plus, the shocking end to an equally shocking case in saudi arabia. a woman beheaded for witchcraft. i'm wolf blitzer, you're in the situation room. just 24 hours ago, the mud was flying between newt gingrich and mitt romney as they campaigned in the first primary state of new hampshire. now gingrich is vowing to run a clean campaign and refrain from initiating the kind of attacks that have come to characterize the modern race for the white house. some question, though, whether newt gingrich means it, whether he can live up to that commitment. joe johns is working the story for us. what are you finding out? >> well, wolf, the last few days have certainly been ugly, but now both candidates are saying they're going to do what a lot of voters have said they want and that is have a campaign that is free of negativism. of course, newt gingrich, the former speaker of the house running for president has gone as far to put his words actually in writing. though a lot of people out there these days are saying they want to see how long this kind of thing can last. >> ladies and gentlemen -- >> reporter: politics has many unwritten rules, among them, do as i say, not as i do. this rule was at work as former house speaker newt gingrich released an expansive letter to his staff ordering a clean campaign based on positive solutions. he said it's critical the republican nominee emerge from the campaign unbloody to face president obama. in fact, the night before, gingrich had even praised his opponent mitt romney for taking the high road, as well. >> i think what we're about is too important. to weaken anybody who might defeat barack obama and to give barack obama ammunition that he shouldn't have. >> how they got here was another story entirely. romney has been on the attack lately ripping gingrich every chance he could get in order to close the polling gap with the front runner. and then there was a nasty exchange after romney said the former speaker needed to give back the $1.6 million he'd gotten consulting for freddie mac. >> i think a fair question is asked, why did he profit as freddie mac failed? >> i would just say that if governor romney would like to give back all the money he's earned from bankrupting companies and laying off employees over his years at bain, that i would be glad to then listen to him. and i'll bet you $10, not $10,000, that he won't take the offer. >> just to be clear, in the space of about 24 hours, gingrich went from a rhetorical body slamming match back to the place where he started. mr. good newt, promising to play nice with others. >> i think newt is being newt. he is incapable, really, of stopping himself from using whatever rhetorical armament he has available to him when he gets into one of these situations. if he thinks of it, he'll say it. and then he doesn't have the best capacity for buyers remorse. he won't apologize. >> reporter: rich galen says it's almost unthinkable for presidential candidates who want to win to just play nice. >> they are part in parcel of campaigns because they work. everybody pretends they hate them. some people actually do hate them, but the fact of the matter is that negative ads, negative attacks are nothing more than highly distilled gossip. and we're hard wired to love gossip. >> gingrich has even said he doesn't want people contributing to any super pack that runs negative ads, but the truth is, the candidates don't and can't control what super packs do. so that part of the statement may have been good public relations, but didn't have any real teeth. wolf? >> and as you pointed out in his memo he wrote to his staff and his supporters, he was very precise, newt gingrich, as he always is when he said don't initiate in his words attacks on other republican candidates, but then he went on to say he says they should reserve the right to respond when my record has been distorted. in other words, he's not going to start it, but if they start it, he's going to slap right back. >> and he's actually responded already, in fact. so you have to consider that. he's not -- he's being very precise with his words. >> as he always is. thanks very much for that, joe johns reporting. donald trump now says he will not moderate a december 27th republican presidential debate. in a statement trump says and i'm reading it now in part, the republican party candidates are very concerned that sometime after the final episode of "the apprentice" i will announce my candidacy of the united states as an independent and unless i conclusively agree not to run as an independent, they will not agree to be part of the debate. i am not willing to give up my right to run as an independent candidate. as you know, only newt gingrich and rick santorum have signed on to take part in that debate. it's unclear whether or not news max will still have the debate. we're waiting for a statement. we'll see what happens. we're also following developments on capitol hill right now, where a house vote on extending the payroll tax cut could come within a few hours. provisions to speed up government approval of a controversial oil pipeline from canada to texas and that has president obama vowing to veto the bill if it were to make it to his desk. let's go to capitol hill, our congressional correspondent kate bolduan is joining us. >> reporter: hey there, wolf, the house is set to vote still this evening, it could be and this can always slip, but it could be in the next hour, hour and a half, two hours, and republican leaders in the house, they are confident they have the votes to pass this measure. but over in the senate, senate majority leader harry reid said they are wasting valuable time because the republican measure, he says, will not pass in the senate. one major obstacle is that controversial provision you mentioned that republicans have added to their bill in the house, this provision having to do with the keystone oil pipeline project. add to all of that that the white house