intensified. the army shelling its own people as the arab world steps in to try to end the slaughter of civilians. and an all-out brawl at the mall. police with guns drawn, shoppers scrambling for exits. chaos after christmas on this "american morning." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning. it's tuesday, december 27th. this is "american morning." i'm alina cho along with ali velshi. good morning. >> good morning to you. >> we're so glad you're with us today. >> there's a lot going on. let's get right to it. starting in iowa. it's the place to be this morning. five top republicans plan to visits hawkeye state today. not going for the corn. seven day rees main until the iowa caucuses. the first in the nation, a nomination is up for grabs. cnn political director mark preston is live in des moines this morning. mark, the week begins with newt gingrich trying to distance himself once again, not from someone else, but from his own past. >> reporter: yeah. from his own past, ali. no question about that. new documents unearthed by cnn just in the past week show that newt gingrich, in fact, served his first wife with divorce papers. now, the story goes that newt gingrich had served his wife jackie with these papers while she was recovering from cancer, after having some surgery. newt gingrich, however, in the past year or so has said it was his wife who, in fact, had asked for that divorce. now, these divorce proceedings had been under a lock and key, so to speak, put away to be kept safe. however, cnn was able to get a copy of them. our own alan duke was able to look at them, and it shows that, in fact, it was newt gingrich who had given his wife the papers. newt gingrich responded, ali, and, in fact, that his wife did want the divorce, but he is the one who had filed it. not something that he certainly wants to deal with as we're heading into the iowa caucuses. >> the newt gingrich issue with his marriages, with questions about his fidelity. these are big issues, particularly with conservative voters who tend to be the ones who show up at these caucuses and primaries. meanwhile, speaking of conservative voters, rick santorum, the one who's trying hardest to appeal to those conservatives, was the only candidate in iowa yesterday, and here's how he broke down the race. listen. >> this libertarian primary, which ron paul's going to win, and you've got it's moderate primary, which gingrich and romney are scrambling for and three folks running at strong conservatives, and i think if we win that primary, we're in very good shape as the non-newt, mitt and -- newt-romney. >> interesting how he's broken it down. ron paul will get that, he's right. calling it the three people running for the conservative vote. himself, rick perry and michele bachmann. does santorum have a chance, a, of winning that conservative part of the vote? and, b, what does that do for him anyway? >> reporter: well, you know, no question, rick santorum, ali, is trying to court that evangelical born-again christian vote, very important here in the iowa caucuses. the entrance polls in 2008 show that 60% of the nearly 119,000 people who participated in the caucuses back in 2008 describe themselves as evangelical, as born-again. rick santorum needs a strong showing on january 3rd, caucus night, needs to place in the top three, at least the top four, if he wants his campaign to move on. as you said, all of the candidates who are here in iowa are courting that all-important vote, including mitt romney, who has downplayed his chances near iowa. the fact of the matter is, if he blans to have plans to have a strong showing he meets iowa. >> and jon huntsman, polling ahead of him in iowa and dentally in new hampshire. is huntsman at all in this equation? >> reporter: not. not here in iowa. jon huntsman stand is in virginia. january 10th. jon huntsman has not campaigned here in iowa, spent no time here in iowa, he has no staff here in iowa. jon huntsman, regardless what happens on january 3rd here in iowa will not be any kind of a factor. however, if jon huntsman does not do very well in new hampshire, we could see the end of jon huntsman campaign, ali. >> always good to see you. hope to see you a lot out there on the campaign trail. mark preston from des moines. in order to capture the republican nomination they first have to capture the hearts and mind of social conservatives. with just a week to go before the iowa caucuses, that battle is being fought in a very public way and it's getting personal. here's mary snow. >> reporter: newt gingrich's wife calista is a central part of newt gingrich the campaign. campaigning in iowa even appearing in a recent ad. >> from our christmas to yours, merry chris mitt and happy new year. i'm calista gingrich. >> reporter: a reporter in iowa says among caucus goers, it's questions about gingrich's two previous marriages that have come up. >> for instance, mitt romney had a telephone town hall meeting and one woman from mason city, iowa, made a point of thanking him for being married to the same woman for 42 years. >> reporter: this recent ad featuring mitt romney's wife ann entitled character, seems to be a not so subtle dig at newt gingrich's multiple marriages. >> if you really want to know how a person will operate, look at how they've lived their life. >> reporter: in this ad anita perry tells about her texas high school sweethearse, rick perry. >> i said up front openly i've made mistakes at times. i've had to go to god for forgiveness, seek reconciliation, but i'm also a 68-year-old grandfather and i think people have to measure who i am now and whether i'm a person they can trust. >> reporter: in a conservative state of iowa, political watchers say personal is political. >> the personal history does matter, at least in 2008, 60% of participants in the iowa caucus were evangelical christians. >> reporter: but a strong tenet for evangelical christians is forgiveness. making a direct appeal to them earlier this month, gingrich signed a pledge to defend and strengthen the family. the evangelical family association endorsed it. how significant is gingrich of marital history? an abc "washington post" poll found 72% said it is not a major factor. according to an american opinion research poll, 24% of republicans found mitt romney was most honest and trustworthy compared to 12% for gingrich. these are national polls, but the question remains whether personal traits will be more of a factor in iowa. mary snow, cnn, new york. stay with cnn for the best political coverage on television. today at 4:00 p.m. eastern time, newt gingrich live in "the situation room" with out of wolf blitzer. that's only on cnn. now reports of carnage in syria even as arab league monitors arrive to see whether the government is making good on a commitment to stop the bloody crackdown. these new pictures may tell us the picture. shelling homes. 