Transcripts For CNN American Morning 20111123

>> gop candidates trying to show they have the foreign policy chops to be commander in chief. we'll have all of the highlights just ahead. american students arrested in egypt facing more interrogation today. they're families now speaking as cairo erupts for a fifth day. and tailspin. incredible video of the chopper crash and the more amazing pictures of the pilot walking away from it on this "american morning." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com and good morning to you. happy pre-thanksgiving day. i can smell the turkey now. can't you? >> so can i. >> can't wait. >> food, football, family. three fs what could be better? >> and then food coma. sleeping afterwards. >> at least you fall asleep and aren't suffering through the feeling of you're going to croak. anyway, ali and christine are off, obviously. i'm carol costello along side alina cho. >> last night's republican debate. disagreeing on just about everything. the best political team on television is live from washington. cnn senior political editor mark preston has the post-debate buzz. first to jill dougherty. good morning to you. this debate seemed to highlight the big differences between the candidates. didn't it? >> it did. interesting debate. wasn't it? the dynamics for the debate shifted. every we're seem there's another leader in the polls meaning all of the candidates were trying to distinguish him or herself from the pack. with eight republicans onstage, president barack obama got a few nicks. >> if you like what barack obama has done to our economy, you'll love what he's done to our national security. >> reporter: but these candidates had the knives out for each other. >> are you suggesting, governor, we just take all our troops out next week? what's your -- >> did you hear what i just said? draw down from 100,000. we don't need 100,000 troops. >> reporter: heated debate whether the 9/11 patriot act should be extended. >> all of us will be in danger for the rest of our lives. this is not going to end in the short run. we need to be prepared to protect ourselves. >> you can still provide security without sacrificing our bill of rights. >> i think we have to be very careful in protecting our individual liberties. we forget sometimes that we have a name brand in this world. >> reporter: should specific ethnic or religious groups in america be profiled for security screens? >> who would be? >> muslims would be someone you'd look like. the muslims committing these crimes. >> digging a hole for ourselves. what if they look like timothy mcveigh? he was a pretty tough criminal. >> reporter: in the midst of a heavy debate, a light moment. >> is it okay for muslim-americans to get more intensive pat-downs or security when he go through airports than christian or jewish americans? >> no, blitz. that's oversimplifying it. i happen to believe that if you allow our intelligence agencies to do their job, they can come up with an approach -- i'm sorry, blitz. i meant wolf. okay? blitz -- wolf. >> and what about aid to pakistan? >> i also think that pakistan is a nation that it's kind of like too nuclear to fail. >> until pakistan clearly shows that they have america's best interests in mind, i would not send them one penny, period. >> with all due respect to the governor, i think that's highly naive. >> reporter: and other top moments, like when newt gingrich made a plea for what he called more humane enforcement of immigration laws so they won't separate families and mitt romney shot back amnesty is a magnet that only encourages more people to come here illegally. >> live in washington, jill dougherty. thank you. the major gas of last night's debate, no painfully long pauses. so who came out on top? let's go to the sport card, and mark preston. good morning. >> good morning. >> talk about newt gingrich first. he took the immigration issue head-on and it was kind of surprising. listen to what he said first. >> he did. >> the party of the family is going to adopt an immigration policy which destroys families that have been here a quarter century and i'm prepared to take the heat for saying, let's be humane in enforcing the law without giving them citizenship but by finding a way to create legality so they are not separated from their families. >> governor perry -- >> some republicans might say he's talking amnesty. something the conservative base is totally against. how do you think this played with that conservative part of the republican party? >> carol, he certainly ran into the wall with that answer. newt gingrich was very strong throughout this whole debate, and this might have been his big gaffe of the night. especially when looking at the republican presidential primary. the answer he gave last night is the answer you would give in a general election race, because want to reach out to independents, perhaps some disaffected democrats. newt gingrich last night by giving that is going to put himself in peril with voters in iowa, in south carolina. really conservative voters who don't like the idea of amnesty. in fact, two of his rivals last night onstage, michele bachmann and mitt romney, indicated that in fact it was amnesty and we're going to see mitt romney today, carol in iowa. he's giving a speech. it will be interesting to see now if mitt romney latches on to that and tries to take out newt gingrich on this issue for the mere fact that they are the two leading candidates right now for the nomination. >> it was interesting how he put it, gingrich i'm talking about. he said, if we are the party of family. he didn't say heart. rick perry said if you had a heart you wouldn't throw them out of the count. newt gingrich tried to put it in conservative language? >> he did. language we saw during the eight years of the bush administration. at this point in time with the economy so bad, unemployment so high, when he used the word amnesty you're saying to these voters across the country, these republican primary voters sshs that these are people who are taking your jobs. that's what we're hearing last night from some of newt gingrich's rivals, carol. >> also a feisty exchange between jon huntsman and mitt romney over troop levels in afghanistan. let's listen. >> we haven't done a very good job defining and articulating what the end point is in afghanistan. i think the american people are getting very tired about where we find ourselves today. >> let me let governor romney respond. >> let me respond. are you suggesting, governor, we just take all of our troops out next week? >> did you hear what i just said? i said we should draw down from 100,000. we don't need 100,000 troops. we need a presence on the ground that is more akin to 10,000 or 15,000 nap will serve our interests as far as intelligence gathering. >> jon huntsman really needed to do well in this particular debate and this is his thing. national security. so did he put on a performance that he needed to? >> reporter: he absolutely did. the question, is it a little too late at this point? we are just -- a little more than a month out before the iowa caucuses and the new hampshire primary. that exchange last night. look at it from two different angles. that was a new hampshire primary exchange. jon huntsman, for him to survive, go on and win the nomination has to win new hampshire. a state newt gingrich is putting a lot of time and energy and money into. look at them talking back at each other, clear they don't like each other personally. not only a political exchange also a personal exchange last night, carol. >> mark preston, thanks. appreciate it. well, as you heard, jon huntsman sparked lively debate last night when he talked about the need to pull out troops from afghanistan right away. we're going to ask the former utah governor about that plan and how he thinks he fared in last night's debate when he join us live at 8:10 a.m. eastern time. and just in case you can't get enough, we're here to help you out. the next live debate by cnn co-sponsored by the southern republican leadership conference will be held on january 19th in charleston, south carolina. mark your calendars. >> it's marked. angry protesters mobbing cairo's tahrir square for a tiffth straight day. three american college students arrested during the uprising in egypt expected to face more questions with u.s. representatives on hand nap will happen today. the students shown on egyptian state tv are accused of lobbing molotov cocktails at police and now hearing from one of the mothers. she says her son is the type of one that would get involved, but not one who would get violent. >> he is a very passionate person. he believes in democracy. he believes in standing up for what you believe in, standing up for what you feel is right, and that's the kind of person he is. so are we surprised that he would go down there and stand up for what he believed in? no. >> ivan watson, live in cairo for us this morning. are the protests still going on, ivan? >> reporter: absolutely. there are tens of thousands of people in the square behind me. a quick update on the three american students. we just got off the phone with general prosecutors office here who says they're still in police custody, these three american, and they will be transferred to the prosecutor's office as soon as there is some legal representation from the u.s. embassy. we'll keep on talking about that. meantime, there were hundreds of thousands of people at the very least into the early pre-dawn hours here in the square. none of them seemed to be satisfied with the speech given to the nation on egyptian television last night from field marshal mohammed, the general in charge of the supreme military council ruling this country for the past nine months. he made some concessions, said he accepted the resignation of the civilian government here, that he would push up the time for presidential elections until june or july of this summer, but that doesn't seem to satisfy the crowd here. i think he is underestimating how much of a symbol of hatred he and the other ruling generals have become. take a listen to what one of the protesters here had to say to us. >> for the people, but the council is a council of puppets with the old regime and do not necessarily have our best interests in heart. they have their best interests in heart and only want money and positions and everything else. >> reporter: now, carol, the makeup of the protesters, these are not organized political parties. these are egyptian youths. many of them appear to be teenagers, and they are continuously attacking riot police in the direction ever the interior ministry just beyond this square, only, like, two blocks, really, in that direction. we actually saw a brief cease-fire when i actually saw riot police officer, probably the same age as the kids attacking him, kissing one of the demonstrators on the cheeks, embracing him and moments later, they were throwing rocks again. tear gas canisters in the air and that constant sound of ambulances carrying wounded away. 33 people killed according to the ministry of health since these protests began last saturday. carol. >> and many, many more injured. reporting live from egypt this morning. thanks. and ahead on "american morning," new allegations against former penn state football coach jerry sandusky and reports say that two new accusers are still minors. and his chopper went down, but amazingly, a helicopter pilot in new zealand somehow managed to walk away from that. that mangled wreckage. and later, unlocking the mysteries of the universe. nasa says its new project will give us a glimpse into the dawn of time. cnn sat down with the scientists who are working on it. 14 minutes after the hour. ♪ [ electronic beeping ] [ male announcer ] still getting dandruff? 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[♪...] >> announcer: now get a $250 airfare credit, plus save up to 65%. call 1-800-sandals. certain restrictions apply. welcomes back tomrmmrm. it's 16 minutes after the hour. new developments in the penn state sex scandal. two new cases of alleged sex abuse against coach jerry sandusky. two more came forward since sandusky's arrest. joining us from state college, pennsylvania, via skype, sara ganim. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. >> the assumption is that these relatively recent victims because they're -- i should say alleged victims, because they're under the age of 18. do you know exactly when these incidents supposedly occurred? >> reporter: we don't. all we know is that these allegations were brought to the children and youth service agency with the last 60 days. we don't know how long they've been under investigation. in pennsylvania, you only have 60 days to make a finding once a child abuse allegation is brought forward, and because these two have not been completed, these investigations are still ongoing, all we know, they were opened in the last 60 days and have to include current children, because if they were adults who came forward, even if they said this happened while they were children, if they were adults it would only be a police matter and the children's youth agency here, which is the child protective agency here, is involved, gets involved. >> what this main mean is the grand jury, what it took three years to invest gays jerry sandusky before it finally decided to bring charges. could these new cases of alleged abuse have happened during the grand jury investigation? >> reporter: they could have. remember, a child is anybody under the age of 18. so we have to wait and see what the results of that investigation is, or those two investigations are. but that's a possibility, and it's definitely something that the governor, tom corbett, has been getting a lot of questions about, because he was the attorney general at the time that, victim one, the first to come forward, at the time he came forward, tom corbett was the attorney general and it was about half way through the investigation when things started to pick up he was elected governor. it was around the same time he was elected that more investigators were put on the case, that the 1998 report from penn state was found. the graduate witness, he was interviewed was found and when they found the other victims. the governor has been getting a lot of questions about that and whether or not waiting three years instead of arresting jerry sandusky right at the beginning could have put more kids in danger. >> the governor wanted to find this pattern of abuse. he wanted to find more than one alleged victim. does he regret that in any way now? >> reporter: he says, no. he's been -- like i said, he's been asked several times and he says he couldn't reveal there was an investigation, because the grand jury is secret, and because of that, they were hesitant to move forward. i believe his words were, we don't want to reveal our investigation, we didn't want to move forward with just one case until we had more and that's what they did. >> sandusky attorney interviewed on abc believes sandusky may go to jail because of these new charges. what do you think? >> reporter: well, i know this -- these are not the first two new cases that we've heard of. there have been reports of several other cases. other attorneys have said they have victims who say they were abused as far back as the 1970s. it's kind of unclear how many of these have been vetted by police. how many might testify before a grand jury. how many are with the statute of limitations that the cases could be prosecuted. we don't know. if it's ten, if it's less, if it's more. but we do know there have been a lot of people coming forward since jerry sandusky's arrest, and so i think the hearing on december 13th, there could be, as in any case, there could be an issue of bail brought up again by prosecutors. >> we'll have to see. sara ganim via skype. thanks so much. dramatic video of a helicopter crash in new zealand. wait until you hear the rest of the story. the main rotor clipped a cable while trying to land. the chopper practically comes apart, the tail just staping off. miraculously, no one hurt and the pilot even walked away from the wreckage. that is incredible. >> i can't believe he walked away. >> stranger things have happened, i guess, but, yeah, it is pretty amazing. >> giving thanks at thanksgiving. >> yes, he is. coming up, jon corzine silent since stepping down as ceo of mf global, but we may soon hear about the firm's collapse in his own words. have you heard mother nature is not making it easy for holiday travelers? 