just this afternoon issued a veto threat to the house bill, this clearly shows at this point, wolf, they are no closer to a compromise and the clock is very quickly ticking down, wolf. >> kate, what about plans for members of congress to escape washington? supposed to leave this weekend, but it's unlikely they're going to get all of their business done. is that what you're seeing and hearing? >> they are supposed to be. their target date to head out of town was supposed to be this friday. it's not looking very good for members of congress and all of us who cover them because this is why. this whole issue is getting messier and more contentious as republicans are now accusing specifically senate democrats of holding up a massive government funding bill until they say republicans give and negotiate more on the payroll tax issue. the government is set to run out of funding on friday. and they had all along been working on this massive appropriations bill, this government funding bill to kind of go all the way through to fund all of the fiscal year 2012. and it had not been a related issue until this point. listen here to the top republican in the senate mitch mcconnell. >> the president and the democratic majority leader, my friend harry reid are now saying they'd rather shut down the government than allow this job-creating legislation to become law. that's what would happen if they succeed in blocking this bipartisan funding bill from coming to the floor for a vote. >> reporter: now, democrats, they reject this. they say that this does not have to do with the payroll tax issue. there are still a handful of outstanding issues that have to do with this massive government funding measure that need to be worked out before they can sign off on it. senator harry reid says he hopes that will happen soon, but also made the point to say today more than once that the top priority is extending the payroll tax cut and no one should leave town until they do so. listen here to senator reid. >> republicans seem eager to get out of town. some have even suggested they're willing to leave before they reach a compromise on the payroll tax cut and other things, we're not going to do that. >> you can see, wolf, it seems to be as i said getting messier and more contentious and they're no closer to compromise at this moment. the clock is ticking down and they're coming up against a new deadline we need to watch that the government will be running out of funding come friday. it seems it's time for the leaders to sit down and start hammering out a compromise. unclear if they're ready to do that quite yet. >> the president would have to delay his personal departure for hawaii. he's supposed to leave this weekend. he may have to delay that, as well. it wouldn't be the first time for him as our viewers will recall. kate, thanks very much. >> thank you. >> let's go to jack cafferty now for the cafferty file. >> with three weeks to go until the iowa caucuses, the pressure is squarely on mitt romney. it wasn't supposed to go this way at all, you know. the republican presidential nomination was supposed to be a coronation for romney. but instead, romney finds himself chasing newt gingrich and gingrich is pulling away. in new hampshire, romney and current front-runner gingrich took off the gloves, threw direct jabs at each other. but romney can no longer remain above the fray. because you can see the fray has frayed his lead rather badly. new hampshire was once considered a sure thing for romney. now could be a make or break contest for him. one new hampshire pollster told the "new york times" expectations are so high for romney in new york that gingrich could lose by ten points there and still spin it as a win. gingrich who is leading in the national polls as well as in iowa, south carolina, and florida has narrowed the gap in new hampshire to just nine points in one recent poll. what's working in romney's favor is thinking that he's much more likely to beat president obama than newt gingrich. gingrich held a town hall-style meeting for 1,000 people and overflow crowded a new hampshire high school last night. and the applause was described as deafening. they like what they hear from this guy. meanwhile, howard kurtz writes for "the daily beast," it's not over yet. he suggests romney's a plausible president in these tough times and his campaign is financed for the long haul. maybe so. but remember, romney already lost this race once. he's the same guy voters rejected for the job four years ago. kurtz says he needs to demonstrate real passion. and he probably ought to stop making $10,000 bets too. here's the question. what does mitt romney have to do to recapture his front-runner status? you go to cnn.com/caffertyfile, or go to our post on the situation room's facebook page. wolf? >> you know what could surprise a lot of people in iowa, jack? >> what? >> ron paul. he's got a fabulous organization, passionate supporters, some money, he could surprise a lot of folks in iowa. we're going to be speaking with him tomorrow here in the "situation room." but don't be surprised if ron paul does a lot better than people are thinking he might do in iowa. we're talking about iowa. >> i think he'll do well in iowa. i don't think he's going to be the nominee, but i think he'll do well in iowa. >> i write about it in my blog today. check it out. i think it's if it hasn't been posted, it'll be posted soon. millionaires save 20%, lower income americans save 3%. we're taking a closer look at newt gingrich's tax plan. standby for that. and imagine not being able to use your cell phone in the car at all, not even with a headset unless -- unless that cell phone is built into the car's system. why the federal government wants a nationwide law to ban phone use by drivers. we're taking a much closer look. and the outrage at saudi arabia. get this, for beheading a woman, yes, killing her, executing her, she was accused of witchcraft and sorcery. this new at&t 4g lte is fast. did you hear sam... ...got promoted to director? 