42 people killed in homes yesterday. act vicivists say the army has neighborhood surrounded to keep observers away from the real story. mohammed jamjoom has been monitoring developments closely from cairo. he's there this morning. mohammed, what has happened in the last 24 hours? >> reporter: well, ali, i mean, yesterday we just heard one horrific tale after another. so many residents and activists and opposition groups in homes saying that a carnage, a massacre was happening, even on the same day that members of this arab league team, this monitoring team were arriving. it really begs the question. if this were happening on the same day this delegation was arriving, is the syrian government actually going to end this crackdown? peer told today tank was in the city. hidden in neighboring buildings. we've spoken to members of the arab league in homes now. they said they were taken in by security forces. once there, they have free access to go wherever they want in the city and the people on the ground can contact them as freely as they want to. more and more activists and opposition group members say the violence there continues. that the dead bodies keep piling up, and we keep hearing these pleas for help from the international community. many people concerned that the arab league just isn't going to be effective enough to really stop this crackdown, despite the mission statement that they syr. more and more from syria say if something doesn't happen soon to end the violence a group that can stop this, they're afraid a genocide is going to happen. ali? >> obviously, we don't have a sense yet as to how effective this arab league delegation will be but whether or not they can even get the access necessary to see what's going on. i know you're keeping a close eye on it for us, mohammed. we'll check in with you again. mohammed jamjoom watching the situation from cairo. also new this morning, pakistan is blasting a u.s. report on the nato air strikes that killed 24 pakistani troops back in november. pakistan's government says nato fired first. it claims nato knew its helicopters were firing on troops but continued shooting for more than an hour. that contradicts the pentagon report claiming pakistani troops fired first at u.s. forces stationed near the border. the u.s. blames the incident on a breakdown in communication. and expanding military cooperation between these two countries. this after a week after u.s. troops pulled out of iraq. iran calling the iraq war, a humiliating defeat for the united states. and saints quarterback drew brees owns the nfl record for most passing yards in a season passing dan marino last night on monday night football. the saints clobber the the fall cannes 45-16. brees has 5,087 passing yards on the year and there's still one more game to go. >> just tweeted out. celebrating with my teammates. such a special night. thanks for making this possible. who dat nation, i love you. coming up after this -- listen to this. >> is she okay? is she laying somewhere dead? is she safe? is she cold? is she being fed? is someone watching her? >> new details about the disappearance of a toddler from maine. why police are confident that it is an abduction and they're offering a big reward. we have dramatic pictures on the day after christmas. police with guns drawn at the mall. how this day after christmas shopping turned to mayhem in minnesota. and you probably saw this picture. president obama getting a mouthful. check that out. not from rive's candidates or congress but from a kid who couldn't keep his hands to himself. other baby bloopers on the campaign trail when we come back. welcome back. 15 minutes after the hour. miss stepping up their search for a missing toddler from maine. a $30,000 reward for any information about the disappearance of 20-month-old ayla reynolds, last seen in her bed days before christmas. police are now confident that that little girl was abducted. our deb feyerick reports. >> reporter: it's friday night, december 16th. 20-month-old ayla reynolds is ready for bed wearing her green polka dots pajamas with the words "daddy's princess" on the front. her father, justin dipietro puts her to sleep. he says it's the last time he saw his daughter. the next morning, ayla was gone. vanished sometime during the night. dipietro had been caring for baby ayla for weeks after her mother, trista reynolds, checked herself into a ten-day rehab program. after completing rehab, reynolds filed court papers to regain custody of her daughter. the papers were filed the day before ayla was last seen. police say both parents are fully cooperating in the case, and say they have not suspects yet, but they are certain ayla was taken from her home on that friday night. >> we believe that someone was involved in taking her out of the house, and that's where the focus of this investigation has turned. >> reporter: two days after ayla's disappearance, trista reynolds tells various media outlets including hln's nancy grace she worried ayla was not safe with her father. the day after ayla gives these interviews, justin dipietro writes a letter to law enforcement saying he has no idea what happened to his daughter, nor does he know who's responsible for her disappearance, adding, i will not make accusations or insinuations towards anyone until police have been able to prove who's responsible for this. meanwhile, the