romney romney, now tied nationally among republicans. each with 28% support. congressman ron paul runs a distant third with 14%. the other candidates all trail in single digits. moments ago, gingrich at a media event as he struggle to reverse the slide. >> the only person who profits from republican ads attacking other republicans is barack obama and i think that's a pretty reprehensible behavior on the part of some of the candidates. so i'm going to be honest. we did this saturday morning and we had some 14,000 people join us, 14,000 iowans join us. we'll have an ask newt every day and have people calling. in if you get junk mail furcal see a negative attack ad, whatever, you'll be able to call me and ask what the facts are. >> gloria borger was there at that event and joins us from davenport, iowa. let's start with the former speaker. telephone conferences with supporters or potential supporters. he said he won't go negative. the rule of politics tell you, that won't work. how worried are they inside camp gingrich? perhaps beyond the candidate that their strategy sonl contributing to the slide. >> reporter: they're very worried. as you said earlier, they added an availability today. he is trying to get his message out. look, they don't have the money to put up the ads that would allow them to go negative against the other candidates. so they're trying to make a virtue out of it. and say, you know, we're really going to be positive here so don't pay attention to those other folks. and they're holding these teleconferences, essentially, asking people to join their caucuses. asking people to join their campaign. the place where we just had this event, davenport, iowa. i talked to the two guys who set up the event. they got a call from the gingrich campaign at 10:30 last friday morning. they're not gingrich supporters. they're precinct cheryl in the state. they don't know who they'll support and they had to cobble it together over the weekend. gingrich doesn't have a lot of money. he raised $500,000 over the weekend. that's not a lot of money. he doesn't have an organization. he is trying to counter that. >> i want to show the national numbers to see if this is what you're getting in eye waffle you can feel the nigewt-mentum. what's most important? personal qualities or stands on the issues? 62% say personal qualities. programs because they don't disagree on that many issues. so who wins there? who represents the qualities? romney has 32% to gingrich, 21%. what else is it? if people say personal qualities is why they're more for romney there, what else are you picking up two days and one day until iowa votes? >> reporter: it's interesting. in talking to folks around here in davenport, it seems newt gingrich might have peaked a week too early. they like him. they think he's different. i spoke to a couple folks who said what they like about him is that he seems like a strong leader. and our polls showed that as well. he beats romney on the leadership issues. some particular evangelicals have questions about his past personal life. and they wonder whether he is a little too bombastic in washington to actually make things work. but they like him because they feel he stands up for what he believes. however, one person i talked to today said to me, look, i like him. i think he is great. i'm just not sure he can get elected president. >> gloria borger live on the ground for us. here in washington tonight, vigilant is the watch word of the top military officer as the world anxiously watches the transition of power in north korea. so far no unexpected troop movements following this weekend's death of the north korean leader kim jong-il. now the latest and the details. when the top military office says vigilant, when they say there are no so far, no unexpected troop movements, what are they most worried about? >> they're worried about being surprised. we now know that kim jong-il passed away more than a day before the u.s. was even made aware of it. what they're doing now is secretary panetta and other fls are calling there are counterparts in south kree. they're also making sure they have the intelligent aspects. surveillance analysts to make sure they don't get surprised if conditions in north korea change. this was the scenario that some military officials really feared. the officer who runs u.s. forces korea warned the u.s. senate back over the summer that kim jong-il's death could make north korea a more, make it more of a military threat. he said the son now has an imperative to sort of play indicate the hard liners. the military hard liners in north korea. he said that combined with his youth and inexperience increases the likelihood of some sort of miscalculation and makes the son in the short term less predictable. >> and chris, the unpredictability that is the giant question mark. i'm not sure they have a clear answer. but you have a country that has six or maybe 10 or 12 nukes. it is the concern that he may do something provocative in the region or is it perhaps that they would go back into the proliferation and the arms, the marketing business. >> by far, much more of a concern about the ladder. north korea was accused of building a plutonium reactionor in syria, until that was allegedly destroyed by the israelis. many are very concerned that north korea could at some point decide to try to give some of its technology or sell some of its technology to iran to help iran overcome its problems. i'm told a lot of nations have invested time and money in slowing down iran's program. that has been made clear to the north koreans that is a red line. that any help given to iran is a no go and a nonstarter. just about six weeks ago, some of the senior military officials in the region said that when they were talking to the north koreans, the north koreans made it clear they thought one of the reasons that moammar gadhafi was able to be ousted in libya was because he gave up his wmd program. and they say if that's the way the north koreans are thinking, it makes it hard to trust the negotiations to get them to curtail their own program. >> chris lawrence, live at the pentagon. thanks. cnn learned today that kim jong-il's death came just as the united states was set to announce a donation of food aid in return for stop processing uranium and to readmit international inspectors. secretary of state hillary clinton went out of her way to extend an olive branch. >> we reiterate our hope for the improved relations with the people of north korea and remain deeply concerned about