ron paul not too far behind. let's go "out front." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com and a good evening to you. i'm brooke bolduan sitting in for erin burnett. you know that clock, it is ticking away. candidates have four days left to pick up support for the nation's first contest in the race for the gop nomination. first up, mitt romney bringing out the big guns and the very popular chris christie stumping on his behalf and the new jersey governor had what we'll call a bit of a stern warning for the voters of iowa. take a look. >> i'm in a good mood this morning. i'm feeling happy and upbeat. let me tell you, you cannot disappoint me on tuesday. you don't do what you're supposed to do, i will be back jersey style, people. i will be back! >> back jersey style, he says. chris christie might get what he wants a new poll was released what the poll has indicated in the hawk eye state. romney on top, trailed closely by ron paul, rick santorum in third with 15% and newt gingrich, you see there in fifth place. the former speaker of the house, he had a bit of an emotional moment today shedding a couple of tiers and we'll tell you why that happened in just a moment, but first let's go right to cnn's political correspondent jim acosta who was there during the chris christy event. i suppose if mitt romney can hold on to his standing that he has in iowa, governor christie won't have to make good on that new jersey promise. >> reporter: that's right. that was some new jersey nasty to mix in with the iowa nice out here, brooke. mitt romney right now has the big mo going into the critical weekend into the iowa caucuses. the big question is whether or not he'll break a sweat on winning tuesday night and there are several reasons why. i mean, he is leading in these polls right now although statistically tied with ron paul, but there are a couple of dynamics going on. you saw newt gingrich and he has cratered in his polls. he's now fourth or fifth in many of the polls here in iowa. that is bad news for newt gingrich. rick perry, ooh sort of a battle of the ricks right now. rick per se going after rick santorum and they're going back to the old saying there are three tickets out of iowa and another revelation has come out from a former bachmann campaign manager ed rollins. he told me in an e-mail earlier today that michele bachmann has essentially held her fire on mitt romney throughout this entire campaign process in the hopes of being his vice presidential running mate. so you add all of this together and add that fact that ron paul will be going home instead of campaigning in iowa, add all of that up and it's pretty clear why mitt romney is doing well in the state and why he may win these caucuses tuesday night. >> the stakes are very high, but i want to get to romney's image because as you know his wife has been out there in iowa with him today while former mci mas governor went on to new hampshire. she has been doing, jim, a little bit more campaign lately. did that at all help soften his image? >> reporter: it does, you know, one of the big criticisms of mitt romney is that he's a little too robotic, and so they've gotten ann romney out there and she's gone out at many campaign events and told these stories about how mitt romney was by her side when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. that he is sort of this frugal family man who knows how to handle the family's budget and never mind the fact that the family is worth a quarter of a billion dollars. she's been out on the campaign trail and she's been one of his most potent weapons and the most interesting thing about how mitt romney may pull this out in iowa, he pulled out all of the stops in '08. he's had a very light footprint this time around and we went by his campaign headquarters today and it was an old blockbuster store in des moines and it was barely operational and he may win the iowa caucuses and go on to win the new hampshire primary. it could happen. >> jim acosta, thank you so much. i want to move on and talk about newt gingrich as we mentioned a moment ago. he cried today and it wasn't his fifth place standing in the latest poll. it was about his mom, the former speaker of the house was asked today about his mother and how she might have influenced his policies. watch this. >> and on brain science comes in directly from dealing -- from dealing with, you know, the real problems of real people in my family, and so it's not a -- it's, in fact, my mother. >> i want to bring in cnn political correspondent joe johns with this and joe johns. you have newt gingrich in this coffee shop and he's surrounded by a bunch of mothers and he starts coughing back tears. >> i was kind of stunned and i was in the room watching all of this go on and i covered newt gingrich on capitol hill in the '90s, and i was just stunned to see the tough-talking speaker of the house basically break down in tears talking about his dearly departed mother. this was something very atypical for this speaker. he's got problems here in iowa with women voters and with evangelicals so this may be that kind of thing that sort of softens his image with them, if you will. you were talking to jim about romney's image and the former speaker has an image of being a tough talker and someone who shoots from the hip and not everybody likes it when he uses some of his toughest words, brooke. >> if i may, speaking about emotional moments on the trail, we talked about hillary clinton and she got teary eyed in 2008. here's that moment. >> i have so many opportunities from this country. i just don't want to see us fall backwards. i don't. so -- >> is there any comparing that moment to the moment we saw today? very different. you have to say that first. that was new hampshire, this is iowa. she's a democratic woman and newt gingrich is a republican man. that said they both have these images of very tough people and there's that possibility that sort of softens the image. the other problem with newt gingrich and i don't know that crying on camera or anything else can help him at this stage in the caucuses as the questions that surround him, the fact that he's been married three times and the admitted adultery