search for ayla widens. police receive nearly 200 tips. the volunteers joined local, state volunteers searching the area, including a nearby river, a pond and several hiking trails. cadaver dogs are brought in. still, no sign of the missing girl. >> is she okay? is she laying somewhere dead? is she safe? is she cold? is she being fed? is someone watching her? >> bring her home. just bring her home to us. i want my baby home. i want her home. >> reporter: and on christmas day, prayers instead of presents for ayla. it's been over a week since the blond haired blue eyed toddler was last seen. in these cases, time is the enemy, but police continue their search, hoping a new $30,000 reward will bring them closer to finding little ayla. deborah feyerick, cnn, new york. heartbreaking. >> it really was. hope they find that little girl. on the morning after christmas, sheer mayhem at the mall of america in minnesota. take a look at this. police say nine people arrested during a melee yesterday. dozens of teenagers brawling in the food court and swarming through the mall. a scary scene that sent many shopper, scrambling for the exits. >> some people running. some staying. people confronting each other in the middle -- people just walking. nobody was even around. they were just going at t. all of a sudden stores started closing down. the gates going up. we didn't know what was going on and the cops were pushing us all away from nordstrom's. >> you know i'm not afraid to go to the mall. in a is not a scene i want to be in the middle of. >> cops pushing me away from nordstrom? that was tragic. pushed away from nordstrom. rob marciano, can you imagine such a horror? standing in front of nordstrom and, sorry, ma'am. get going. >> the malls are rough these days. especially the day after christmas. maybe just got out of the movies. the last scene of the "chipmunk's" movie is pretty -- good morning, folks. two days after christmas. grink-like hangovers happening across the country, mostly in the west. in the way of cold rain, a little snow. anywhere for the most part a east of the mississippi, especially across the appalachians now is where you're going to experience moft st of nasty pz's in atlanta through the tennessee valley, cold rain awind. the back side of it, a little snow from chicago back through st. louis. minor accumulations expected in those two spots. how the storm will track along the appalachians. a warm track. that's the pattern we've been on. i don't have to tell you that. that means coastal areas will see nothing but rain and it will be a cold, nasty rain at that and again the back side of this, the spine of the western up slopes of the appalachians will see a little snow. a few inches of snow expected. here's what our computer models saying. parts of ohio will actually see some as well. maybe detroit and through the snowbelt of western pa and new york. the front side may see afternoon thundershowers that could produce damaging winds and/or tornadoes along the mid-atlantic coastline and we do have windy conditions right now. wind advisories and gusts of 40 to 50 miles an hour potentially with this. slowing down travel. detroit for the most part, d.c. rain. new york rain as well and philadelphia will be some rain. here's your mild air. 52 degrees in d.c. 56 in new york. not many folks saw a white christmas. even some places in idaho where you would think you'd see a white christmas. this man, took matters into his own hands and made his own snow. come on. he said he'd been working on it since aught. wanted a rail park in the backyard. get something for the kids, here in the holiday week. he tried to make a snow machine, guys, by googling. that didn't work out well. he went out and bought one. and pumping out the snow for a couple of months. >> ms this? >> emmitt, idaho, just northwest of boise. >> he's not doing this in some place that -- you know -- >> it's not hawaii. >> exactly. >> all right. >> good for him. looks like he did a good job there. >> grab your board and head to -- >> you don't have one of those things, rob, surprised. you're a snow lover. >> i'm too cheap. >> making snow in atlanta other than that a few weeks -- >> he's a new father. he doesn't have time for that anyway. >> snow or ski. still ahead, the richest man in the race. so far mitt romney is refusing to release his tax returns. critics are starting to demand to see where all that cash is coming from. we'll update you on that. >> where do they think it's coming from? the guy's been making money all of his life. and ticket sales are down at the box office. we'll tell you why. it's 22 minutes after the hour. 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"minding your business" this morning, this just in. sears saying it will close 100 to 120 sears and kmart stores. the company is trying to reduce expenses after disappointing sales for big ticket items this year. the locations of the store closures have not been announced. u.s. markets in open in just over three hours and stock futures point to a higher open with four trading days remains in 2011, the dow up, and the s&p 500 up half a percent and the nasdaq down about 1.3%. that's for the entire year. two economic reports due out this morning at 9:00 eastern. the case schiller home price index released and the consumer confidence number come out. expecting consumer confidence to hit a five-month high and expect home priceless have declined but at a slower pace. loyalty programs. you've seen them in hotels, airlines, rental car agencies offering incentives to attract customers. airports are getting into the game. more than 30 airports across the country joined "thanks again" program awarding fliers air miles for parking, shopping or eating at airports. a bust at the box office for 2011. there are only a few more days left until the new year and ticket sales in the u.s. are running about $500 million lower than last year. the reason behind the drop -- experts blame the poor economy, too many family flicks and not enough star power. ticket revenue is expected to be about $10 billion. 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