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"minding your business" this morning, worries about europe's debt crisis as well as the growth of the u.s. economy are pulling stock markets down worldwide again today. u.s. stock futures are pointing to a her open this morning. the u.s. markets all closed lower yesterday. in about two hours from now a fresh report on the number of people who filed unemployment claims for the first time last week. we'll get those numbers to you as soon as they're available. more bad news for netflix. the video streaming and dvd service now expects to be in the red through all of next year. the company has been struggling since the summer when it increased prices and then later flip-flopped on the rebranding of its services. congress wants to talk to jon corzine about $1.2 billion of missing money. members of a house committee are holding a hearing next month to look into the collapse of mf global, the brokerage firm once run by the new jersey governor until he stepped down last month. the firm was forced to file bankruptcy after it made a $6.3 billion bet on european sovereign debt. two mores days until black friday and you're in for a real barge fn you're shopping for an lcd tv this year. experts say prices are expected to drop to record lows. we're talking about 40 to 42-inch sets priced in a range of -- wait for it -- 200 to 400 bucks. why? because manufacturers will be trying to bring in as much business as possible after a weak sales season this fall. as if i needed more reasons to shop. "american morning" will be back after this. ♪ it's easy to see what subaru owners care about. that's why we created the share the love event. get a great deal on a new subaru and $250 goes to your choice of 5 charities. with your help, we can reach $20 million dollars by the end of this, our fourth year. i don't want a law that says, after we lose a major american city we're sure going to come and find you. i want a law that says, you try to take out an american city, we're going to stop you. >> newt gingrich challenging ron paul over the patetry act. the new co-front-runner still getting high marks in his first debate with a bull's eye on his back on this "american morning." and welcome back to "american morning." it's 30 minutes part the hour. time for your morning's top stories. the gop national security debate is in the books. front-runner newt gingrich risking the wrath of conservatives saying he'd take a humane approach to illegal immigration. other headlines -- rick santorum supporting profiling of muslims. ron paul calling the patriot act unpatriotic and herman cain addressing cnn moderators wolf blitzer as "blitz." >> my personal favorite. authorities in pennsylvania are investigating two new cases of alleged child sex abuse by former penn state coach jerry sandusky. the first known cases to be reported since sandusky's arrest and the first involving alleged victims who are currently children. former penn state coach already faces 40 counts of sex abuse involving eight boys beginning in the late 1990s. three american college students arrested during the uprising in egypt expected to face more questions with u.s. embassy representatives on hand today. the students shown on egyptian state tv are accused are hurling molotov cocktails at police. the republican debate of the 2012 campaign featured eight candidates gathering a few steps from the white house last night tackling tough national security and foreign policy issues like pakistan. a shaky ally that still receives billions in u.s. aid. >> they've shown us time after time that they can't be trusted, and until pakistan clearly shows that they have america's best interests in mind, i would not send them one penny. period. >> with all due respect to the governor, i think that's highly naive, because, again, we have to recognize what's happening on the ground. these are nuclear weapons all across this nation. potentially al qaeda could get ahold of these weapons. >> our next two guests are especially interested in those thorny foreign policy problems. they were in the audience and undecided when they took their seats last night. let's see if anything's changed. joining us from washington, good morning to you. and from a college in michigan, good morning. carolyn, let's begin with you. your biggest takeaway from last night's debate? >> there were some candidates who definitely did their homework and were able to answer questions and there were others who delivered inciteful responses. >> there you go. larry, as you wake up, what sticks with you? >> a really great debate. the best i've seen. wolf blitzer did a great job. did a good thing putting in together and forming the questions so well, a r and some of these guy, really good and a couple shown brilliantly i thought. >> who did you think did well? >> romney's very professional, very good. he's front-runner. newt gingrich is a very talented man who knows a lot about it and he was able over and over to turn tactical things in strategic questions. >> i want to ask you about newt gingrich because he went into this at the front-runner, at least in our polling, 24% of the vote. what did you think of his performance last night? >> i think he really stood out amongst all the candidates and was able to deliver a very insightful comments to very complex issues. >> i want to ask you, because you are someone who works for a defense contractor. a lot at stake here. i know you were particularly interested in how the candidates defined friends and foes in the middle east. what did you think about perry and bachmann's exchange on pakistan with perry saying we shouldn't give them another penny and bachmann saying pa pakistan is too liberal to fail? >> able to continue foreign aid to pakistan because they are a nuclear country. >> larry, differing views regarding the drawdown of u.s. troops in afghanistan. i want to listen first to this exchange between mitt romney and jon huntsman. watch. >> we need a presence on the ground that is more akin to 10,000 or 15,000 nap will serve our interests in terms of intelligence gathering and special forces response capability. >> this is not time for america to cut and run. we have been in for ten years. we are winding down. the afghan troops are picking up the capacity to secure their country and the mission is pretty straightforward. >> larry, who do you agree with? >> well, afghanistan's a mess and it's going to be a mess for a long time and we're going to have to try to cope with that mess. one thing that, right at the end they got clear is, everybody should understand, this is an extremely dangerous world, and it's dangerous because it's a very powerful world and people had they have a lot of power can do a lot of harm with it. so these foreign policy questions are not going to go away. questions like afghanistan are not going to go away, and i don't agree with the governor that, huntsman, that it's going to be easy in afghanistan. it's going to be hard and we might not win there. >> caroline, we just heard from jon huntsman who will join us in our 8:00 hour. he's gotten good reviews in the press. what's your take on how he did? >> a little less on the thought deficit and a little more on substance. >> that's it? >> that's it. >> and larry? >> he's good. he's good. >> not exactly a winning endo e endorsement? >> well, no, not exactly ringing endorsement. larry, i want to ask you, newt gingrich made some news last night with what he said on immigration. let's watch. >> if you've been here 25 years have three kids, two grandkids, paying taxes obeying the law and belong to a local church, i don't think we're going to separate you from your family, uproot you forcefully and kick you out. the foundation is a very good red card program that says you get to be legal but don't get a pass to citizenship. >> a lot of people are talking about that this morning. larry, do you agree with what he said? >> i do. remember what he said. he said, first of all, the first step is we should control the border. we shouldn't have very wide flows of people backen eneand f across the border and government benefits and all that, if you're eligible for that, without being legal in this country. so he did say all that. and then you know, is the proposition we're going to pick up somebody who's got family here, been living here 25 years and deport them? i don't think we're going to do that. >> you mentioned at the top of this interview that you liked what newt gingrich said last night and also liked what mitt romney said. if you had to vote today, who would you pick? >> i think i'm instructed not to answer that question. but newt. >> newt gingrich. got it. >> caroline, for you? >> i would have to agree. >> really? newt gingrich. >> wow. well, there you go. you agree with our polling which puts him on top, with the margin of error, but on top heading into this debate. obviously, you were both happy with his performance last night. larry and caroline, thank you. and jon huntsman sparked lively debate last night when he talked about the need to pull out troops from afghanistan right away. we'll ask the former utah governor about that plan and how he thinks he fared when he joins us at 8:10 a.m. eastern time. for the millions of americans that today is getaway day and people are hitting the road early trying to get a jump-start on one of the most busiest travel periods. a live look at chicago now at some of the 42 million people on the move, on the roads, on the rails and in the air. we have the thanksgiving travel rush covered like a chicken stuffed inside a duck, stuffed inside a turkey! >> did you just say that? >> i did. some people love that. some do. george howell is at weren't of the nation's busiest airports, hartsfield-jackson in atlanta and jacqui jeras looking at what mother nature is serving up. let's check in first with george at the airport. how's it looking, george? >> carol, first of all, i love the setup. perfect. great news for people traveling to out of atlanta at this hour. we went inside and to give you a lay of the land, no major delays on the big board, which is great news for people traveling through atlanta, and connections here throughout the world. also, we checked inside. you find some of the lines growing, but for the most part, it's open season in there. pretty easy as far as getting around to the main gates. we also found inside that people are, you know, a bit frustrated with the fees, but for the most party, happy that they got here early and, again, this is the busiest operations and passenger airport in the world. some 240,000 people at this airport on any given day. and for the next few days, it's projected that at least 3.4 million people will be flying. so good news out of atlanta and, again, good news for people who are early. >> and good news for people who were early and it's early yet. so it could get a little bit more crowded later on in the afternoon. but it's great. it's kind of calm now. george, thank you. let's head to the weather center and check in with jacqui, because, although people arrived early at the airport and it looks peaceful now, the weather certainly could throw a wench wrechblg into their plans and the peaceful nature at the airport. >> you know things will change throughout the day. two storm systems both on the coasts of the country and both where a lot of people live. look at flight explorer. you can see all the congestion already in the air. this flight explorer estimating about 1,800 planes right now and on a peak day like today, we would see as many as 6,000 planes. that number increases progressively throughout the day and that volume goes up, it's going to fatake longer to shoot the approach and mind those planes to safely land when you have rain and overcast conditions. major delays expected in places like boston and new york city. likely over an hour. places like d.c. and philadelphia. deep lays lukely under an hour. atlanta and charlotte, low clouds and wind expecting to cause issues here. seattle, mostly in the morning, we think, and then san francisco looking at some delays because of the fog. as we take a look at the radar picture today, there you can see all the showers and, yep, that is snow on the northern tier of that thing there as well and expecting accumulations maybe around 6 to 12 inches. philadelphia, a couple inches of rain in urban and small streams flooded are in effect. you might run into water-covered roads. don't drive over them. watch out for that on the turnpike for today and as we head into the afternoon. we'll watch our cold front