the former house speaker. they are both from georgia. it was interesting on saturday. soon after cain suspended his campaign, gingrich at an event in new york city said some very, very nice things about herman cain. a lot of the candidates would like that support. here is the drama. late last night, gingrich adds a news conference today in new york city at 1:45. there's speculation, will cain be there or not? cain aides and gingrich aides saying no to that one. gingrich's people tell us at 1:45, gingrich will outline his 50-state strategy. a lot of the candidates would like cain's backing. no doubt about that >> we saw michele bachmann and ron paul yesterday on candy crawley's "state of the union" saying nice things about herman cain. we'll keep an eye out all week to see when and if he endorses someone. >> what do you make of donald trump? he has been with gingrich this morning and now wants to moderate a debate. >> and gingrich is the fifth republican presidential candidate to go to trump tower and heat with donald trump. remember donald trump himself was flirting with a bid for the nomination earlier this year. he is teaming up with newsmax, a conservative website to try and host a debate on december 27. ron paul wants nothing to do with that. listen to what he told our candy crawley. >> i don't quite understand it. i don't understand the marching to his office. i mean, i didn't know that he had an ability to lay on hands, you know, and anoint people. >> a little bit of bad blood there i guess between ron paul and donald trump. what do you think, kyra? >> i just had visions of donald trump in a robe, you know, putting his hands on these candidates, yeah. ok. well, it's definitely going to be interesting to watch for sure. paul, thanks so much. for all the latest political news, you can also go to our website 24/7, cnnpolitics.com. another big story, iran claiming it shot down a u.s. drone. pentagon confirming that a drone is missing. what have you heard so far, barbara? >> well, no surprise, conflicting accounts from iran and the united states. over the weekend, iranian authorities said they shot down a drone, and it was an rq-170 drone. why is that important? this is a stealth drone. one of the most secret weapons in the u.s. arsenal, developed for the u.s. air force. it can fly undetected by radars, and pick up targeting and intelligence information. the iranians say they shot it down. the u.s. has a bit of a different story. it says it was flying a drone over that border region, but on the afghan side. the u.s. issued a statement through nato in afghanistan saying the following. let me read it to you. the uav to which the iranians are referring may be a u.s. unarmed reconnaissance aircraft that had been flying a mission over western afghanistan late last week. the operators of the uav lost control of the aircraft and had been working to determine its status. so it's what the u.s. doesn't say. it doesn't say that it's an rq-170, that secret stealth drone. it doesn't say that it was shot down. it does say that the u.s. has a drone that is lost. in fact, operators had said they lost control of a drone. they lost flight control. critical question now, kyra, what do the iranians really, if anything, have their hands on? is there a wreckage? do they now have any kind of access to that stealth technology or the highly classified sensors that were onboard that drone? if they do, the u.s. knows it's not getting it back. kyra? >> what are their options? does they have any? >> that is the key question. what do you do? typically in the past in iraq or afghanistan, when a drone has gone down or some sensitive piece of technology is lost on the battlefield, the u.s. has called in air strikes to bomb a wreckage to make sure that militants or insurgents don't get it. you are not going to see a u.s. air strike inside iran. that's just not possible. so it's a problem now. do they have it? what do they have their hands on, if anything? and what is still really contained in that wreckage that the iranians could make use of or possibly even try and get the chinese or the north koreans or other countries, experts, in to help them take a look at it. kyra? >> all right, barbara starr from the pentagon. thanks. we are getting word that the u.s. post office is about to take a drastic step to deal with its epic money problems. karina, what's the plan? >> reporter: well, the latest plan is that the u.s. postal service wants to limit its next day service. you know, currently the postal service guarantees first class mail delivery in one to three days. what it is proposing is to change that delivery time to two to five days. now, why this is important is because it would help them in their plan to cut more than half of their mail processing facilities across the country. the bad news, this could mean further job losses and problems for anyone who still pays bills by actual snail mail. we'll get more details later today when the u.s. postal service is expected to make its proposal. kyra? >> so that's -- hopefully we'll find out when that will take effect. it's interesting, because christmas is just less than three weeks away. the timing here seems a bit odd. >> right. the timing is off. and it's unlikely that any changes will take effect anytime soon. we have no details yet on when exactly it would take effect, because any major changes do need congressional approval, and postal cutbacks are unpopular, which means they are hard to push through in congress as well. any changes to labor contracts need union approval, so it could take some time. that's good news for us, but of course these are problems that really need to be rectified in the u.s. postal service. southern california is in for another day of hurricane force winds. rob marciano following those santa ana winds that are back. >> they are back. and this is what we have seen so far, kyra. a 50 mile an hour winds. they will increase throughout the morning, decrease this afternoon, and increase tonight, just like they did last week with the exception of the fact they won't be as strong as they were wednesday into thursday. but the problem is with all of the debris that's on the ground still, anything that blows 40 to 60 miles an hour will be dangerous. any trees or branches that are weakened already may come down. and this will go on for the next two days. and with this also comes the risk for fire. and we have critical fire danger in effect for much of southern california for the next -- for today and