shooter. he's still at large in the park. we have other agencies assisting us with trying to apprehend him and meanwhile, we've been evacuating visitors from the lower parts of the park and we've got about 85 people who are staying put in our main park visitors center until we think it's safe for them to leave. >> but you already had a lot of people in the park, right, when this happened? >> yeah, it was a busy day. it was a sunny day with, you know, nice weather and the holiday weekend, of course, so people had come up to play in the snow and go snowshoeing and cross country skiing and so, yeah, there were quite a few people in the park when this happened. >> tell us what happened. we understand one of the park rangers tried to pull this man over. take us through that >> that's right. we had ranger dan komecha who tried 0 pull this person over. he refused to stop so ranger anderson set up a blockade with her patrol vehicle to intercept him and when he reached that point he jumped out of his vehicle and fatally shot her and then apparently fled into the woods on foot abandoning his vehicle. >> do you have any more information about him or did you get any frfgs from his car? >> we were able to identify the registered driver of the vehicle, but we don't know if the gunman is the person who is the registered owner of the car. since nobody has else was on scene when it took place we don't have any specific information about the gunman. >> it is such a loss for all of you and we understand that the victim was married to a park ranger, as well. how long did she work there? >> margaret anderson worked at mt. rainier for four year, really committed to park visitors and was an excellent ranger. her husband also works in the park as a law enforcement ranger and they have two small children, so it's a terrible loss. it's a great tragedy for the park service and all of us are grieving that loss greatly. >> absolutely and still a dangerous situation with the shooter on the loose. thank you so much for your time. we know you're so busy. park spokeswoman lee taylor. we'll keep our viewers apprised of developments. the new year begins in flames and smoke as an arson spree in southern california intensifies. seven more suspected arsons overnight bringing the total to 39 that have scorched neighborhoods in the hollywood area since friday. los angeles investigators say cars are being torched with the flames spreading to houses. one of those homes once belonged to jim morrison, lead singer for the doors. >> every lead, every possible rumor, you know, perception, whatever it is, our investigators are active. they're taking this as we've talked about real personal and they're going to commit themselves and they're not going to just discard any kind of rumor whatsoever. >> so far only one injury to a firefighter, minor one, but the mayor of west hollywood, west hollywood being the site of seven of the fires says his city is densely populated and burning a car next to a house is like setting off an explosive. >> many of these buildings with open carports are rent controlled apartments. they're very dense. they're in parts of west hollywood and los angeles where we have 20,000 people living per square mile. each of these buildings contains hundreds of resident, many of them frail seniors. many of them families with children that can't move as quickly as young people and so it's a new form of urban terrorism that we are seeing in our community. >> a $60,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest. well, less than 48 hours until the very first votes are cast in the 2012 presidential race, the iowa caucuses are tuesday and many of the republican hopefuls are spending the holiday making their last sales pitch to voters. here's how the vote looks. take a look at those top three, mitt romney at 24%, ron paul at 22%. rick santorum now up to 15%. very close heading into the final stretch. i want to bring in dane that bash standing by live for us in des moines, iowa, also want to welcome rick green, editor of "the de men register." the surprisie ining thing is the of rick santorum, isn't it? >> oh, absolutely. he was in -- he was kind of an asterisk for months and months and months even though he has been working i think you can argue the hardest here in iowa, he's been to all 99 counties, he is effectively moved into this state and look, it's paying off. he's kind of surging at the right time. the issue has been prior to this that social conservatives had really been split among other candidates, rick perry, michele bachmann and looks as though they're settling on santorum. the fact of the matter is just even the past two days he seems to have surged tremendously and he's kind of a steady as she goes social conservative and fiscal conservative saying all the right things, question is whether or not it's going to pay off when it comes to the key question that iowa voters do have, these republican voters, which seems to be electability. >> so which brings us to ron paul, still second in the register's poll. is his support starting to wane? >> it looks that way. it looks as if his support definitely is starting to wane. look, he has been a steady presence in the lead, at least statistically tied for the lead for awhile here in iowa. he also has a tremendous following. he only got about 10% four years ago, of course ran for president then but kind of never left and certainly his operation never left here so he has a really good organization here, a really good ground game but it looks like the fact that he's gotten more scrutiny as he has become a higher profile candidate seems to have hurt him because his negatives are pretty high. still, the fact of the matter is, people here who, natalie, want to vote for someone who wants to reduce the size of government, reduce the debt, they still say ron paul is their man when it comes to those issues. >> one thing we heard about is the lack of love could we call it among republican voters for mitt romney. is that starting to change? >> reporter: you know what, it looks like it. i know you'll talk to rick from "the des moines register." this stunned me because exactly what you said. the lack of love for mitt romney. in this new poll which we've been talking about because the poll is so historically reliable when it comes to the caucus he really is viewed as somebody who has voters who are enthusiastic about him. i can tell you, natalie, i was here four years ago, basically moved in here four years ago reporting on the campaign following