of how are they going to pay for it, if at all, kyra. >> kate baldwin, thanks. so what exactly did mike mcqueary really see in that penn state locker room shower? it depends on who you ask. what was considered key evidence in jerry sandusky's sexual abuse case is now getting a second look. sara ganin is now joining me by phone. what did you find out? >> reporter: well, kyra what, we learned was that the night that mcqueary stumbled into that locker room and stumbled upon something between jerry sandusky and a young boy, he went to his father's house seeking advice. and there was a man there who apparently heard the very first account from mike mcqueary of what happened. and he says that he asked mcqueary several times, what did you see? and several times mcqueary said he didn't see anything sexual, but heard sexual noises and saw a young boy peer around the corner of the shower before a man's arm pulled him back and then jerry sandusky exited in a towel a few seconds later. it is different than the handwritten statement that mike mcqueary gave to police in 2010. and it seems to be different than his grand jury testimony. and both of those cases, he says that he saw jerry sandusky clearly sodomizing a boy. and he goes into detail in his explanation. so attorneys for the two penn state officials who are charged with perjury because the grand jury believed mike mcqueary over them are now saying that this is a huge break for their perjury case. >> and i guess how exactly is that going to impact the case, and also jerry sandusky comes face-to-face with his alleged victims tomorrow, sarah. tell us about that as well. >> well, you know, tomorrow, yes, it's a big day for the jerry sandusky case. and this is probably going to come up. but i think what we have to remember is that against jerry sandusky there are 10 cases, and this is just one of them. against the two penn state officials who have a hearing on friday, this is the sole evidence is mike mcqueary. he is their key witness. so we do expect tomorrow could be a very long day in court. jerry sandusky will face his accusers for the first time on the stand. but like you said, this is just one piece of what's going to happen tomorrow. on friday, this is going to be a much bigger deal. >> sara, thanks so much for calling in. well, he saw his chance for freedom and grabbed it. an american teen has been reunited with his mother after escaping from militants in the philippines. he was kidnapped five months ago, but tricked them and actually got away. zain has the details. how did he trick his captors? >> it's kind of like a movie. basically, he plotted his escape for a while and decided to run while the gods slept. so they all fell asleep at the same time. he saw a chance and just took off and ran. he survived for days on candies and coconuts. and then he was found just walking around an area close to the base of the rebels, the militants there in the philippines. listen to what a family friend had to say. >> it was the greatest day. i had just prayed and prayed, god, all i want for christmas is kevin to come home. >> to know that it's over for his family, number one, is just ecstatic. for our family. oh, my goodness. i can't put into words. it is truly a christmas miracle. >> christmas did come early. it was a miracle there. for kevin and his family. a lot of people captured by the rebels never make it out. kyra? >> just remind our viewers how this happened in the first place, and where does this situation go from here? >> well, this happened back in july. he was on vacation with his mother, and i believe another cousin of theirs, and then they were confronted by these rebels that kidnapped him and stuck him on a boat, and he wasn't seen again after that. so from here, he's going to be reunite td again back in the u.. i believe his family is from virginia. so they are going to have a fabulous christmas. and definitely he's been seen as a hero. and we'll get more details of his story and his time in captivity. but for now, his family is saying they are just happy to have him home. straight ahead, occupy wall street protesters planning shutdowns of several ports in the u.s. we'll tell you where next. and a big thumbs down for the company holiday party. we'll tell you what employees really say. checking stories across the country now, bizarre shooting ram payabpage in hollywood. in this video you can see tyler bream randomly shooting at passing cars at sunset and vine. three people were injured. he then turned his gun on police, and he was shot and killed. police say they have no motive. from san diego to alaska, at least 25 occupy wall street groups plan to block ports up and down the west coast today. their goal, shutting down global commerce. more bad news for penn state coach joe paterno. he fractured his pelvis after falling at home on saturday, and doctors say he won't need surgery but will remain in the hospital. paterno, who lost his job as the longtime nittany lions coach last month, is also battling lung cancer. new details on the sexual abuse scandal that's rocking one of the nation's largest sports groups for american kids. we know now the amateur athletic union kick started a criminal investigation of its former president and gave police the names of three accusers. two of them spoke on espn last night. george howell is in memphis. what did the men have to say, george? >> kyra, good morning. one of the men spoke anonymously to espn's "outside the lines," but ralph west spoke on camera, claiming he had been sexually abused by bobby dodd back in the 1980s when west was a teenager. at this point, we are looking into the timeline of events when this group got the information and what did they do with it. and we basically got some information from the spokesperson who tells us that the group got anonymous emails, several emails, only identified by the name shrimp breath. and that was on november 8 and 9. rather november 7 and 8. then on november 9, they got an anonymous phone call. they hired a private investigator then to look into the matter. but i also asked ron saks who has been hired to represent the group why it took so long to contact police. take a look at what he said. >> there was no specificity about any individual. no name, no phone number, no hard address, neither was there an offer in those emails or phone messages to be