make its way off the coast. so drier conditions are coming. even by noon, say, in new york city, it's going to be a lot better and getting progresvely better throughout the day. keep in mind, the volume is increasing throughout the day, too. the nation's midsection looking at dry and cool travel weather. good there. the pick northwest, improvements in the afternoon, but the second front arrives by tomorrow. keep that in mind and check it out, carol and alina. temperaturewise, not brutal. not an arctic cold front moving through. you'll still get to around 50 in places like minneapolis and chicago. >> not terrible. >> awesome for november. are you kidding? >> i know. >> that's the cup half full. now if you could make the rain go away. >> i'm trying. >> would you work on that? >> i'm working on it. >> thanks, jacqui. >> all right. coming up, a new telescope that makes the hubble look like a play school toy. nasa's new project could unlock the greatest mysteries in the yuvs and cnn spoke with weren't of the scientists building it. it's 42 minutes past the hour. ♪ when your chain of supply ♪ goes from here to shanghai, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ chips from here, boards from there ♪ ♪ track it all through the air, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ clearing customs like that ♪ hurry up no time flat that's logistics. ♪ ♪ all new technology ups brings to me, ♪ ♪ that's logistics. ♪ can i help you? yeah, can i get a full-sized car? for full-sized cars, please listen to the following menu. for convertibles, press star one. i didn't catch that. to speak to a representative, please say representative now. representative. goodbye! you don't like automated customer service, and neither do we. that's why, unlike other cards, no matter when you call chase sapphire preferred, you immediately get a person not a prompt. chase sapphire preferred. a card of a different color. (phone ringing) chase sapphire preferred, this is julie in springfield. okay... uhh. the bad news, it's probably totaled. the good news is, you don't have to pay your deductible. with vanishing deductible from nationwide insurance, you got $100 off for every year of safe driving, so now your deductible is zero. the other good news ? i held on to your coffee. wow. ♪ nationwide is on your side ( laughing ) it's actually a pretty good day when you consider. that's great. welcome back. 46 minutes after the hour. an update now from outer space. the team of astronauts is safe after a chunk of space junk hurled past the international space station. it happened this morning. now, nasa had planned to move the crew into the soyuz vehicle attached to the space station to keep them safe but officials determined that they didn't need to do it. the junk was not a threat. turns out what was that junk? it was a piece of a chinese weather satellite. >> whew. but it went sailing by and everybody's okay. that's a good thing. meantime, nasa is working on a project that could literally change the way we see the universe. a new telescope could unlock the world's biggest mysteries, like how old is the universe anyway and, of course, do aliens exist? >> a question everyone wants to know. >> sounds great. right? the problem is, congress wanted to ax the project. >> i think we're talking about money here. cnn's john zarrella is live for us in miami. john, the telescope was spared but this is by no mean as long-term guarantee. right? >> reporter: absolutely right, alina and carol. you know, consider the younger, smarter brother to the hubble telescope, web. web has been a problem child with overruns and schedule delays. yet because of its incredible promise, nasa fought tooth and nail to keep the web telescope. this is the future. outside the maryland science center. it's a full-scale model of nasa's james web space telescope. scientists believe the real thing will redefine our understanding of our place in the university. it will be so unique, it can look further back in time than the hubble telescope. almost to the dawn of creation. >> the telescope is to help us find our entire history, from the first things after the big bang to how the first galaxies are born. >> reporter: and astronomers say if they look in just the right place and get just a bit lucky -- >> this may give us our first clue about existence of life in another solar system. >> if we could see a planet like earth, that would be really cool. >> reporter: web will orbit about 1 million miles from earth, it's instruments designed to work in the infrared range, light we can't see. web's capabilities will allow it to literally look where hubble could not, into gas and dust clouds, at the birth of the first stars and planets. sounds incredible. right? web might get us another step closer to solving the puzzle, are we alone? >> i don't even know how you would put a price on being able to answer questions like, how old is the universe? how did this all start? where's it going? what is it made of? are there other people out there like us? these questions are just so intrinsic. >> reporter: but there is a price tag. when web is finally launched in 2018, it will be years behind schedule, and cost about $8.8 billion. $6.5 billion more than the original estimate. at one point, congress came close to killing it. so what happened? how did it end up astronomy at an astronomical cost? >> when doing inventions and things for the first time, you don't know exactly what year going to run into, and we found several things we had to work around. >> reporter: and it better work from the get-go. when hubble ran into problems, space shuttle astronauts came to the rescue, but hubble was only 300 miles up. at 1 million miles away, even if the shuttle was still flying it couldn't get there to fix web. one of the things that really came down to it from nasa, the project was so far along in the pipeline, so much work done on the giant mirrors, that it would have cost even more money to scrub the project than to keep going on with it, and because of it's incredible promise, they did not want to cancel it. now, tomorrow, you know, we've been looking at, is there life out there? what are the realities of finding life? but at the same time we need to be protecting life here on earth from asteroids out there. so we're going to take a look at what some scientists are doing to protect us from what's out there. >> all right. that's something i'm interested in. >> all right. yeah. >> let's protect those, the humans on earth. all right, john zarrella, thank you so much. coming up, the nasty habit major league baseball players are now supposed to hide from the fans. 50 minutes past the hour. ♪ sen♪ co-signed her credit card - "buy books, not beer!" ♪ ♪ut the second at she shut the door ♪ ♪ girl started blowing up their credit score ♪ ♪ she bought a pizza party for the whole dorm floor ♪ ♪ hundred pounds of makeup at the makeup store ♪ ♪ and a ticket down to spring break in mexico ♪ ♪ but her folks didn't know 'cause her folks didn't go ♪ ♪ to free-credit-score-dot-com hard times for daddy and mom. ♪ eight minutes before the top of the hour. what you need to start your day -- newt gingrich will take a new approach to immigration. he doesn't want to break up families that have been in this country illegally for decades. it's a position that could alienate some conservatives. three american students arrested during the uprising in egypt expected to face more questions with u.s. embassy representatives on hand today. violent protests in cairo's tahrir square now entering its fifth day. yemen's president taking the first steps to leave office. he will sign an agreement with the gulf cooperation council to end the violent unrest in his country. he says he'll step down from power within 90 days. and blocking an execution scheduled for next month in oregon. he says no more will happen while he's in office. he plans to push for reforms in 2013. turns out a water pump break in illinois was not the result of a cyber attack. a cyber security expert blogged about the early speculation made by federal authorities. the final report shows there was no evidence to support those early claims. major league baseball limiting the use of smokeless tobacco. players, managers and coaches will not be allowed to use tobacco during televised interviews and club appearances. also, they must hide the products around fans. that's the news you need to know to start your day. "american morning" is back after this. six minutes until the top of the hour. welcome back. it's time to nap. so let's head to jimmy kimmel. he introduced us to the gop-nuts last night. take a look. >> one of my favorite things to do before thanksgiving is to watch charlie brown the thanksgiving special. they started airing the special in 1973. that's 28 years ago. so to freshen things up a little bit, we removed the original audioand we replaced it with audiofrom a republican debate, and i think it really freshens it up. >> mitt, you hire illegals in your home and you knew about it for a year, and the idea that you stand here before us and talk about that you're strong on immigration is on its face the height of hypocrisy. >> rick, i don't think i've ever hired an illegal in my life, and so i'm afraid -- i'm looking forward to finding your facts on that, because that just doesn't -- >> i'll tell you. >> i'm speaking -- >> i'm speaking. >> you get -- >> the rules here is i get 60 seconds and you get 30 seconds to refond, right? >> and you -- >> would you please, wait? are you just going to keep talking? will you let me finish what i have to say. >> 9-9-9! >> it's the gop-nuts. >> the gop-nuts. >> peppermint patty and linus, good at that. >> i wonder how long it took to do that? editing. joining tens of millions of others getting out of here, plane, trains and rails. one of the busiest days of the year. we'll keep you posted. we're back after a quick break. . ...got promoted to director? 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. [ noisemakers blow ] [ both ] we'll miss you! oh, facecake! there's some leftover cake. 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[ male announcer ] we're not employers or employees. not white collar or blue collar or no collars. we are business in america. and every day we awake to the same challenges. but at prudential we're helping companies everywhere find new solutions to manage risk, capital and employee benefits, so american business can get on with business. ♪ we were a serious country. >> gop candidates saying they'd be the better commander in chief, the cnn national security debates, all of the highlights ahead. american students arrested in egypt facing more interrogation today. their families now speaking at cairo erupts in violence for a fifth day. and tail spin. incredible video of a chopper crash and more amazing pictures of the pilot actually walking away from it. pouring rain. avalanche warning? happy day before turkey day. your getaway forecast on this "american morning." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning to you. i can almost smell the turkey now. >> you've been hungry since last week. >> i can't wait. it is wednesday, november 23rd. ali and christine have the day off. i'm carol costello along with alina cho on this "american morning." >> glad you're with us today, of course, one of the busiest travel days of the year so check out our information bar running along the bottom of your screen all morning long. up first today, sparks flying at last night's national security debate. you saw it live right here on cnn. eight republicans sparring onstage, just steps from the white house, disagreeing on just about everything, from the war in afghanistan to immigration. so who came out on top? we've got the best political team on television with us live from washington this morning. cnn's senior political editor mark preston has the post-debate analysis, but first jill dougherty. jill, this event, it really helped define dip divisions with the republican party. right? >> reporter: it did. in some debates, they chart out pointing. but this was different. with eight republicans onstage, president barack obama got a few nicks. >> if you liked what barack obama has done to our economy, you'll love what he's done to our national security. >> reporter: but these candidates had the knives out for each other. >> are you suggesting, governor, we just take all our troops out next week? what's your -- >> did you hear what i just said? i said we should draw down from 100,000. we don't need 100,000 troops. >> reporter: heated debate whether the 9/11 patriot act should be extended. >> all of us will be in danger for the rest of our lives. this is not going to end in the short run. we need to be prepared to protect ourselves. >> you can still provide security without sacrificing our bill of rights. >> i think we have to be very careful in protecting our individual liberties. we forget sometimes that we have a name brand in this world. >> reporter: should specific ethnic or religious groups in america be profiled for security screens? >> who would be profiled? >> obviously, muslims would be someone you would look like. absolutely. the muslims committing these crimes. >> digging a hole for ourselves. what if they look like timothy mcveigh? he was a pretty tough criminal. >> reporter: in the midst of a heavy debate, a light moment. >> is it okay for muslim-americans to get more intensive pat-downs or security when they go through airports than christian americans or jewish americans? >> no, blitz. that's oversimplifying it. i happen to believe that if you allow our intelligence agencies to do their job, they can come up with an approach -- i'm sorry, blitz. i meant wolf. okay? blitz -- wolf. >> reporter: and cha about -- what about aid to pakistan? >> i also think that pakistan is a nation that it's kind of like too nuclear to fail. >> until pakistan clearly shows that they have america's best interests in mind, i would not send them one penny, period. >> with all due respect to the governor, i think that's highly naive. >> reporter: i love that phrase, "with all due respect." other top moments, like when newt gingrich made a plea for what he called more humane enforcement of immigration laws so they won't separate families and mitt romney shot back, amnesty is a magnet encouraging more people to come leer illegally. >> jill dougherty reporting live from washington. thanks, jill. no major gaffes in last night's debate. no painfully long pauses, no meltdown. who came out on top? we go to the score card with cnn