and so on. it's not clear at all that his emotional moment here on camera, no matter how spontaneous and genuine is going to help him with those voters who still have those questions, but we'll see. the caucuses aren't far away now, brooke. >> joe johns, thank you so much. let's continue this conversation. let's bring in cnn contributor and republican strategist. good to have both of you on tonight. if we can continue the conversation, he's covered newt gingrich for years. he's the idea guy and the tough talking guy and here he is shocked to be in the same room with the tears streaming down his face talking about his mom. did that surprise you? >> i've never seen anything like that from newt gingrich. as much time as we spend talking about tax reform, this image and personality it impacts who they choose and i think this image of newt gingrich humanizes him and i think it's sincere. it's kind of sincere, sherry. this is what will says. how do you feel about it? >> i spent enough time around newt gingrich in the mid-90s to know that he doesn't show this kind of emotion easily. he's a very professional man and for this to happen in this setting it was very genuine and it caught him off guard. hillary clinton seemed to be tearing up because she realized she was not going to be her party's nominee and therefore not be president, i think that's very different than newt gingrich, basically tearing up about his mother and the affliction that she suffered from and his acknowledgement and understanding that so many families have loved ones that are afflicted as well and that shows real empathy. he was tearing up over the right things and it seemed genuine. >> let's talk about chris "i'll be back new jersey style" christie. he's out there for romney and romney is doing well in the polls. is chris christie necessary to keep him there. four days to go here. >> i'm sure he's very happy to have him. even if it buoys the candidate, i'm sure the campaign says yes, it's necessary. as you discussed it, but mitt romney was not supposed to put anything into iowa. he was going to put all of his trips into new hampshire. he figured he'd finish low and he didn't put a lot of resources into it. that seemed to be changing a little bit and it started turning and he shot people out of new hampshire and brought them to iowa and started spending some money. for him to win iowa should going to be very, very good for him and sort of the story of the tortoise and the hare. he's the tortoise and there have been a lot of hares who keep coming up as the people who come close to him is the romney alternative. >> let me turn the corner to someone who has been doing pretty strong in iowa and that is texas congressman ron paul and i want to point out this passage from his book from the 1987 from his book. he's a victim of his own lifestyle and the same individual victimizes innocent citizens by forcing them to pay for his care. can this come back to haunt him like those news laters? >> absolutely. they're haunting him right now. libertarian philosophy is more about individualism. it's principled and ron paul has been one of the greatest advocates of that over the last 20 years. it's a shame that this has also been going on at the same time. printing and publishing and statements like this that will not just tarnish ron paul, but will tarnish libertarianism and they'll have to answer for ron paul and these issues. >> finally, what do you make of it. every single one of these candidates has been nasty, hating on ron paul over the last couple of days. you shrug and it's par for the course. >> one, he's a front-runner and he's the front-runner in iowa and success, some of his views is outside the mainstream and it's easy for them to attack him. it doesn't mean they're right or wrong. it just means it's easier for them to do it. >> will cane, sherry jacobis and happy new year. >> you, too. >> thank you. it's the last business day of 2011 and we'll look at how the markets fared and what's in store, hopefully optimism for 2012. 4,000 cars may have been shipped without one very crucial part. we have those details out front next. is it because taking a step represents hope? 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[ sniffling ] [ male announcer ] not sure what to take? now robitussin® makes finding the right relief simpler than ever. click on the robitussin® relief finder. click on your symptoms. get your right relief. ♪ makes the cold aisle easy. ♪ robitussin®. relief made simple. >> today was the final day of trading in a volatile day in the markets. alison kosik, i can hear the traders all together -- see you later, 2011. >> good riddance is what they said. as far as today goes, brooke, wall street wound up going out with a whimper than a bang. after the wild swings we saw this year, not such a bad thing to end the year on a quiet note. you look at what the dow did, it ends on the plus column compared to 2010. the nasdaq actually ended lower for the year. down almost 2%. the s&p 500 basically ending flat below the break-even level and it's interesting to watch the s&p 500 because how it did is probably a good indicator of how your own retirement funds and other mutual fund investments did this year. many of them track the s&p 500 and yes, i know, it's a cliche, but you know what? it really was a roller coaster ride for stock market investors. lots of ups and downs, thrills and nausea along the way. we ended up right where we began. brooke? >> 2012, you and i talked about the euro zone crisis. obviously, that's still looming and how are investors and strategists feeling? is it cautious optimism? >> there is more optimism that it could be a better year for investors. it's far from a sure thing. the economic outlook has improved over the last month. cnn money survey of top economists is predicting the economies are going to grow at 3.5% for the current quarter and 3.2% for all of next year. that's good news because that's about double the rate of the growth that we've seen so far this year and it's considered pretty healthy. sure, it's what you said. we have these big worries as we head into 2012. we have the european debt crisis still hanging over. jobs in this