contacted. they did what they thought was responsible. in retrospect, anybody could arm chair quarterback and second guess it. perhaps if they knew more, they would have called the police sooner. they are very comfortable that they called the police when they believed they had adequate information to verify there was a need for a police investigation. >> reporter: and, again, it is important to note that the aau did contact police to let them know about these allegations again just days before that report aired on espn's "outside the lines." we have a few back and forth here with memphis police to determine exactly the thyme time they will talk about the investigation into the allegations. but we are hoping to speak to police and have more information on that, kyra. >> george, what do you think? were they influenced by what happened at penn state and syracuse? is that why they come forward with these molestation allegations? >> it's interesting. when you listen to the report, you get the sense that these men tried to basically forget about what happened back in the 1980s. but watching these things unfold at penn state and at syracuse university, clearly triggered a memory and that apparently is when they decided to start contacting the aau. again, the beginning of november. and the aau finally contacting police in december, kyra. >> george howell, we'll follow it. thanks. coming up, why company holiday parties might be bad for business. we're going to break down a new survey of employees. and here are some folks that are pretty hard to miss. coming up, we'll tell you why all these santas are on the run. 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. mike, thanks for doing that discount double check. you saved us hundreds. what was that? the discount double check? it's when we comb through your policies and make sure that you're getting all the discounts you deserve. no, i get that part, but you guys are doing my move. the discount double check move? that's my touchdown dance. so you're a dancer? no, i'm a quarterback. oh, a quarterback. mrr. i'm a robot. mm, mm. ee, er, ee, er. get out of here. 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[ male announcer ] get to a better state. state farm. all right. whoever said santa needed a sleigh? we have a new pair of adeedas, reeboks, i don't know. what does zain verjee run in? that's what she should have been doing in edinburgh, scotland. >> well, where were you? you would look pretty good in one of these outfits, kyra. when you look at these pictures of everyone running dressed up as santas, i have to say, it's all for a good klaus. here they were, raising money for charity. basically, for kids who have life threatening illnesses. and they want one wish to come true, so they were out there in scotland running around about three miles or so in two major cities, edenburg and glasgow. and they had a zumba artist come out and an instructor give them kind of a prerun workout fitness thing, but it was all for a really good cause. and a lot of kids are going to be really happy. but it's quite a sight. you have heard of the running of the bulls, but not the running of the santas, right? >> you just mentioned zumba. i don't think everybody knows exactly what that is. you have to explain that. >> combined with, did you do that and the run as well? [ laughter ] >> kyra, kyra, you know, i like exercise. zumba is a particular kind of a dance and a rhythm. i believe it's from latin america. i could be wrong here. but i'm completely uncoordinated. i have never taken a zumba class before. and frankly, as far as dressing up as a santa goes, the only furry hat that i'm wearing these days, kyra, is actually this one. so i think it's a better look though, yeah? >> i tell you what, it's living in london and that whole influence of the queen and all her hats. zain has taken it a whole new direction. thank you, zain. happy holidays. well, i don't know if she's going to be wearing a hat, but we are going to talk about the dow jumping almost 200 points on friday to wrap up the week. straight to the new york stock exchange and karina is with us this morning. >> morning, kyra. i wish i had a hat. you should have given me advanced warning. >> how about a hat trick? pull some good numbers out of your hat. >> i can't do that either. unfortunately we are looking for a drop of about 120 points on the dow. and as we have seen, the market driver remains europe with concerns about their debt problems. initially remember on friday the markets were happy with the proposals presented by eu leaders, and were happy some long-term solutions were being discussed. but the problem is, they didn't come up with a plan to tackle the short-term problems, ie the rising borrowing costs. and the agreement is expected to be finalized in march, and we know a lot can happen between now and then. on top of that, we have ratings agency moody's saying it still plans to revisit the ratings of all eu sovereign debt at the beginning of next year. no major headlines coming out of the u.s. to sway things. we are likely to see some red arrows at the open. kyra? >> a lot of employers think of the annual holiday party as sort of the ultimate reward to their employees. however, dot, dot, dot, fill in the blank, karina. >> well, i guess the story here is that, yeah, many people like to have that holiday party, enjoy a good time on the company dime. but the reality is, many employees would rather see that money being spent on other things. a new survey out rounds out the list of rewards workers would rather have instead of a holiday party. number one on the list, no huge surprise here, a cash bonus. we know money talks. that's followed by a salary raise. and paid time off that doesn't count against vacation. other highlights on the list include being able to work from home for a year and a gym membership. some workers do still want the holiday party, but they are saying give me an open bar too. kyra? >> why does that not surprise me? they always want the open bar. it was a rough year. karina, thanks. newt gingrich as the front-runner, and his opponents are on the attack. >> if you will cheat on your wife, if you will cheat on your spouse, then why wouldn't you cheat on your business partner? >> our political gurus will cain will weigh in next. 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