mitt romney around and following the eventually winner of the caucuses, mike huckabee, and definitely there was almost no enthusiasm for mitt romney. he had a lot of money here, had a good organization but money didn't buy him love and looks like this time he came in late to iowa and he is gaining a lot of enthusiasm. >> it's interesting to hear you say you moved in there about four years ago and here weaver a couple days before and it's anyone's game. >> i don't remember it being this windy before. >> the political winds are certainly blowing, aren't they, dana. okay, so to rick, you nokno kno iowans better thank anybody. who is turning their heads? >> clearly it is rick santorum. we had our final meeting yesterday morning over at "the register" and seen the numbers uptick particularly after wednesday. thursday night we thought he had a pretty good night. friday he came back in and essentially downed where he started the week, work taking a very, very close eye to see if he can maintain the momentum. the second question that's out there starts with the letter "e." electability. there are a lot of republican, very prominent ones, poring over our data taking a look close at the one who is most electable. obviously the social conservatives, evangelicals and powerful streak in that area but a lot of attention has been focused on the economy. who can create the job, who can turn things around from an economic standpoint and want to figure out who can knock off the president perceived as a vulnerable incumbent. mitt romney is standing at about 48%, the closest is former speaker newt gingrich at 13%. rick santorum, despite the surge and him doing well the past two days of our poll is only standing at 7% in terms of electability. i think a lot of republicans around the state, causegoers are taking a close look at that. at the end of the day that's going to be a big determining factor, i think. >> we are all watching, rick green, dana bash, we appreciate it and see you again soon. we have been talking a lot about who the voters of iowa will support. what about the money men, the people on wall street who have the clout and the cash to make a huge difference in this election? who are they supporting? for that we go to our susan candiotti standing by live for us. which candidates are getting the most money from wall street? >> reporter: well, perhaps at this stage it's not surprising but we'll fill you in. wall street is already digging deep to line the pockets of contenders for president. here's a look at the latest numbers for the gop. so far, mitt romney is way out in front. the center for responsive politics says the former massachusetts governor has received more than $3.8 million from wall street stockbrokers, brokerage companies and bond dealers through december 5th. romney's take is about five times more than the rest of his competitors combined. next is texas governor rick perry followed by utah governor jon huntsman, ron paul and michele bachmann with the rest trailing her. >> well, you want to make nice with everybody if you're a donor at this early stage in the race. i think typically when you talk about the financial sector you'll see donors giving more broadly to the sort of establishment friendly kind of republicans, your mitt romneys, jon huntsman, rick perry. all of those raised money on wall street. >> these are not necessarily the companies themselves, they also include others that include people who work for political action committees that are associated with the wall street firms or individuals who work for these companies. now, at the top, goldman sachs, $2 million. the securities firm had to pay record fines to settle a fraud case involving subprime mortgage, you might recall. goldman sachs is also romney's top wall street donor. coming in next is bain capital, a firm whose specialties include corporate takeover, romney is a former director there and still has ties. but donors tied to bain capital give the majority of their money to democrats. paulson & company, a hedge fund ranks third. house and senate leaders are getting 75% of the wall street dollars compared to 25% for democrats. still, president obama is cashing in. collecting $1.8 million that trails romney but, of course, it's still early. keep in mind people donate to candidates for many reasons, sometimes they back their favorite, but other times they hedge their bets with a candidate they think will win so fasten your seat belts, natalie and open your wall streets. happy new year. >> yes, it's going to be a new year of donations for sure from iowa to wall street. susan candiotti for us, thanks so much for the numbers. we warned every new year's eve about the danger of getting burned by fireworks. revelers injured when they swallowed fireworks. we'll have that story in two minutes. you tell us what you want to pay, and we give you a range of coverages to choose from. who is she? 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[clucking] [clucking] [ding] [clucking] announcer: separate raw meats from other foods by using different cutting boards. 3,000 americans will die from food poisoning this year. keep your family safer. check your steps at foodsafety.gov. checking stories making headlines. new year's celebrations got out of hand in the philippines. fi firecrackers injured 450 people in manila. another 18 hit by stray bull lets and four became sick after apparently mistaking fireworks for candy and swallowing it. on the bright side the number of injuries is down from last year. argentine authorities are investigating the death of a state governor early today. a spokesman confirmed his death but refused to elaborate. a gun shot wound to the face killed soria. he became governor last month. he previously serve as the head of argentina's intelligence agency. argentine sports fans are mourning a motorcyclist who died after falling in the first stage of the dakar rally. 38-year-old jorge boero went into cardiac arrest after falling and died on the way to the hospital. his father was a well-known race car driver who died in 2004. boero died riding along the atlantic coast about 300 miles south of buenos aires. 