senior political editor mark preston. good morning. >> good morning. >> newt gingrich, the front-runner, took the immigration issue head-on. let's listen to what he said. >> the party says it's the party of the family is going to adopt an immigration policy which destroys families that have been here a quarter century and i'm prepared to take the heat for saying let's be humane in enforcing the law without giving them citizen stepbut finding a way to create leaguety so they are not separated from their family. >> all right. from a polling standpoint he the most to lose heading into the debate last night. how is this going to play with the conservative base? >> reporter: well, you know, we're going to see how it plays out in the next 24 hours. the fact of the matter is, newt gingrich was having a very strong debate up until that moment. they're trying to reach out to conservative republican primary voters and the issue of illegal immigration and using this catch phrase of amnesty is very, very damning to those accepting of it. last night we awe newt gingrich do that. we saw governor rick perry do that about a month ago and it was devastating from his campaign and he has never fully recovered are from that. newt gingrich made a great point if you're running in a general election, on a debate stage, let's say, in september, that would be a great thing to do to try to reach out to some disaffected democrats and independent voters, but for social conservatives, probably not the answer he wanted to give. >> right. he's got to clinch the nomination first. right? also a feisty exchange between jon huntsman and mitt romney over troop levels in afghanistan. let's watch. >> we haven't done a very good job defining and articulating what the end point is in afghanistan. i think the american people are getting very tired about where we find ourselves today. >> let me let governor romney respond. >> let me respond. are you suggesting, governor, we just take all our troops out next week? what's your proposal? >> did you hear has i just said? we should draw down our troops. we need a presence op the ground more akin to 10,000 or 15,000 that will serve our interests in terms of intelligence gathering and special forces response capability. >> art. so was this a simple disagreement over troop levels or was there something more to this? >> clearly something more to this. it's really the secret between mitt romney and jon huntsman has gotten out, so to speak. we've come to know that mitt romney and jon huntsman don't necessarily like each other. what we saw there was a disagreement over policy, but clearly, it was a personal fight right there. look at how they addressed one another. look at their body language. look at the sharpness of their rhetoric. what we saw last night was mitt romney and jon huntsman attacking one another and we have to put it in this perspective. jon huntsman needs new hampshire to win the republican presidential nomination. he is all-in in new hampshire. that's the same state mitt romney is all-in as well. mitt romney's put a lot of effort and time into new hampshire. he is leading in the polls up there. jon huntsman need add strong debate performance last night, which he got. reaching out to independent voters up in new hampshire. question is, is it a little too late for him to do so? >> quickly, can't let you go. you were at the debate last night. i want to know, when herman cain called wolf blitzer blitz instead of wolf and then corrected himself, was it as good in person as on televisions? because we awe loll loved wagin >> reporter: great. the pregnant pause between when he said that, then he stopped and said, oh, i'm sorry. the best part, wolf came back and says, thank you, cain as opposed to saying mr. cain ca. . very funny point in the campaign. the democratic perspective on the debate when we're joined by dnc chairwoman debbie wasserman schultz. jon huntsman sparked debate, you saw, saying we immediate to pull u.s. troops out of afghanistan right away. we're going to ask the former utah governor about that plan and also how to be fair about last night's debate what did he think about that? we'll find out when he joins us. >> and three american college students arrested during the uprising in egypt expected to face more questions with u.s. embassy representatives onlahan today. the students accused of lobbing molotov cocktails at police during violent protests. joining us, ivan, last check those three americans had not been questioned. what are you hearing now? >> reporter: we've heard they've been questioned and they've been in police custody and the latest is the general prosecutors office says they'llen r be transferred to the prosecution's office. according to twitter feeds and facebook that seem to be linked to at least two of the students, they seem to have been messaging that they were, in fact, participating in the protests and in some of the clashes. i just came from where some of these street battles have been taking place now going into the fifth straight day, and it appears that the violence has spread to one of the buildings right next to the front line in the street battle between demonstrators and riot police setting fire to the old library of the american university of cairo campus. there's a fire raging on the third floor of that building, and at least four demonstrators, young egyptians on the rooftop, still hurling stones at the riot police below. if the ruling general and the ruling generals who run the military council governing this country for eight months thought that they could defuse the anger by pushing up elections, making that announcement last night that has not worked. the crowd is swelling here in tahir square and the young egyptians are still flinging themselves against riot police, hurling stones at them, despite huge clouds of tear gas that are sending them back to hospitals overwhelmed by the poisonous effects of that gas every few minutes. carol? >> ivan watson reporting live from cairo. thanks. also this morning, pennsylvania child services reportedly investigating two new cases of alleged child sex abuse against former penn state coach jerry sandusky. authorities say the complaints were filed with the past two months and are the first allegations involving victims who are still minors and suggests the alleged abuse occurred while sandusky was being investigated by a grand jury. the three students who bullied a teen before he took his life will not be facing charges. police say there's not enough evidence. jamie kplarched in online videos and posts about being harassed in school over his sexual orient aches. he later committed suicide in septemb september. >> uc davis tries to make good. school chancellor linda katehi promising to pay the medical bills and drop all charges against the students arrested. the chancellor, trying to hang on to her own job, also said she wanted police to remove tents, but she did not approve of the use of force or any arrests. still to come this morning, preparations for a christmas display in new zealand hitting a major snag. take a look at that. a helicopter suddenly goes down. a disaster with a miraculous ending. we'll show it to you. plus, how former new jersey governor jon corzine could answer in public for his brokerage firm's multibillion dollar collapse. and it's the day before thanksgiving, severe weather threatening to cause a few holiday travel headaches. maybe more than a few. make sure you check our weather information bar running along the bottom of your screen. you're watching "american morning." it's 13 minutes after the hour. it is 15 minutes after the hour. welcome back. start your engines. more than 42 million people will be on the move this weekend. isn't boston looking pretty this morning? mother nature is certainly serving up some trouble for holiday travelers. >> we're so lucky we're working, carol. got you covered on getaway day. george howell live at hartsfield-jackson airport in atlanta. ted rollins on a train somewhere between st. louis and chicago and jacqui jeras in the extreme weather center. >> and george howell, at atlanta airport, one of the busiest, just to remind you. george, is it getting more crowded? >> reporter: good morning. we've been telling you about the good story out of atlanta. still a good story, but i can tell you by the hour we are seeing more and more traffic here in this airport. a lot of people getting to their flights. we talked to a few passengers, and you find a mix of opinions out here. we talked to the people who beat the rush. they were happy to do that, but you also find people who are frustrated with the fees out here. take a listen. >> i came out here this same day last year and around 2:30 in the afternoon and it took about two hours extra time than it normally would. >> reporter: so expecting an easy sail so far? >> that's what we're hoping for. >> that's what it looks like. >> stop, grab a bagel and jump on a plane. >> starting to charge for every little option nowadays. >> reporter: what have you noticed? what charges have you run into? >> charges for priority boarding. get you for that. they want to get you for any type of little upgrades and then you can buy miles now. it's interesting how much money has become such a priority for the airline other than timed -- >> reporter: basically you come out and have to deal with the fees. for the most past, we checked the board. no major delays. when you get to the security checkpoint here at atlanta, it is growing by the hour. >> doesn't sound too bad, though, george. thank you. and riding the rails instead, could be a banner week for amtrak. cnn's ted rollins is onboard an amtrak train this morning heading from st. louis to chicago. he's been talking turkey with his fellow passengers, and ted joins us now. hey, ted. good morning. >> reporter: hey, guys. yeah, this is the busiest day of the year for amtrak, and a lot of people are preferring the train for different reasons. this woman is taking the train to chicago. regina, it's all about money. >> yes, it is. >> reporter: saving money? >> yes. >> reporter: normally you fly, but she's doing it because it's cheaper. if you look at numbers it is a lot cheaper. we're going to go down to another car here. the trip from st. louis to chicago, if you take the train, we found a fare for $85. that's round trip. if you drive, it's going to cost you $100 in gas alone. the cheapest way to get between the two cities is still by bus. we found a web-only fare for $50, but, hey, that's the bus. this is the train. and if you're going to fly it would be about $380 round trip. depending when you bought your ticket. this is the lottie family, brock, mo, maddy and molly. how would you get to st. louis? >> usually drive or fly. it's easier. >> reporter: why? why the train? >> train just -- spend family time together. thanksgiving about family. so good six hours together, and it's fun. >> reporter: six hours together at 4:00 in the morning? you see the girls, how they have pajama bottoms on. what do you think? better than sitting in the back of the minivan? >> i think it's really fun here, plus it's a lot of money for gas. plus on a plane it's more money, and this, you can spend more family time on here, and it's really fun. >> reporter: perfect answer. there you have it. spend time with family. save some cash, and enjoy the rails. this car is pretty much empty. looks empty. most of the people are sleeping underneath. that's why you don't see them. guys? >> look at their blankets. thank you, ted. and on that amtrak train somewhere between st. louis and chicago. yeah. severe weather could cause serious travel delays later today. jacqui jeras is in the extreme weather center to share that joyous news with us. >> i know. be patient. that's all i can say. right? just know going in it's going to be slow for a lot of you. our first official delays reported by l.a. philadelphia reporting delays. 30-minute depap cher rturedepar. right now about 2,100 planes up in the air. up 1,000 from an hour ago. at peak later this afternoon, as many as 6,000 planes in the air. that much volume and everyone has to shoot that approach, not a visual approach, it takes a little longer. that's why we'll expect to see so many delays today, but the good news is it's drying up in d.c. as well as in philadelphia, new york, maybe another hour. sprinkles after that. the snow will continue across much of northern new england and 6 to 12 inches possible there. nations mid-section looking great. smooth sailing for you here. no weather-related delays, anyway, but watch out for congestion and the pacific northwest, the powerful storm continues to slam you. on the coast, clocked up to 98 miles per hour. gets better this afternoon. a new storm moves in for tomorrow. >> 6,000 planes in the air later. wow. jacqui. thank you so much. dramatic video this morning of a helicopter crash in auckland, new zealand. that's not the best part of the story. here's what happened. it happened during the installation of a waterfront christmas tree. the chopper's main rotor clipped a cable trying to land, spun out of control and practically came apart with the tail snapping off. no one surrounding the crash side was injured. that's incredible. even more incredible, the chopper pilot was able to walk away from the wreckage. >> geez. ooh. that's crazy to look at. you've heard of money laundering. coming up, call it laundering and how you can already be getting full when you answer your phone. we'll kingd of explain that and i'll say it much better the next time around. we'll be right back. welcome back. "minding your business" this morning, worrying about europe's debt crisis as well as the growth of the u.s. economy are pulling stock markets down worldwide again today. pointing to a lower open this morning and u.s. markets all closed lower yesterday. in about an hour from now a fresh report on the number of people who filed for unemployment claims for the first time last week. we'll get you those numbers as soon as they're made available. could america's biggest banks handle a stock market shock like the one back in 2008? that's what the federal reserve wants to know. the fed is asking america's largest banks to show they have enough cash on hand that will allow them to keep lending to people and businesses if there's another banking crisis. congress wants to talk to jon corzine about $1.2 billion in missing money. members of the house committee are holding a hearing next month to look into the collapse of mf global, a brokerage firm run by the former new jersey governor until he stepped down last month. well, it's called call laundering. what is it jp a new telly marketer trick disguises real identities and phone yub numbers on your caller i.d. the ftc has seen a rison concern about this and are considering new rules to combat fake caller i.d.s. 