country, housing in this country and europe will be the biggest wild card and the biggest unknown still far from resolved. we have better-looking data here in the ouz jobs and housing recently. unemployment is coming down, the economy is adding jobs and the housing market is planting a few seeds of a recovery. so, at least we've got a little bit of optimism as we head into 2012. >> we'll take it, but i know we'll be talking a lot about europe in the weeks and months to come. >> alison kosik, thank you. verizon sending a new signal to customers. in a reversal says the company will not go forward with the single payment system. the company said it would charge you for any debit or credit card payments taken over the phone, but the head of verizon wireless says that plan was scrapped after getting all kinds of feedback on the idea from you, their customers. car recalls are not anything new. it seems like we're hearing about one every week, but one from gm definitely caught our eye here on "out front." the company said 4,000 of the 2012 subcompact sonics may have been shipped without an inner or outer front brake pad. you know, the things that help stop your car. as of now, there have been no injuries, no accidents reported as a result of the missing brake pads. the company says they'll install the new back pads and related components, but here ate problem we had with this. brake pads, we all acknowledge, are important. you would think gm, dealers are expected to start notifying customers right around january 14th. we hope they'll do it before then. president obama on vacation in hawaii. he says he'll speak to iowa supporters via the internet this upcoming tuesday. we'll talk to breanna keilar. she's in hawaii with the president and what he plans to say. how safe is your personal information? we find out in under surveillance tonight. not just one, but two maryland doctors charged with murder for performing illegal late-term abortions. those details "out front" next. 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[ male announcer ] the new capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. what's in your wallet? sorry i'll clean this up. shouldn't have made it rain. >> formal charges have been filed against the man who accused of murdering and dismembering the 9-year-old girl he was supposed to be baby sitting. he was charged with murder, ashes buice of a corpse and in the death of aliana lemon. he did confess to hitting her over the head with a brick, cutting up her body and then leaving pieces of it in the freezer. he now faces up to 71 years in prison. >> police investigating the case of missing maine baby ayla reynolds have returned cars belonging to both her father justin dipietro and also the car of an unidentified portland, maine, woman. they're not saying what they were searching for when those vehicles were seized. in reese not days, the mother of this missing 20-month-old trysta reynolds and her father has said that dipietro has not communicated with them since that child's disappearance from his home in waterville. she was last seen there on the night of december 16th. he, however, maintains he has no idea where little ayla is and says he has nothing to hide. also murder charges have been filed against not just one, but two abortion doctors for performing illegal late-term abortions. they're a result of a year-long investigation that began with a gruesome discovery at a clinic. the dr. stephen brigham was arrested last night and dr. nicola riley was arrested in salt lake city on wednesday. i want to bring in cnn's national correspondent david mattingly with more on this. help us connect the dots on this very troubling story and what more can you tell us about how an abortion at a state licensed clinic can now turn into a case of murder. >> this all came about last fall when police went in there doing an investigation and they found a freezer in there. inside they found frozen aborted fetuses. they were able to examine those fetuses and they were also able to examine records who were at the clinic and they're now alleging that the doctors performed abortions on aborted fetuses that were viable and could have lived outside the womb in cases that did not fall under the legal exceptions that the state of maryland allowed. these exceptions being the health of the mother and also the possibility that the fetus may have had some sort of severe genetic problem or abnormality. these cases are reresulting in murder charges and five against dr. brigham. we talked to the attorneys and the attorney for brigham says he's complied with all state laws in maryland and he's broken no laws there and he's cooperated fully with this investigation. dr. riley says the charges are without merit and she objects to her client now being held in utah without bond. so at this point, very early in the prosecution of this case. >> some of these happened at 35, 36 weeks and it begs the question how authorities found out and this all started a year ago and one of the patients ended up in a hospital, correct? >> that's right. she was there having an abortion and the doctors had her driven to a local hospital in elkton and it was determined that her internal injuries were so severe that she had to be lifted to johns hopkins. and at that point the doctors that were looking at this said she should never have been transported to the hospital and it objected to the ways the doctors were treating her as a result of this abortion. so that started the investigation. that's what got the police started looking at this chin bein clinic and they went inside and now they're coming out with murder charges. >> david mattingly, thank you. president obama said he will be addressing iowa supporters online. brianna keilar comes out front with what he plans to say. also, google, apple. you know two of the most popular and powerful companies in the world, right, but just how much do they know about you? we'll dig deeper tonight in under surveillance and then we're rolling in the deep with the latest viral sensation. if you haven't heard this you have to wait and see. the south korean singer wows the judges with her voice. 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