their well-being. >> with me now, david sanger. thanks for your time. the first question i have for you is based on all your reporting, how will this transition play out? >> you know, john, nobody knows. the fact that nobody knew that kim jong-il had passed away for 48 hours gives you an idea of how little the top leadership has been penetrated by american intelligence, south korean intelligence and others. but there are sort of three leading theories. one of them is that they'll be some sort of regent appoint who would oversee the son in his late 20s. and see whether or not he is up to the job. he has not had very much training time. his father had 20 years to prepare for the job. the son has one or two. the second theory you heard alluded to. that he would feel it necessary to step out and either sell weapons or do some sort of can provocative act similar to 2010 when it sank a south korean war ship. when it attacked an island. the third theory interesting really scary one, is that is the north korean military would fracture with some supporting the son and some saying they don't want the communist dynasty. if that's the case, who controls the nuclear weapons. would the united states, china, south korea have to mobilize they will. that's a pretty scary scenario. >> it is. the country that might matter most is china. how would this play out? >> for years the united states has wanted to start up a quiet conversation with the chinese about what to do in case of north korean collapse. and when you go through wikileaks documents that came out a year ago, this was the source of a lot of discussion between the diplomats. the chinese have never wanted to play because they cannot want to admit the possible that north korea could collapse and it would be a disaster for china in the chinese mind if that happened. this they would have 23,000 refugees coming over the border all hungry. they would have south korea trying to take over the north which would put an american ally on china's board. so what the chinese want mostly is stability. and they're probably more worried about the situation right now than the u.s. is. >> david sanger, the chief washington correspondent. thanks for your insights. and ahead, the reaction when kim jong-il's death was announced. >> translator: i'm announcing in the most woeful mind that our great leader kim jong-il passed away due to sudden illness -- >> what do we really know about life inside north korea? in three minutes, the former head of the cia joins us to shed light. plus, a popular car maker declares bankruptcy. no problem. you want to save money on rv insurance? no problem. you want to save money on motorcycle insurance? no problem. you want to find a place to park all these things? fuggedaboud it. this is new york. hey little guy, wake up! aw, come off it mate! geico. saving people money on more than just car insurance. at bank of america, we're lending and investing in communities across the country, from helping to revitalize a neighborhood in brooklyn to financing industries that are creating jobs in boston or providing funding for the expansion of a local business serving a diverse seattle community and supporting training programs for tomorrow's workforce in los angeles. because the more we can do in local neighborhoods and communities, the more we can help make opportunity possible. tears as the announcement of kim jong-il's death was made on television. those images are the images the north korean government wants to you see. the story that's missing, his level legacy of famine, poverty. jong me, two men who know north korea and knew this leader more than any other officials. first the retired general of the cia, and in denver, the assistant secretary of state of president bsh was the lead negotiator. i want to start with this threshold question for you. your biggest worry today is what? >> well, the instability in the north. because of internal pressures, because they can't settle the leadership succession, that they do something stupid. i don't think that's leakly. i think they turn inward. i think we'll see a period in which we can't get the north koreans to do anything externally positive or negative. it will take a period of months before this settles out. >> ambassador hill, you're the u.s. diplomat who knows this government. knows this regime best. are you confident that they have a succession plan that will avoid instability? >> no, i'm not. i think they've certainly tried in the last few days. probably the delay in announcing kym jong-il's death was part of it. you have to remember kim jong-il had something like 20 years under his father as he sort of constantly was introduced to various communes and other factories and every north korean felt they knew kim jong-il before he took power. and even then it took years of introspection before they came out of it. i think the problem is much worse right now. i don't think anyone has an idea about kim jong un. the one thing he has going in his favor is he looks vaguely like his grandfather who was a little more popular than his father. >> that's an interesting point. first and foremost start with the map. this is the demilitarized zone. let's just bring up u.s. bases. there are a lot of u.s. troops in this region. any indication, general, to you first. do we know at all what the son thinks of the united states and the rest? >> no. we know very little about him. there is a little time he spent in switzerland at a boarding school. at the junior high level. we're trying to understand his thinking. i don't think, no one thinks that sojourn in switzerland turned him into someone more oriented to the west he is his father's son. >> one of our correspondents talked to a high school roommate of the son. i want to you listen to his take. >> he was very quiet. he didn't speak with anyone. he liked the sail things every teenager likes. he liked sports, he watch also, we talk sometimes about girls. but not too much. so he didn't go out at night. he never go out on disco or party, never. >> in your dealings with the north korean government, any dealings with him specifically? or any information? that's high school days. any information about who he is now and what he thinks of the world? >> no. very little indeed. you always have to worry about those quiet types. but i think he was a very low key figure. and i think it was kind of a surprise to have put him out forward as the heir apparent. i think the key question is the brother-in-law, the brother-in-law of kim jong-il. he has been out of