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[ electronic beeping ] [ male announcer ] still getting dandruff? neutrogena® t/gel shampoo defeats dandruff after just one use. t/gel shampoo. it works. neutrogena®. what's vanishing deductible all about ? guys, it's demonstration time. let's blow carl's mind. okay, let's say i'm your insurance deductible. every year you don't have an accident, $100 vanishes. the next year, another $100. where am i going, carl ? the next year... that was weird. but awesome ! ♪ nationwide is on your side i want a law that says you try to take out an american city we're going to stop you. >> eight republicans debating national security but finding little common ground on how best to protect the country on this "american morning." welcome back to "american morning." it's 30 minutes past the hour. your top stories now -- tear gas, fire bombs, hysteria. more protests in egypt, deeply frustrated with new military rulers. saying promises to speed up presidential elections, not good enough. more than 30 people died since the protests re-ignited five days ago. three american college students arrested during that upridesing in egypt expected to face 0 more questioning with u.s. embassy representatives onhard today. the students shown on egyptian state tv are accused of lobbing molotov cocktails at police during violent protests. one of the mothers is speaking out saying her son is the type of kid who would get involved but not get violent. >> he is a very passionate person who believes in democracy, he believes in standing up for what you believe in. standing up for what you feel is right and that's the kind of person he is, so are we surprised he would go down there and stand up for what he believes in? no. >> joy sweeney will join us live in the next hour of "american morning" with new information on her son. sources say authorities are investigating two new cases of alleged child sex abuse by jerry sandusky. the first known cases to be reported since sandusky's arrest and the first involving alleged victims who are still minors. the former penn state coach already faces 40 counts of criminal sex abuse involving eight boys beginning in the mid-1990s. and the security debate in washington, d.c., eight candidates tangled on issues like syria and whether the u.s. needs to set ip a no-fly zone stopping the bloody crackdown on demonstrators. >> i would work with our allies in the region to put pressure, to be able to try and get our allies and other nations to stop buying oil from syria. that would be one thing that i'd do, but would not support a no-fly zone. >> if you have a no-fly zone over syria, that's an act of war. what if we had china put a no-fly zone over our territory? i don't think we would like that, and i think we should practice a -- a policy of -- of goodwill to other people. >> this is not the time for a no-fly zone over syria. his is a time for us to use not only sanctions but covert actions with, syria, to get regime change in. people in the military are shifting over becoming part ever the rebel effort. we should support those efforts. >> we're talking about syria is a partner with iran in exporting terrorism all across that part of the world and around the globe. so if we're serious about iran, then we have to be serious about syria as well. so i think a no-fly zone is an option, one of a multitude of options that we should s be usig and put them in place if year seas ar iran not getting a nuclear weapon. >> you've been hearing all morning long from the eight republican presidential candidates. their views on national security. their disagreements on issues like afghanistan, pakistan, syria and immigration. the only thing they seem to agree on is getting barack obama out of the white house. here's mitt romney making his case. >> president obama's foreign policy is one of saying, first of all, america's just another nation with a flag. i believe america is an exceptional and unique nation. president obama seems to think we're going to have a global century, an asian century. i believe we have to have an american century where america leads the free world and the free world leads the entire world. president obama apologizes for america. it is time for us to be strong as a nation. >> let's get perspective from the other side of the aisle. joining us from our miami burp oh this morning, democratic national chairwoman debbie wasserman schultz. good morning. >> good morning, alina. >> i assume you watched last night's debate and am a little afraid to ask you, but what are your thoughts? >> well, my thoughts are that mitt romney did his level best to continue to pull the field of republican candidates as far to the right and the extreme right as possible, whether it was on immigration, where he said that, even family whose have been here for 25 years, as newt gingrich talked about, he would tear those apart. take people who essentially have broken no laws and been working and paying taxes -- you know, no path to a future here in america for those undocumented immigrants, and on every other issue. these ar field of republican candidates so obsessed with one job, barack obama's, rather than america jobs, that they even refused to acknowledge that it's president obama who planned and executed the attack on al qaeda that killed osama bin laden. i mean, in a national security debate last night, the entire field had no plan. particularly mitt romney. no plan on withdrawing our troops from iraq when the overwhelming majority of the american people support that. he would leave them there indefinitely. this is a field not ready for primetime when it comes to being commander in chief. >> there were eight candidates on the stage, though, and you know, by my count, you've said mitt romney twice, haven't named any of the other candidates by name. at least not yet, but why after -- why go after mitt romney so early on in this contest? i mean, the iowa caucuses aren't until january 3rd? >> the reason i'm talking about mitt romney, i also mentioned newt gingrich, is because he has some really disturbing views. i mean, he's done his best to continue to embrace the tea party extremism. he is someone who is focused on making sure that we do everything but take care of the middle class and working families, and so i think he's earned the attention that he's getting, because we have to make sure that the american people understand the dramatic contrast between mitt romney's views, particularly because he flip-flops on every major issue, has no consistent position, no conviction, no core, and he wants to be president of the united states. people should know that. >> let's talk a little about this job situation. according to our polling, the president is strong on foreign policy and national security, but in that poll that really matters to american voters, 54% say the economy is the most important issue to them. >> yes. >> and their vote, unemployment is second. you know, with unemployment at 9% and 74% of people saying things are going so badly in this country, with a democrat in the white house, how do you fight that? >> well, president obama has been focused for his entire term on trying to get the economy turned around and create jobs. we've gone from bleeding 750,000 jobs a month before he was inaugurated to now we've had three years later 20 straight months of growth in the private sector. 2.8 million jobs created and a boost in the manufacturing sector. we've got a long way to go, but president obama has been focused on geting the middle class and working families to make sure that they have some focus and attention, while the republican field is focused on the wealthiest americans. >> the president can say all he wants. we've got to be patient. this takes time, and we understand that in our minds, but in our hearts when we go out to vote, i mean, we're impatient. we want things to change. >> well, and president obama isn't patient. that's why he's been working so hard. you've got the republican congress who is refusing to support the americans jobs act. actually shot down legislation proposed by the president to invest in infrastructure and put construction workers back to work. shot down legislation to make sure we can keep teachers in the classroom and keep the first responders on the job. you know, at least they were willing to support reluctantly, a tax break for small businesses that hire veterans returning from iraq and afghanistan and wounded veterans, but president obama has said, we can't wait. so he's doing without the republicans what he's able to do by executive order, because he knows we need to focus on all american jobs. while the republican candidates are focused on his job. that's just unacceptable and alina, it's by president obama in national polling beats head-to-head every single republican candidate in the field, because they know he's fighting to get the economy turned around without their help. >> debbie wasserman schultz. we'll leave it there. thank you for joining us. >> thank you so much. happy thanksgiving. >> happy thanksgiving to you. hope you're not traveling, because it's bad weather today. >> no. >> didn't sound like she was. who came out on top in last night's gop debate? was there a clear winner? up next, two of the country's top political minds for their take on the debate. and heavy traffic today at airports across the country. no surprise there. we're going to take you behind the scenes to see exactly how air traffic controllers at weren't of the busiest airports cut through the chaos to ensure that the flights are safe. 39 minutes after the hour. wow. not a very great day in washington, d.c. as far as the weather is concerned. kploud 57 degrees, more rain expected later today and quite windy with a high of 64. welcome back to "american morning." debate number 11 is in the bag. eight republicans tangling last night just a few hundred yards from the white house. so who stood out and who stumbled? let's get to the score cards now. joining us if washington, republican strategist karen henretty and cnn contributor david fromme. these debates had a history of being game changers. so any game changers last night your eyes? >> i think it remains to be seen. i think the biggest takeaway that people are going to be talking, certainly inside the beltway and with political circles is newt gingrich's support for some form of amnesty. now, his campaign is already on the radio this morning doing a little backtracking saying it's not amnesty. they just want to provide a legal status for people who are not here legally who have been here 25 years and have all of these circumstances. when rick perry came out of, you know -- in the debate and supported in-state tuition for illegal immigrants who are students in his state, he tanked in the poll numbers. we'll see if this is a game changer. >> he did tank, although he -- he used different words in his arguments. let's listen to -- listen to newt gingrich explain his stand on immigration. >> once you've put every piece in place, which includes a historical program you need something like a world war ii selective service ward that frankly reviewsed people who are here. you've come here recently, no ties to this country, you ought to go home, period. here 25 years, two kids, three grandkids, paying taxes,ing to a local church. i don't think we're going to separate you from your family and kick you out. i don't see that the family is going to adopt a family that's been here a quarter century and prepared to take the heat for saying, let's be humane in enforcing the law. >> so, david, you heard it there. he said how can republicans be the party of family, unlike rick perry who said, hey, only if you don't have a heart could you deny children of illegal immigration free in-state tuition. is there a difference? >> well, newt gingrich answer is, frankly, more preposterous. there are maybe 10 million to 12 million illegals in country. the idea of an individualized hearing for all of those people is utterly unworkable. what gingrich was doing in was putting down a couple of markers. he was putting down a marker for his base, but he feels confident of them. right now there he was appealing to his donors. the power of the immigration issue in the republican party is not because there are a lot of illegal immigrants who vote in republican primary. it's powerful because there are a lot of people who employ either illegals or quasi-legal workers who give money in the republican party. this kind of labor is very important to the restaurant industry, very important to hotels, entertainment, casinos. it's very important for landscaping, golf courses, and all of those people have money to give. it is a reminder, one of the things that is very interesting about this issue, immigration is the one issue you can serve pastry yet get a reputation of being a humane passionate person. >> one of the most cynical things i've heard in a long time. >> it's accurate, though. it is accurate. some of newt gingrich's largest donors for his non-campaign related businesses have been exactly the industries that david just mentioned. now, it's also a very -- a general election position for him to be taking, and the question is, will he take the heat and how much does he take? but i think he'll be in a great deal of scrutiny. the best thing he has going now we're headed into the thanksgiving season. won't be paying as close attention. >> a lot worse cynical things to say if you give me the chance. >> oh, my gosh. talk about mitt romney. some said his performance last night was underwhelming. he's continuing to play it safe. david, should he continue doing that or is it time to step up now that newt gingrich is surging in the polls? >> he needs to step up. this was mitt romney's worst debate. i don't mean he did anything wrong. mitt romney is so skilled and ready he doesn't make mistake, but in previous debates, there has been an effortless gravitas gap between mitt romney and all the other people who were a factor. yesterday people like huntsman, always impressive, newt gingrich certainly smart, but they were not backers. in single digits in the polls. this time, gingrich is a factor in many ways. in many ways he's the front-runner. huntsman is emerging. those two, not mitts are much better. suddenly the gravitas is shrinking. romney can't just be better. he has to do something. >> karen, i noechted when mitt romney argued he didn't arg gi with newt gingrich, say, he argued with jon huntsman or ron paul. >> look, mitt romney is running a safe campaign. that's not a bad thing. he's you know, very careful about, and selective, about the interviews he agrees to give, which mostly he doesn't agree to give them. you know, this is a very tight campaign, and i think -- i think he's less interested in making news in these debates than he is about maintaining a significant lead in new hampshire, taking that victory and going on to the other states. you're not going to hear the big ideas coming from mitt romney. you're going to hear the big ideas, good, bad and otherwise, from people like newt gingrich. you're going to hear some provocative ideas from the candidates who are, you know, in single digits in the polls who need to make headlines. mitt romney i think, doesn't think he needs to do that. he's going to be a safe candidate. if he wins the general election it will be a safe campaign and if president, he'll be a safe president. >> karen and david, thank you both so much for coming in this morning. >> thank you. >> thanks. jon huntsman sparked lively debate last night. he joins us live on "american morning" at 8:10 eastern. and mark your calendars. the next live debate hosted by cnn will be held january 19th in charleston, south carolina, co-sponsored by the southern republican leadership conference. and just ahead -- morning headlines and an up close look at our air traffic controllers in action, alina. >> right. going inside a simulation lab where air traffic controllers train on one of the busiest travel days of the year, and our own saundra endo learns how to land a plane. just how hard is it? 