2012 is off to an ugly start in syria. government activists say ten were killed. the arrive of arab league monitors has done nothing to end the violence and now critics within the arab league say the monitors should leave. mohamed jamjoom is keeping a close eye. >> reporter: the flash point city, there are reports that people gathered there new year's eve into the new year for an anti-government demonstration chanting slogans saying they wished for a new year free of the bashar assad ra jeem and there were cakes that were baked on display wishing syria a new year without its president. also demonstrations in the province of idlib and reportedly on january 1st a huge funeral procession for a child who was reportedly killed. the arab parliament, an 88-member add advisory committee, called on the arab league to withdraw its mission to syria because violence continues even though those monitors are on the ground. the arab league issued a press release in which they said it was only the arab council who could stop that mission who could withdraw those observers and that the observers on the ground remain committed to their mission. mohamed jamjoom. a ban on oil could send the global price rocketing to $200 a barrel. the latest threat comes as the iranian military test haifa fired medium-range missiles today near the strait of hormuz. it is a vital waterway for oil tankers sending supplies abroad. the anti-radar missiles were tested as part of military drills. and iran didn't stop there. a news agency also reporting the country has succeeded in building and testing its first nuclear fuel rod. the rod is said to contain natural uranium. it's been placed in the core of a tehran research reactor. iran still insists its nuclear program is peaceful. western powers doubt that and some have accused them of working toward a nuclear weapon. he was once considered an also rand candidate. now rick santorum near the top of the polls. we're asking our political analysts is it because he's gaining traction or because the leaders are losing it? administering her medication, and just making her comfortable. one night britta told me about a tradition in denmark, "when a person dies," she said, "someone must open the window so the soul can depart." i smiled and squeezed her hand. "not tonight, britta. not tonight." [ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, thank you, from johnson & johnson. back to iowa. one of the businessest surprises in these final days before the caucuses is the rise of rick santorum. for months he struggled to gain traction but take a look at where he is in the latest "des moines register" poll in third place with 15% behind front-runners mitt romney and ron paul. quite a reversal in recent days. i want to bring in lz granderson, a contributor and senior writer of espn and cnn contributor will cain. happy new year, gentlemen. >> happy new year. >> all right, so let's get right to it. will, is santorum's rise an indication of growing popularity or a result of so many of his rivals falling flat early in the campaign. >> both. definitely both. santorum's rise has correlated with newt gingrich's fall so we can see some of that support is going over to santorum but let's not take away what santorum has accomplished. he put in a lot of horde work and visited every county in iowa. his campaign seems tailor made for iowa. social value, family value, social conservatism plays well to iowa so you expect that rick santorum could do well in iowa and now it looks like he is doing well. >> i want to play this from "meet the press." david gregory pressed santorum about his endorsement of mitt romney back in the 2008 campaign. >> so i -- >> romney will stand up -- you didn't say compared to. >> of course i'm not going to say compared to. i'm trying to advocate for his candidacy -- >> you didn't mean it then -- >> i was saying it relative to john mccain. it's not like i was an early supporter of romney. i endorsed him seven days before he dropped out of the race. >> does he have conservative values? >> of course, everybody on that stage that is in these debates has conservative values vis-a-vis president obama. >> lz, do you buy his explanation that he endorsed romney purely for political reasons? >> absolutely not. you know, rick santorum, i have been trying really hard not to call him a knob but i don't know what else i can do besides say that because the guy continues to put himself in these positions where he looks like a weak leader. he looks as if he's always flip-flopping even with his own principles. he criticized romney where he had similar views about abortion as romney did then he flip-flopped his own views with regard to abortion when it got time for him to start to run for president so i don't understand the guy. i can find very little with him talking about the economy, very little talking about jobs. it's always about abortion. and he thinks about gay people more than i do and i'm gay so i don't get the guy. >> let's turn to ron paul, we'll leave it there for santorum. let's turn it to ron paul who is second in that "des moines register" poll. always a question whether he is too outside of the mainstream to be electable in a general election. here's what he said this morning on cnn's "state of the union." >> i'm pretty electable. i was elected 12 times once people got to know me in my own congressional district so i think that's more propaganda than anything else so we'll wait and see and we'll know a lot pore about how the election goes tomorrow. >> will, is ron paul letting the iowa poll numbers get to his head? >> no, i mean that's perfectly rational reason he just gave. look, here's my issue with ron paul. is he electable. there was a book called the your-hour workweek." perato's position, you can break it down 80-20. 80% of your problems come from another 20% of your clientele. 80% of what he says is great, small government, constitutionalism but 20% is a total deal killer. the interesting thing, that 20% is different for everybody. for some it's that he would legalize drugs. for others it would he would pull troops out of iraq, germany and south korea and others he would kill the federal reserve. it's different for everybody but it's always a deal killer. that is why he's not electable. >> to the man all of these republicans want to beat, president obama. yesterday he signed a defense spending bill that allows the military to indefinitely detain terror suspects including american citizens in the u.s. but gave a statement along with it saying "i want to clarify that my administration will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of american citizens." that from the president. lz, he said he signed this with serious reservations and he's essentially vowing not to follow parts of it. why did he sign it at all? >> you know what, there are moments in this man's presidency that i really regr