tomorrow, pretty much the same conditions exist for both days. then we break down the pattern just a little bit. the difference with this -- between this one and last week this is an incredibly cold air mass driving down into the intermountain west. temperatures will be down to 40 degrees tonight in los angeles. wind-chills will feel like they are below 0. near blizzard conditions across parts of new mexico with the northern side of this system. with the eastern side of the system, 14-20 inches of snow potentially with this system as it moves off towards the east and that cold air drives down to the south. parts of the texas panhandle as well, just west and north of dallas, reports of one to two inches of snow at least on the grassy surfaces. this isn't cold enough to stick on the ground. but some moisture will head up towards the east as well, and we are looking at flood watches from the great lakes, also all the way down to just east of dallas. so a smorgasbord of weather across the entire u.s. back to you. coming up, herman cain's out, but he's not down. more on his big announcement and what it means with our political contributor. and after months of peaceful protests, things get pretty tense at occupy d.c. we'll check the news cross country next. brad, where we going? just a second. just, just one second. deafget in the car! [ male announcer ] the epa estimated 42 mpg highway chevy cruze eco. from spending time together, to spending your lives together, chevy runs deep. all right. let's check news cross the country now. washington police have hauled off dozens of occupy d.c. protesters after a standoff at base camp. the demonstrators refused orders to dismantle their new wooden shelter and had to be wrestled from the roof. 31 arrests in all. the folks at occupy buffalo have a roof over their heads just in time for winter. they are staying in a protective dome now, donated by an anonymous supporter. the city is cool with it for now. quite the opposite in denver. occupy protesters already sleeping in the snow. they are relying on tarps, blankets, and body heat. they'll need plenty of it too. today's high temp, 13 degrees. well, in the end, herman cain said it was too much for his family and the country. all those allegations of sexual misconduct, too hurtful, too distracting, so he's out of the race for the white house. cnn's political contributor mary matalin is joining us from new orleans. one thing that stood out to me on saturday is how cain looked into the eyes of all of his supporters and said this. >> i am at peace with my god. i am at peace with my wife. and she is at peace with me. >> mary, what did you make of that? do you believe him? >> yes. he's very powerful. he answered that -- or that was that same behavior that he displayed when he was on with our own wolf blitzer when the second round of allegations broke. and wolf asked him flat out if he had had an affair, and he said no. when you are that definitive, that demonstrative, you have to believe it. what we -- and that's part of his attraction obviously. what we can't believe, and that's equally demonstrable, is that his campaign, whether or not the allegations are true, his campaign was not equipped to deal with that kind of onslaught that came through those series of allegations but also the debate preparation. so whatever -- the reason he is where he is today has less to do with the allegations and more to do with the way his campaign mishandled them. >> so why leave the race? >> well, kyra, you know, it takes more than having the right philosophy, the right policies, the right temperament. you really have to be able to run a campaign, which is perceived by voters rightly or wrongly to be a microcosm of what it takes to run a country to run a white house. they are not completely on point. i have been involved in both enterprises. but to the extent you're facing a lot of unpredictable problems and an ad ver sariial position, i think voters are right to expect a campaign to be able to run in a plausible way. and this one, he just couldn't get his campaign together. this is a good candidacy brought down by a bad campaign. >> so let me ask you this about all of these sexual -- allegations of sexual misconduct. if they're true, and indeed that's what brought him down, within as you say a campaign, a group of people that just didn't know how to handle it, what does this tell us about the moral compass of voters? >> i think voters -- well, i don't think. i know. you've seen plenty of examples of voters being very forgiving, and our country is about redemption. our culture is about forgiveness. our country is less tolerant of fabrication and being flat out lied to in that manner. but if he is -- if there is any evidence, documents, real documents, hard evidence, that he's lying then he won't have any future in politics. you can have -- you can fall. we are all sinners. we have all fallen. you have to make reparations. you have to seek forgiveness. and voters will give that. but that's not what this is at this point. >> final thought. the first thing that you actually heard was all the cheering for gloria. you didn't hear a bunch of people saying, herman, herman, herman. it was interesting. the first thing that you really heard loudly when his news conference began was the crowd cheering for gloria. shouting her name. >> right. people, voters, i don't care what your party is or your philosophy, the americans really have a sense of fairness. and it really is unfair the extent to which families get dragged into these campaigns. they do it willingly, wives and children. but it's been my experience that the candidates are always more pained by what their families are having to go through than the arrows that they have to take. and people do just cringe at the thought of poor gloria, who was offstage and doesn't seek to be in the limelight at all had to be subjected to that, what is the rough and tumble and the really ugly side of politics because her husband wants to serve. >> mary, appreciate your time this morning. >> thank you. gas prices falling, oil prices rising. why the disconnect? we'll explain. and eight ferraris in a colossal pileup. not on the raceway but the expressway. you'll see it next. ♪ [ female announcer ] we never forget the nearly 12 million cancer survivors in america today... and the countless lives lost. we owe it to them to protect funding for cancer research, prevention and access to care. congress, make cancer a priority and give millions of americans what they