possible 2012 run. that s the first step for candidates. how does he stack up right now? jessica yellin is here to take a look. hi, jessica. hey, christine. newt gingrich as you know burst onto the national scene when he became speaker of the house in the mid- 90s. as you ll recall, he had a controversial stewardship of the house of representatives. he became a hero of the republican party for giving them their first majority in 40 years. during that time, we saw something that sounds so familiar these days. remember? two government shutdowns. it was all over spending. so in some ways he was a man before his time. he had he also oversaw the house during president clinton s impeachment hearings and was quite critical of the president, saying they were on on obstructioni obstructionist. reporter: newt gingrich has been called the conservative movement s philosopher king, a
of america has just named chris dodd as its new head of its washington office. the mpaa is the trade group that looks out for all things politics here in washington for the sixth largest hollywood studios. chris dodd who served in congress from 1974 until he left just back at the beginning of this year will now head up those efforts. the big political story right now, christine, is newt gingrich. as peter hamby reports, he will form a presidential exploratory committee on thursday. newt gingrich, the former house speaker who stepped down 1998 has been active in conservative circles, run a bunch of nonprofit groups. but listen to what he said when he stepped down in 1998. it is time for me to move forward where i believe i still have a significant role to play for our country and our party. so right now, christine, it looks like he think thz is the time he s going to play that significant role. but what do americans think
about newt beginnigingrich? l let s turn to paul. we did a poll late in january, a horse race poll. we put out a bunch of names who may run for the presidential nomination. gingrich near the top, in fourth place right around 10%. christine, just about every poll that s been done nationally, gingrich is pretty high in the poll numbers, around fourth or fifth place in low double dij i digits. what do americans think specifically about gingrich? a majority of them almost six out of ten have a favorable opinion of gingrich. only about one in four have an unfavorable. not many are unsure of newt beginning rigingrich gingrich. why? most americans, republicans for sure, know newt gingrich. may help but also may hurt him if he formally declares running for the white house. on that list of names is not herman cain, someone getting a lot of press this week.
jeanne meserve, thank you so much. this year s deadline to file your taxes is april 18th, and a lot of folks are going to spend those three extra days looking for extra deductions that mite apply. the irs sees plenty of i guess you could call it creative accounting, but there actually are some valid deductions you d never, ever expect. senior correspondent alan chernoff joins us with some of the best deductions you ve ever seen. hi there, alan. hi, christine. well, if you have a non-traditional job, you can come up with some very, very unusual deductions because the tax code says if you are spending money that helps you to earn taxable income, then those expenditures can be deductible. please welcome chesty love! reporter: yes, those are deductible. as exotic dancer chesty love told jerry springer, she fought the irs and won.
earthquake in christchurch, new zealand. what are they doing today? they did mark it, christine, with a two-minute silence, to really pay homage to those who lost their lives. 155 dead is the total so far. it is going to go up. there s still 100 or so missing there. interesting, you don t see this happen in many countries. because of the forces there, the rescue operations being so stretched thin, 330 australian police officers have actually been sworn in to the new zealand police force. oh, really? yeah. to help out with law and order and keep things running in the city, which is pretty extraordinary. you don t see that happen very often. no, you don t. there is a bit of frustration now a week into it. a lot of people want to get to their vehicles, get to their businesses. large chunks of the city still cordoned off. it really rocked a beautiful, beautiful city. is there still worries of aftershocks.