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"american morning" is back after this. seven minutes until the top of the hour. welcome back, thanksgiving, of course, one of the year's busiest travel times rights now. take a live look at the flight explorer. it shows a huge number of airplanes in the sky right now. >> we're expecting 6,000 flights at once later on in the day. heavy traffic at airports puts extra stress on air traffic controllers who have to make sure those planes take off and land safely. they get hundreds of hours of training before managing a real flight. our cnn sandra endo got a first-hand look at some of the training at one of the country's most congested airports. >> we're here in a simulation lab where air traffic controllers train. we're here to train at lax airport and you're going to show me how to land a plane, right? >> we're going to depart a couple airplanes. >> we'll send some off. >> what you see out the window is exactly what you see when you're in the tower. once he's on the runway and you know there is no conflictions. scan your runway and make sure no traffic. >> is it normal that your hands are sweaty? >> yes, in the beginning it is. >> this is stressful. >> each strip represents an aircraft and flight plan. it's like a road map in the sky. we need to move these airplanes here across this runway because the guy on short final right here will not be able to land. so, you better make a transmission now, southwest 725, go around. do it now. >> southwest 725 go around. so, the poor people on that plane now are circling the airport because i'm too slow. >> the runways are these lines here and there's two leines there. the white are the aircraft coming in. this is a ground radar display and this shows the controller exactly what you see as you're looking out the window. did you watch him land? you should have made sure that the runway was clear when he landed. >> well -- i was, this is very hard. >> it's extreme concentration. it's a mental game. it does get a little tiring. >> cross runway, too far left. >> now you're getting it. >> we can introduce rain with lightning and also have the capability to show snow. working in the dark, it adds a tremendous amount of complexity because you can't see, as well. perfect. >> those people are happy. >> yes, they're happy. >> cactus 297, runway 24 left. >> we're out of airplanes. >> that is a great feeling. thank you. >> you're welcome. >> sandra endo, cnn, los angeles. >> good for her for trying. she got the hang of it, eventually. >> she did. she was pretty good at the end and she has a second career choice if she ever needs it. top stories coming your way next rain and snow making for travel trouble in the northeast right now. sandra endo knows all about that. former utah governor jon huntsman stops by our studios. four minutes until the top of the hour. at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function so moving is easier. and celebrex is not a narcotic. when it comes to relieving your arthritis pain, you and your doctor need to balance the benefits with the risks. all prescription nsaids, like celebrex, ibuprofen, naproxen, and meloxicam have the same cardiovascular warning. they all may increase the chance of heart attack or stroke, which can lead to death. this chance increases if you have heart disease or risk factors such as high blood pressure or when nsaids are taken for long periods. nsaids, including celebrex, increase the chance of serious skin or allergic reactions or stomach and intestine problems, such as bleeding and ulcers, which can occur without warning and may cause death. patients also taking aspirin and the elderly are at increased risk for stomach bleeding and ulcers. do not take celebrex if you've had an asthma attack, hives, or other allergies to aspirin, nsaids or sulfonamides. get help right away if you have swelling of the face or throat, or trouble breathing. tell your doctor your medical history and find an arthritis treatment for you. visit celebrex.com and ask your doctor about celebrex. for a body in motion. visit celebrex.com and ask your doctor about celebrex. when you're a sports photographer, things can get out of control pretty quickly. so i like control in the rest of my life... especially my finances. that's why i have slate, with blueprint. i can make a plan to pay off big stuff faster... or avoid interest on everyday things. that saves me money. with slate from chase, i'm always in control. financially, anyway. get slate with blueprint and save money. call 855-get-slate today. 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[announcer:] conocophillips. mother nature making a mess on get away day. i'm carol costello. storms on the east and west coast serving up routes for travelers. eight republicans debate trying to convince voters they're the best choice for president. one sparking a spirited exchange with his ideas on afghanistan. he's jon huntsman and he'll join us live on this "american morning." good morning, everybody. >> good morning. the day before thanksgiving, november 23rd. ali and christine are off, i'm alina cho along with carol costello. up first today, two major storms. the northeast and in the northwest, just as millions of people hit the road for the thanksgiving holiday. one of the busiest travel days of the year. according to aaa more than 42 million people will be on the move this weekend on the road, in the rails and on the air and that could make for a travel nightmare on highways and airports. >> jacqui jeras in the extreme weather center and george howell outside atlanta international airport and ted rowlands aboard an amtrak train as it is heading into chicago. first jacqui jeras. good morning. >> things are looking better than they were a half hour ago. some departure delays in philadelphia. that's cleared up now. that's the good news. the bad news, 1,000 more planes, 1,000 more planes in the air than there were an hour ago. that number is continuing to rise. we're at about 2,900 at this hour and we still have some rain and overcast skies and i'll give it two hours and i do expect to see the delays tally up, again. if you're trying to get out there on the roadways. i-95 one of the worst quarters at this hour. starting to dry up here in new york city, as well as into washington, d.c., you can see that there is going to be another round of showers coming in probably by early afternoon and then by the evening, it's going to be looking a lot better. snowfall totals starting to tally up, too. we have seen eight inches in central parts of maine and 6 to 12 inches overall when all is said and done. some rumbles across florida. jacksonville you got it good and that rain is declining. we have flooded areas we're concerned about with a couple inches of rain falling and still a little more in the forecast. flood watches in effect here across eastern philadelphia and new jersey until 1:00 today. hopefully we'll see improvements here, as well. also a powerful storm in the pacific northwest. this thing has been putting out wind gust reports of up to 89 miles per hour. heavy snow, 10 to 20 inches has fallen into parts of the cascades. now, this is pushing eastward. better conditions by the afternoon, but look at this, as we head into thanksgiving day, another storm arriving and knocking on your doorstep. temperaturewise, though, pretty comfortable across the country. best location in the nation would be the plain states with 48 in minneapolis and up to 70 degrees in dallas. back to you guys. >> not too bad, actually. >> not too bad at all. thank you. check the bottom of your screen because we're running the latest weather information for you there all morning long. >> is it there? >> it is there. can't tell from our cameras here, our vantage point. the bad weather could mean significant flight delays. george howell at one of the nation's busiest airports this morning. that's hartsfield jackson in atlanta. good morning, george. i would imagine with it getting later on in the morning, it is only getting worse. >> good morning. each hour with the conditions here the good news for the early birds, but i can tell you each hour we're seeing more and more people showing up to this airport to travel, which you would expect here at this time on thanksgiving. but, also, when you go inside, you see the various stories. there are people who are traveling for just a few days to visit relatives, but for our military men and women, this is a time to travel home for an extended time. melissa who we just spoke with who is coming back from iraq. take a listen. >> what is it like to be back on american soil to be back home? >> it is the best feeling, especially so close to the holidays. i think all of us are really, really excited to get to spend time with our family for the holiday. it's been so long since we've been gone. >> great time for melissa. she's expecting to spend some time with her 6-year-old son and not sure how long she will be able to stay home but certainly happy to be home. elena? >> coming home must feel great for her and a lot of men and women in uniform this thanksgiving holiday. george, thank you very much. from planes to the trains. ted rowlands boarded the train in st. louis and he's on his way to chicago with lots and lots of other people. so, ted, how are things fairing at amtrak? >> well, things are going well. we're in funksville, illinois. basically in between springfield and bloomington, normal, on our way to chicago. we are hearing from passengers and people taking the train for a number of different reasons. this is brenda and tiffany webb, they're heading to milwaukee to see family and right here is fay hammel and laurie gregory and you guys are headed to chicago and also for thanksgiving to see family. why the train? >> why the train? first time on train and it's good. it's a good way to travel. >> you're getting a break this year. normally she cooks thanksgiving for the entire family. this year she gets a break, going to your daughter's house. >> correct. >> but you're only going for one day because it's best to visit relatives in short spurts. >> exactly, exactly. >> what do you think of the train and the difference between driving and flying and taking the train? >> oh, the train is much better. it's relaxing, it's economical, you can stretch, you don't have to be all cramped up in a car. i like it a lot. >> and economical, it is cheap, relatively so. we found a fare for this round trip st. lieus to chicago for $85. when you compare it to the other modes of transportation, it's a good deal. $100 to drive, that's gasoline alone. the cheapest way to get back and forth. we found a web fare on greyhound bus for $50 round trip. that, obviously, is the cheapest, but, hey, it is a bus and this is a train, big difference. airlines will cost you between 2 on the low end to about $400, if you were to fly. rosemary and carly, mother and daughter. now, these guys are headed to chicago for a shopping trip. they don't even know where they're going to have thanksgiving dinner. why did you guys choose the train? >> i've never been on a train before so i was really excited to try it. >> obviously, the weather doesn't matter because it could be snowing out there and this thing is still going to roll. >> it's great. a great way to travel. >> you don't know where you're going to have thanksgiving at all. >> we're just playing it by ear. we're going to go to chicago and be whatever we want to do. >> how long are you going to be there? >> we're leaving on saturday. >> leaving on saturday. nice little girls' trip to chicago. carol, lots of different stories and lots of different people. kids on the train. the great thing is you can eat, drink, walk around. a lot better than driving. because you don't have to deal with the weather, too. >> i have to agree, i like the train. you don't have to deal with security, taking your shoes off and all that whole thing. ted, watch your head when you're walking through that car, all right? >> huge delay because the train is moving. so, i'm sure ted was laughing at your joke. >> i'm going to pretend he was. >> those people are going to end up at a chinese restaurant on thanksgiving. >> they are going to shop! still ahead, they are all just praying a lot. we'll talk with the parents of an american student now jailed in cairo. you have seen it live here on cnn, eight republicans disagreeing about everything on national security. who came out on top. up next, we'll talk to the moderator, wolf blitzer. jon huntsman will join us live. it's nine minutes after the hour. 