need most. 2011 is almost over, and we want to you help us pick the top 10 stories of the year. go to our website and take part in our online poll between now and december 15. then the top 10 stories of the year will be unveiled on air and online december 30. well, this will catch your attention. eight lamborghinis in one crash. jeff, it's probably got to be one of the most expensive crashes in history. >> yeah. you know, insurance companies are cringing after they see the video of this. what kind of a payout? >> not one, not two -- >> it happened yesterday in southwestern japan. highway wet from recent rain. police say one, yes, one of the ferraris, skidded and smashed into the median divider. that set off a 14-vehicle crash, including eight ferraris, a lamborghini, three mercedes-benz, hardly worth a mention, two toyotas. the big question, how were all of these great cars driving together? the drivers were part of a group of luxury car enthusiasts. no one was seriously injured, except for the tears shed overseeing their prized cars. >> we were told it was lamborghinis, which is what i said off the top there. eight lamborghinis. but we're talking about eight ferraris, a lamborghini, three mercedes-benz. what costs more, a lamborghini or a ferrari? do we know? >> you're pushing the limits of my luxury -- the ones i have at home, you know -- >> exactly. well, my lamborghini costs so much. we have to do a price check on that. i'd like totally that up. like how much? what do you think, scott? >> our director is chiming in. >> ok. scott things a lamborghini is more expensive. we'll price this out. >> directors make a lot of money. >> yeah, the big money guys. i think scott's got a ferrari. and we'll tally it up. what do you say? and when you come back -- >> in half an hour, i'll have the answer. eight ferraris would be more than one lamborghini. >> i want hard numbers. and also tiger woods's first win in two years. >> this was not the masters, all right? >> she won't give tiger a break. >> i will not. more later, i'm told. see you, jeff. something we will talk more about now, though, gas prices. they are dropping. but will they last? karina, at the new york stock exchange -- jeff, maybe i should ask karina how much a ferrari goes for it. you're a money gal. >> you know what? my hope is that with these cheaper gas prices maybe that will allow more people to go out and buy one of those lamborghinis or ferraris. my guess might be on the lam genie. i would say $100,000. that would be my guess. but here is the good news. we see that gas prices have dropped. the latest survey shows us that gas dropped 18 cents in about six weeks. that brings the national average to $3.28 a gallon. now the people who are the luckiest are those in albuquerque, new mexico. that's where gas is the cheapest right now. $2.84. but what's really surprising is we are seeing a drop in gas prices despite higher oil prices. you can see that oil rose 7% during the past month, while gasoline fell 4%. usually these prices move in tandem. what's happening right now is you have weak demand for gas because we drive less in the winter, and the economy still isn't fully revved up. at the same time, oil is used in a lot of other things like diesel and jet fuel. so that can push up oil prices. but analysts are saying if the oil prices stay high, we should expect gas prices to follow suit. there could be a pretty nice rally at the opening bell, right? >> yeah. that's what we're hoping for. and, again, the focus is on europe. and there's hope that the region will move forward on fixing its debt problems. there's a flurry of activity this week with sarkozy and merkel meeting today. and a proposal of budget cuts will be presented today. later in the week, eurozone leaders will meet with secretary geithner. and we could be on the cusp of really changes in policy when it comes to dealing with the crisis. because of that, the dow is up by about 140 points right now on the back of a really hot rally last week, when the major averages all rose more than 7%, giving it its biggest gain in more than two years. so lots to celebrate today. well, newt gingrich rising in the polls. we'll ask our contributors, lz granderson and will cain, if his blunt fuse has anything to do with that. and madonna has been picked to perform on football's biggest night. details coming up in show biz news. i'm good about washing my face. but sometimes i wonder... what's left behind? 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[ female announcer ] from neutrogena® naturals. i'm an expert on softball. and tea parties. i'll have more awkward conversations than i'm equipped for because i'm raising two girls on my own. i'll worry about the economy more than a few times before they're grown. but it's for them, so i've found a way. who matters most to you says the most about you. massmutual is owned by our policyholders so they matter most to us. massmutual. we'll help you get there. forty years ago, he wasn't worried about retirement. he'd yet to hear of mutual funds, iras, or annuities. back then, he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement solutions for our military, veterans and their families. from investments... to life insurance... to health care options. learn more with our free usaa retirement guide. call 877-242-usaa. rx plan gives you the lowest plan premium in the country... so you can focus on what really matters. call humana at 1-800-808-4003. taking top stories now, the u.s. military says one of its drones is missing but not confirming iranian media reporting that it shot it down. today, democrats plan to unveil what they call a compromise plan to extend payroll tax cuts. republicans don't want the cuts paid for by raising taxes on the rich. and bishop eddie long told his parishioners he is taking time off from his megachurch to work on his family. long's wife, vanessa, filed for divorce last week. newt gingrich is surging in the polls, but he is continuing to get criticism about these remarks. >> really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works. so they literally have no habit of showing up on monday. they have no habit of staying all day. they have no habit of i do this and you give me cash. unless it's illegal. >> well, donald trump defended him this morning. he says gingrich is just telling the truth, and that's why he's, quote, skyrocketing. cnn contributors will cain and lz granderson with their takes this morning. let's start there. politically incorrect or just tellin