favor from time to time. brought back in, gone back out. a bit of a controversial figure in north korean terms. that's led to the view among some people that he may be some kind of closet reformer. i kind of doubt it. one of the great legacies of kim jong-il in addition to nuclear and famine was the fact that he kind of really created this class of people who are all these luxury goods and committed to keeping this going. i suspect he is one of those people and i suspect they'll try to do that. even if they get into some tiffs. i'm going to bring up on top of this, their missile launching facilities. chris talks about perhaps a regency, a shared power. we don't know. it is the short answer. when you don't know, does that make you worry more or less? >> of course it does. we've never seen a regency before in north korea. this has been the code of personality times two and clearly kym jong-il wanted kim jong un to be the number three. so if you get tensions, if you get fractures. do any of the factions in a life or death struggle -- >> are they doing anything different than 48 hours ago? >> on intelligence, sure. they're up in the to have step of the dugout. they're looking for signs. but i don't think we perceive an immediate threat. this is the most military arrestized zone on the planet in terms of conventional power, it has been decreasing. the south and we together combined have dominance here. it is these kinds of weapons that are the wild card. >> so ambassador, in the short term. i assume the japan these and the chinese will be cautious. >> i would speck the south koreans will go on much heightened alerted. it is not just the configuration of military forces. if you put a population overlay there, you would see millions and millions of south koreans living within artillery range of some 14,000 north korean artillery tubes. so the idea of some sort of military confrontation is rather aapocalypt cal to say the least. that's one issue that has to be considered. from a diplomatic point of view, the chinese have been trying their best to try to get the north koreans back to the talks. the trouble is the chinese haven't really looked too much ahead of what they would do once they're in the talk. we are kind of reluctant to go into talks for talk's sake. we've been looking at signs that wun once they get to the talks, they would live up to their obligations under the agreement to denuclearize. i think that process will be set back even further as a result of this transition. >> ambassador hill in denver. we'll keep an eye on a very important part of the world i did a broadcast ones in the dmz and i put my toe across the line. my toe has been to north korea. tonight your tafxes are caught in the middle. plus, seldom, something we very seldom hear. words of praise for lindsay lohan. but they come from hugh hefner. nyquil (stuffy): hey, tylenol. you know we're kinda like twins. tylenol: we are? nyquil (stuffy): yeah, we both relieve coughs, sneezing, aches, fevers. tylenol: and i relieve nasal congestion. nyquil (stuffy): overachiever. anncr vo: tylenol cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion... nyquil cold & flu doesn't. welcome back. >> it's a story we've been following, i've been following very closely. you out there and millions of americans may find out late tonight whether your taxes are going up. the house is getting set to vote on extending the social security pay roll tax cut that expires at the end of the year. but house speaker john boehner says republicans, they won't buy the senate pass bill extending the tax cut for only two months. >> i think we've made it perfectly clear that we believe that a full year extension of these tax cuts are very important. i don't believe the differences between the house and senate are that great. it's time for us to do our work. >> a problem though. the senate isn't around to negotiate and senate democrats don't want to and don't want to come back to town. we'll be following this story throughout the hour. >> in other news, an investment firm run but a saudi prince announced it is buying a $300,000 stake in twitter. they also own and invest in our coil, time warner. a sad farewell maybe for some of you saying goodbye to saab. it started building autos in 1946 filed for brums today and expects to go out of business. good news though, look for this next year at an atm next year. no fees. of course as usual, there is a bit of a catch. you'll have to watch a commercial before you get your money since, of course, we all need more commercials in our lives. consumers fork over about $4 million in fees for getting money that doesn't belong to their own bank. >> if you can believe linhugh hefner, lindsay is one of the best things that happened to the magazine. they are breaking sales records. on that note -- >> did you ever think in your life you would speak the sentence that began, if you believe hugh hefner -- >> no, i didn't. and i was hoping we could quickly transition back to poll numbers. >> no poll numbers. this is a hard one for me. i have a 15-year-old daughter who used to be a lindsay lohan fan. >> it is tough for a lot of parents. >> shall we say, not anymore. >> let's hope not. they cannot figure out how to do something nearly everybody wants to do. keep your taxes from going up. and you won't want to miss this. newt gingrich said he wants to be that's ontively his wife takes to twitter. she's fighting back. 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. the house of representatives should decide tonight whether your tafls will go up starting january 1. and the battle on capitol hill is anything but pretty. the house voted on a bill that would extend taxes for two months. not good enough for most house republicans. john boehner wants a one-year extension in order he says to eliminate uncertainty in the tax code for small businesses. >> the idea of a tax policy can be done two months at a time is the '69 of activity we see here in washington that is really put our economy off its tracks. >> speaker boehner's objection to the senate bill does come as a bit of a surprise. on a conference call saturday, the speaker called the bill a good deal. joining me from capitol hill with the latest, our senior congressional correspondent. and so the question is, what is going to happen this evening? house republicans are in their meeting. they're plotting strategy. taxes going to go up? >> well, if house speaker john boehner is right, he is saying that it will fail. and he is saying that as you mentioned. ther