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[ louder ] hello? but we still need your signature. right now during sign then drive it's never been easier to get the all-new passat, the 2012 motor trend car of the year, for practically just your signature. that's the power of german engineering. visit vwdealer.com. washington, d.c., may be waking up with a post-debate hangover. good morning to the nation's capital and everyone there. it's cloudy and 57 degrees. rain and wind later heading up to a high of 64. welcome back to "american morning." when it comes to protecting americans from the threat of terrorism, just about every other important issue, the eight republican candidates for president can't seem to agree on a common approach and you saw that right here on cnn at last night's national security debate. even the patriot act provoked fireworks. listen to this exchange between ron paul and frontrunner newt gingrich. >> i think the patriotic act is unpatriotic because it undermines our liberty. >> i don't want a law that says after we lose a major american city, we're going to come and find you. i want a law that says you try to take on an american city, we're going to stop you. >> well, in the middle of the firestorm last night moderating the 11th gop debate of the 2012, wolf joins us live on the phone from washington this morning. hey, wolf, good morning. great job last night and great tie, i might add. what was your big take away? >> thank you. >> what was your big take away last night, wolf? >> i thought that newt gingrich, you know, had courage in taking a position that i knew was going to hurt him with some conservatives, some republicans when he basically opened the door that some illegal immigrants who had been in the united states for a long time who have roots and kids here could find the legal way to stay, not necessarily become citizens, but find a way to stay in the united states and he's going to get some grief and he's already getting grief out of the blogosmear. children of illegal immigrants in texas could get in-state tuition if they went to a state university in texas. in the part of newt gingrich. i spoke to him afterwards and he said that's how he feels and he was willing to take that stance. that was a politically, a politically courageous move, even if it's going to cost him some political grief in the weeks ahead. but we'll see if it does. >> you know, i was curious to know what you thought about this because heading into the debate, as you know, newt gingrich was on top of the polls. polling at about 24%. you know, he sort of played the frontrunner last night, didn't he? maybe i was looking for it. but did you sense that, as well? >> this was the first debate that the polls showed that he really, together with romney at the top nationally, they're both statistically in the tie, at least in our cnn/orc polls and he's doing really well in iowa and south carolina and even in new hampshire. so, you know, he's got a lot going right now, but he was, look, he has been good. he has been good at all the debates. he's been around washington for 50 years. he knows these issues and, obviously, a smart guy. he's very positive. he goes into these debates with a strong stance and it's one of the reasons he came from disaster last summer when the tiffany's credit card thing came out and he took the cruise to the eastern mediterranean and all of his staff quit new hampshire. he was no where then and now he's at the top of the pack right now. you have to give him credit. one of the reasons is he does well in these debates, generally speaking. >> he must certainly did. >> i can't let you go without asking you about this. i want to play this moment last night from herman cain, let's watch. >> is it okay for muslim americans to get more intensive patdowns or security when they go through airports than christian americans or jewish americans? >> no, blitz. that's oversimplifying it. i happen to believe that if you allow our intelligence agencies to do their job, they can come up with an approach. i'm sorry, blitz, i meant wolf. blitz, wolf. >> all right, wolf, did you talk to herman cain afterwards about this? >> yes, i did. >> what did he say? >> afterwards i said, i said to him, thanks, cain. and he laughed about that, as well. we had a good little laugh. it's not the first time people have called me blitz, they have called me a lot worse than that. that's fine with me. i did find it cute, though, remember in introducing everybody i said i want a short little statement from all of you self-introducing and i pointed out i'm wolf blitzering a and ty real name. he said mitt romney, and he said, yes, wolf, that is my first name. which isn't technically true because his first name, legally, is willard, not mitt. but, you know, just first name everybody calls him mitt. >> hey, listen -- >> we'll give him a pass. >> if blitz is the worst thing somebody calls you, hey, not so bad. >> not so bad. he was a gentleman afterwards. all of them were very nice. and i think it was a good -- >> well, it was a great debate and we'll see you later on in "the situation room" today. thanks, wolf, for joining us. >> thanks, guys. >> thank you, wolf. one republican candidate has credentials his competitors cannot match. jon huntsman trailing badly in the polls once worked in the obama administration as ambassador to china and he has a ton of foreign policy experience. he tangled last night with mitt romney over america's strategy in afghanistan. >> we haven't done a very good job defining and articulating what the end point is in afghanistan. i think the american people are getting very tired about where we find ourselves today. >> let me let governor romney respond. >> let me respond. are you suggesting, governor, that we just take all our troops out next week. >> did you hear what i just said? >> we should draw down from 100,000. we don't need 100,000 troops. >> many of them whom can't cross the wire. we need a presence on the ground that is more akin to 10,000 to 15,000. intelligence gathering and special forces response capability. >> jon huntsman good to join us from washington this morning. good morning. >> thanks, costello, good to be with you. >> you're welcome, hunt. i love that name game thing. but, first of all, how do you think you did in this debate because some analysts said you had to hit a home run last night. >> i think we did just fine. it was a debate that allowed me to talk about the importance of being commander in chief. at the end of the day, you're commander in chief and make a whole lot of decisions impact this nation and the entire world. i lived overseas four times, carol. i have been an ambassador three times and i have a sense of how the pieces of this world fit together and first and foremost what we need to do here domestically and getting our house in order to make sure we have an effective foreign policy. now the market moving event will be new hampshire, no doubt about that. we're slowly moving up in new hampshire in ways that make me very, very proud. we have weeks to go and people aren't going to coales around a candidate until a week, ten days out and we have enough time remaining to continue to make our arguments. >> let's talk more about new hampshire because a superpack poured a lot of money into advertising there. some $650,000. a lot of people are wondering if your father contributed any money to that superpack to help you along with that campaign. >> listen, he's my dad, he's my best friend, i love him dearly. we don't talk about those things, we can't. i'm just delighted that we've actually got some outside assistance from wherever it comes from that believes in our cause and help us get to where we need to be. >> you don't know if your dad contributed to that superpack. >> no, there's a bright division between what i do and what any superpack can do and you don't talk about those things. i don't wish to talk about -- >> i haven't seen the ad running on television. i haven't even seen the ad. i'm busy on the ground. we have done 103 public events in new hampshire and we're working more aggressively than anybody else. that is the work that is going to pay off. >> of course, mitt romney is leading in the polls in new hampshire. and judging from your interaction with mitt romney last night, some analysts say you two don't get along. it's personal between you. is it? >> i think, that's part of the drama and theatrics of politics that i know members of the media love to dwell on. i respect mitt romney. i don't know him well, i got to meet him and get to know him somewhat when we overlapped as governor for a brief period of time. clearly our approaches are different on a lot of the issues. my record is different than his record and our styles are different. some of that came out last night in terms of deferring to people on the ground and i had to come back and say, no, this is what a president does. a president is a commander in chief when it comes time to making decisions which are critically important given how we are spread throughout the world. we have 700 installations in 60 different countries around the world today. this is the second decade into the 21st century and we need infrasfrkture that serves our interest today, not from the cold war era. >> it seems like you're just about the only candidate who has not surged. and i was wondering what you make of newt gingrich's surge. do you think that the surge is real? is newt gingrich the real deal? >> well, that's up to the people to decide. all i want to do, carol, is make sure that we don't have 15 minutes of fame. i don't want a fleeting ephemeral 15 minutes, i want sustainability. to have sustainability, you have to put the building blocks together on the ground that are based on a substantive rise. so, we put out detailed policy paper and speeches on our position in the world and on tax reform and on economics and on energy independence and i think in the end, that's going to be our benefit because when the cameras are on and people take a look at you, i think in our case for the first time we may have been dismissed as somebody coming back from china, worked for a democrat and i say a lot of people are just coming around and looking at us for the first time and saying, oh, he may be a whole lot different than we might have imagined before. he's got a conservative governing record in the state of utah, national security credentials and maybe he's got what what it takes to go on and beat president obama. >> you still have so far to go. you want to show people your substance but some voters are only seeing your style she asked them how they felt about you. let's listen. >> jon huntsman is going to be joining us in our 8:00 hour. he's gotten some good reviews in the press. what was your take on how he did last night? >> a little less on the thought deficit and a little more on substance. >> that's it? >> that's it. larry? >> he's good. he's good. >> not exactly a ringing endorsement. >> no, not exactly ringing endorsement. >> so, how do you overcome that? >> you overcome whatever the critics might be saying by having a market moving event. let's face it, you have to move a market in an early primary state and that's new hampshire. when we move up in new hampshire, as i know we're going to do, that's inevitable. people will pay attention. they're going to take a look at you and analyze, critique and scrutinize you and that's the way these things shift. you need a market moving event in new hampshire that state that has upended conventional wisdom and i believe that happened again. based on work on the ground and based upon having a message that is right for our times and that is we have a cancer growing in our country, it's called debt and it's going to ship wreck the next generation unless we can address it properly and we have another deficit that nobody is focused on and that's the deficit of trust. people in this country do not trust the institutions of power any longer. they don't trust congress. we need term limits and deal with the revolving door for lobbyists coming out of congress. but they don't trust the executive branch and the president who can't lead. they don't trust wall street any more with banks that are too big to failure. taking the time not just about our economic deficit but the trust deficit thane in the mind of a whole lot of americans is corrosive. >> just a final question for you. if you don't win in new hampshire, will you leave the race? >> carol, failure is not an option. you have to beat market expectations in new hampshire and i have every expectation that we're going to do better than what the marketplace might be predicting at this point and i'm thrilled to participate in this race. it is a great honor and privilege to be a candidate for the presidency of the greatest nation that ever was. >> jon huntsman, thank you so much for coming in this morning. we appreciate it. >> thanks, carol, i appreciate it. >> the next live debate hosted by cnn will be held on january 19th in charleston, south carolina. co-sponsored by the southern republican leadership conference. mark it on your calendar. >> here we go, again. up next, a check of the early financial markets and talk about a deal. which electronics should you be shopping for this season. the helicopter's pilot's miraculous escape after the choperse's blades get tangled in cables. 28 minutes after the hour. minding your business this morning. in just a few minutes, we'll get a fresh report on the number of people who filed for unemployment claims for the first time last week. we'll get you those numbers as soon as they're available. worries about europe's debt crisis, as well as the growth of the u.s. economy are pulling stock markets down worldwide again today. take a look. u.s. stock futures pointing to a lower open and u.s. markets all closed lower yesterday. more bad news for netflix. the video streaming and dvd rental service now says it expects to be in the red through all of next year. the company has been struggling since the summer when it increased prices and then later flip-flopped on the rebranding of its services. two more days until black friday and you're in for a real bargain if you're shopping for an lcd tv this year. prices are expected to drop to record lows. we're talking 40 to 42 inch sets priced in a range of 200 to 400 bucks. why? manufacturers are trying to bring in as much business as possible after a weak sale season this fall. up next, the parents of an american student jailed in cairo, egypt. "american morning" is back after this. he is a very passionate person. he believes in standing for what he believes in. standing up for what he feels is right and that's the kind of person he is. so y w so, was i surprised he would go down there and stand up for what he believes in? no. the mother will join us live as her son faces questioning today in cairo, on this "american morning." welcome back to "american morning" on this day before thanksgiving. it's 32 minutes after the hour. your top stories now. two major storm systems in the northeast and northwest hitting just as the holiday exodus kicks into high gear. and this just in to cnn, a groundstop now in effect at philadelphia's international airport until 9:00 a.m. eastern time. this is a live look at the flight explorer that shows 3,300 airplanes in the sky right now. >> but nothing taking off from philadelphia at the moment, right? 