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>> curious remarks by the iranian president. he told a tv network that his country "has been able to control the aircraft." he didn't specify what he meant by controlling the drone, but he said the people who have been able to control it "will analyze the plane's system." for the first time, u.s. officials have publicly acknowledged that iran has a drone. two u.s. officials have said that a missing drone was part of a cia reconnaissance mission in afghanistan. american officials have not confirmed that a spy plane shown on iranian video is actually the same aircraft. president obama said the u.s. has asked for it back. most u.s. officials don't expect that to happen. some experts believe the iranians will now reengineer this drone taking the technology from it. they are very good at that kind of thing. defense secretary leon panetta did not rule that out. >> it's a little difficult to know just frankly how much they're going to be able to get from, you know, from having obtained those parts. i don't know the condition of those parts, i don't know exactly what state they're in. >> the president ahmadinejad claims the systems of iran's own spy planes are just as advanced in this one. so we'll see if iran comes out with a model that mirrors american technology or not. wolf, i think u.s. officials going to be watching that closely to see if other u.s. adversaries might start to have this technology, as well. >> i was stunned yesterday when president obama -- he didn't want to discuss it, but then he went on and said we have asked that -- we're asking the iranians to return that drone to the united states. why ask the iranians to return it if it isn't the real thing or whatever. it makes no sense at all. it was just the unusual statement by the president of the united states. is there any indication, though, and i suspect the answer is no, that the iranians might return what they have? >> it's really the opposite. the iranians are saying that this is now their property, one official said that the u.s. owes iran an apology, another called this an act of invasion and belligerence. they're going to make a big -- they may literally make a display of this thing in some museum, but they're not going to give it back. >> that wouldn't be the problem. the problem is the chinese or doing reverse engineering or others and that would be a problem for the u.s. that's why dick cheney here on cnn last night and others said the u.s. should've blown it up, sent another drone, blown it up rather than letting them have it complete intact or whatever they have. thanks very much, brian for that. the u.s. air force by the way says another american drone has gone down. this one in the seychelles islands. no one was hurt. the u.s. military recovered the debris and is investigating the cause of these accidents. something that flies in the face of everything that we know in the 21st century. a woman accused of witchcraft and beheaded for her so-called crimes. cnn has details from abu dhabi. mohammed? >> it's a case that has outraged human rights groups and put the justice system in saudi arabia under the spotlight once more. the verdict, shocking, the sentence, even more so. a saudi woman beheaded, her crime, practicing witchcraft and sorcery. according to saudi arabia's interior of ministry, she was executed on monday. a source is quoted in the country's religious police who said authorities searched nasr's home finding books on sorcery, and glass bottles filled with liquids commonly used for the purposes of magic. the source added she was selling spells and bottles of the liquid potions for about $400. cnn could not reach the religious police for comment. amnesty international issued a statement calling the execution deeply shocking. saying it highlights the urgent need for a halt in executions in saudi arabia. saudi arabia, an absolute monarchy practices a puritanical version of islam. in the deeply conservative kingdom, sorcery, witchcraft, and blasphemy are all punishable by death. and this is not the first sorcery case in saudi arabia to draw the anger of rights groups. in 2008, sabat was arrested on charges of sorcery while on a religious pilgrimage. in 2009 he was found guilty and sentenced to death. while he's not been executed, he remains in prison. the judicial system made headlines for the sentence imposed on this man. he was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to 500 lashes and a year in prison. the australian government is pleading his case. in its statement, saudi arabia's interior ministry said nasr had been investigated before her arrest and she was convicted of what she was accused of. the number of executions in saudi arabia has almost tripled this year, and so far at least 79 people including five women have been executed there. >> thanks very much. mohammed reporting from abu dhabi. police on new york's long island find the body of another missing woman. could it be tied to a possible serial killer? also, sandusky's lawyer makes an unexpected move in the sex abuse case. a lot of news happening here right here in the situation room. 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. a bloody assault in belgium today, lisa sylvester is monitoring that. some of the other top stories right now. what happens? well, a prosecutor in the belgian city says one man was responsible for a rampage that killed two teenagers, a woman, and the gunman. 1,900 others were injured in the bomb and grenade attack. the man was wanted for questioning about drug and arms charges. three men face charges in the wake of another alleged hazing incident within florida a & m's marching band. they stem from several alleged beatings of a band member. he died november 19th in a suspected hazing-related incident. and police in suffolk county, new york, believe they have found the rema