15 maryland high school students suffering minor injuries after the bus was involved in a crash. a truck driver involved in the crash was arrested for driving under the influence. some dramatic video of a helicopter crash in new zealand. the chopper's main rotor clipped a cable. the chopper comes apart and the tail just snapping off. miraculously, the pilot was able to walk away from the wreckage. new violent clashes in egypt. tear gases and fire bombs and hysterial and tens of thousands of protesters deeply frustrated with their new military rulers and saying a promise to speed up presidential elections is just not good enough. more than 30 people have died in the five days since the protesters returned to tahrir square. three american college students were also arrested during the uprising in egypt. they expect to face more questioning with u.s. embassy representatives on hand today. those representatives will be with them. the students shown on egyptian state tv accused of lobbing molotov cocktails at police during the protests. joining susthe mother of one of the detained protesters. joy sweeney. good morning. >> good morning. >> do you know exactly what is happening with your son right now? >> at this exact moment, no. but i do know that the counselor general of the u.s. embassy in egypt did speak to my husband this morning. my husband called him. and he had the privilege of speaking to derrik today and he spoke with all three boys today. he said that they were being treated well. and they were going to be moved to where they're presently being detained to speak to the attorney general at some point today. they're waiting until that time, until it's safe to move them. apparently, they're not sure when that will be. so, at that juncture, they're going to, the attorney general is going to determine whether or not charges against them are going to be made or if they're going to -- what they're going to do. >> do you know exactly what they may be charged with? >> i have no idea. i have none whatsoever. i mean, all i know is what you're reporting. >> yeah. have you been able to talk to your son? has he texted you? has he contacted you via facebook? >> no, no, no. my daughter actually went in and got to his facebook and blocked it because he can't touch his -- i have his cell phone number, i had talked to him the day before, actually, within 12 h r hours prior to this happening and that's the first thing i did was called his cell phone number and the message is in a arabic at first but then repeat that his phone has been turned off. they have confiscated his phone, i'm sure. i shouldn't say i'm sure of anything, but i believe. >> your son was going to school in cairo. tell us, i mean, tell us what he was doing there. maybe we'll just put it that way. >> well, he was actually attending georgetown university. this is the fall semester of his juni junior year where students do their semester abroad if they travel abroad. he was majoring in psychology and arabic. he wanted to go to an arabic-speaking country and egypt was one of the options that was presented to him. as of last spring it was questionable if he would be able to even go to egypt, but they did say that he could go and, so, we completed all the paperwork and we did everything and he flew out of st. louis airport last august 20th and arrived there on the 22nd. and did his foreign exchange student orientation and he's studying arabic and getting as in all of his classes at au cairo, american university in cairo. he was actually a phenomenal student. he's a very bright, good-hearted person. and, you know, he's on the cross country team when he was in high school and then joined the running club at georgetown. he was working for the corps, which is a student organization. >> can you see him? can you see him joining in these protests and lobbying molotov cocktails at military police? >> i cannot imagine him. you know, in the video that i saw on youtube, you know, which is the same video everybody else can see, i saw what appeared to maybe be him, but he was standing there observing. he didn't have anything in his hand. he wasn't throwing anything. i mean, we went back through it click by click by click to try and watch every move he made. and, so, in that body of evidence, i saw him doing nothing but observing what was transpiring. he wasn't on a roof of anything. i don't know, you know, that may not be all they have. but, no, personally, he's a very peaceful, harmonious. he cares about the world. he cares about people and i can't imagine him ever doing anything that would hurt somebody es. >> we'll keep on top of what happens today in egypt. hopefully, whatever questioning is going to take place will take place soon and you'll be able to at least know more. joy sweeney, thanks so much for joining us this morning. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> she must be worried sick. let's hope this has a happy ending. feeling anxious doesn't always have to be a bad thing. in fact, believe it or not, there's an upside to it. we'll explain. it's 39 minutes after the hour. , where they grow america's favorite potatoes. everyone knows idaho potatoes taste great. but did you know they're good for you too? 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( announcer ) fly without putting your life on pause. be yourself nonstop. american airlines. whoa. whoa. how do you top great vacations? whoa. getting twice the points on great vacations. whoa! use chase sapphire preferred and now get two times the points on travel, and two times the points on dining and no foreign transaction fees. whoa! chase sapphire preferred. a card of a different color. apply now at chasesapphire.com/preferred we have this just in to cnn, 393,000 jobless claims were filed for the first time last week. that might sound like a lot, but it's actually pretty good news for the labor market. any time this number comes in, less than 400,000, it means we are chipping away at the high unemployment rate of 9%. if america were a person, it would have a tension headache. that's how one "time" writer describes the struggles every american must face. but anxiety doesn't always have to be a bad thing. there's actually an upside to it. sometimes anxiety can motivate and stimulate if you can learn how to channel it. this is what the "time's" cover story is about this week. the two faces of anxiety. we're joined by jeffrey, the science editor of "time" magazine. jeffrey, nice to see you. good morning. >> good morning. >> every day we're talking about the bad economy. we have bills to pay, we may lose our job, we're worried about that and working harder and earning less. we are an anxious nation. are we more anxious now as a result of what's going on in the economy and what's the importanimportanact? >> we are more anxious than we used to be. anxiety in the u.s. does follow sign wave patterns. at the moment about 40 million american adults who are suffering from some clinical anxiety condition and some conditions also start in childhood. so, that whole cohort is also -- >> diagnosed? >> diagnosed or subclinical or meaning on the way. >> you look at places like the battlefield, for instance. incredibly stressful situation, yet, only 15% of soldiers come back with ptsd. does that surprise you? how much of this is inherited? >> a lot of it is inherited. 150 genes along the pituitary area in the brain that controls anxiety and 150 genes that seem to be associated with anomalies and the ability to process. >> what are the signs? >> physical signs are in the case of ptsd, for example, flashbacks of bad experiences, jumpiness, anxiety around certain situations. >> how do you know? you look at your mother and you look at your relatives and see -- >> see if they have those. but, remember, it isn't just what your genetic legacy is, it's also your experience legacy. you and i could be siblings and we could have the exact same genetic legacy if yov i've gone to war and you haven't. we get sensitized in certain ways to anxiety. >> a lot of it is how you deal with it. i was fascinated to read in this article, you know, it's clear that some people fall apart. they need help whether it's medication or counseling. there are other people like some athletes and performers who actually channel that anxiety. they use it to make it into a positive to better their performance. >> in alice park, terrific "time" reporter who wrote this piece pointed out there is curve, performance curve. as that curve begins, anxiety and the quality of your performance march up in lock step. athletes and entertainers know how to jump off right at the top of that conserve when their senses are clicking and everything is moving just right and they can achieve things in a performance that they couldn't achieve in rehearsal. other people hang on and they start to go down the other side when suddenly your tension gets so great you become paralyzed from it. that's when you perform less well. >> grace under fire, is that what we're talking about? >> exactly. >> besides redirecting that anxious energy into a positive performance, what else can we do as americans, generally speaking, to be less anxious or if we are anxious, too anxious, just dealing with it and turning it into a positive? >> well, a lot of the very common, conventional mom knows what she's talking about wisdom. getting plenty of exercise, sleep, deep breathing, that kind of thing. cognitive reframing. being able to looked at a feared outcome and rather than catast ruphysicaling it. going into it and saying, is this a tolerable thing? will the sun still come up tomorrow? if things do go badly, what is my plan b. just having something in your back pocket that you know will help you cope with the feared failure often helps you fear that failure less. >> i think about it in my own personal life and i think, you don't ask, you don't get. if the answer is no, you deal with that later. >> exactly. >> have the courage to ask, right? >> that's precisely right. jeffrey, thank you so much. so interesting. >> thank you for having me. >> thanks for having me in. your morning headlines are next, 47 minutes after the hour. allow natural gas producers s to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions... ...protect water - through conservation and self-contained recycling systems... ... and protect land - by reducing our footprint and respecting wildlife. america's natural gas... domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives... that's smarter power today. -why? 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"american morning" is back after a break. i love the holidays. and with my bankamericard cash rewards credit card, i love 'em even more. i earn 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% on groceries. 3% on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. that's 1% back on... [ toy robot sounds ] 2% on pumpkin pie. and apple. 3% back on 4 trips to the airport. it's as easy as 1... -2... -3... [ male announcer ] the bankamericard cash rewards card. apply online or at a bank of america near you. [ toy robot sounds ] good morning, atlanta, georgia. cloudy and 57 degrees. later we're hearing there will be sun with a high of 61. >> that is a good thing. welcome back, time for your "am house call." you've heard of sleep walking and sleep talking but now sleep texting. people with this rare condition are unaware they're sending incoherent text messages to friends and family while they're dreaming. >> i can't say for sure, but i'm guessing i might have done that once or twice. hey, parents, before you start your shopping, check the annual in toyland report. the most dangerous toys that made the list. choking on small objects still the leading cause of toy-related deaths. you can test this for yourself. this is a good one. if the toy can fit through a toilet paper roll, it's just too small for your toddler. meantime, some toys can contain potentially toxic chemicals. the bargain hunters are out in full force. check out this best buy in california. like ground zero for the early black friday blitz. dozens already staking out tents on the sidewalk. >> they're in tents. >> they're eagerly counting down the days until those promised doorbuster deals. they're eyeing different merchandise, they all agree on one thing, the deals are -- >> they're going to stay through thanksgiving? >> even i don't want to shop that much. >> but how about this, how about window shopping? it's beginning to look a lot like christmas in new york city with manhattan stores putting up their holiday window displays. all you have to do is walk along fifth avenue to notice that. here's a look at the windows at tiffany's taking the theme from the famous carousel in central park and the jewelled and bedazzled animal displays. oh, my. >> macy's decorated for christmas weeks ago. what were these people waiting for? in just a few hours, those giant balloons that fly high over the macy's thanksgiving day parade will come to life. shrek, snoopy will be inflated. thousands of kids will be on hand to watch. it takes about seven hours to get them all, not the kids, but the balloons, to get all the balloons parade ready. >> our jason carroll will be there live tomorrow morning. we look forward to that. also ahead today, the best of times for at least two turkeys, as he does each year, president obama will grant a pardon during a white house ceremony today. one of the lucky birds is the national thanksgiving turkey and the other is its alternate. either way, they're going both going to be spared and their names i'm hearing are liberty and peace and they'll spend the rest of their days on mt. vernon. >> getting fat and happy in the mountains. >> that's right, if they're not, already. 56 minutes past the hour. we'll be right back. 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