tonight and tomorrow morning elsewhere. in new hampshire. he's also back to attacking president obama. this time, comparing him to marie antoinette. cnn's jim acosta at romney's early stops in iowa today. jim? >> reporter: candy, there are several reasons for mitt romney's growing confidence, one is the fact that we've been talking about this for several days, newt gingrich has been staying positive, not going after mitt romney. ron paul, romney's chief rival in the state is leaving the state and going back to texas to spend new year's eve with his wife and family. michele bachmann, a former campaign manager, ed rollins, tell me via e-mail today, that michele bachmann has basically been laying off of mitt romney in the hopes of being his vice presidential running mate. no surprise romney on the campaign earlier with chris christie going after president obama, comparing him, as you said, to french royalty. >> the other day president obama said that you know it could be worse. that was his line it could be worse. can you imagine hearing that from a pessimistic president? it could be worse. that goes down with marie antoinette, let them eat cake. he's in hawaii. we're in the cold and the rain and the wind because we care about america. he finished his 90th round of golf. >> now, romney will be back in the states this weekend. he'll be continuing to campaign, heading into the iowa caucuses tuesday. but candy, another sign of mitt romney's confidence. he has an op-ed featured in the state newspaper. that's in south carolina, a couple of contests from now. it goes to show you he's feeling pretty good about his chances tuesday. we'll get one more sense as to how mitt romney is doing when the des moines register poll comes out saturday night. that's a good gauge as to how all of this could breakdown when the caucuses get going, candy. >> jim acroostaacosta, thanks. chalk it up to the pressure of the campaign or rush of holiday memories but newt gingrich was fighting back tears today. the unusually emotional moment came while talking about his late mother's health problems. >> my whole emphasis on brain science comes in directly from dealing -- see how emotional -- dealing with, you know, the real problems of real people in my family. so it's not a theory, it's in fact, you know, my mother. >> joe johns is following the former speaker. that is a -- quite a moment. this is a man, public life for a long time. unusual moment for him, joe. >> reporter: that's for sure. you don't see newt gingrich cry all the time although to be totally honest i saw background thanksgiving, he did break down in tears in public completely different situation, though. still, want to tell you about where i am, candy. this is creston, iowa, a coffee shopping we're waiting for newt gingrich to appear within the hour. that event that you saw i was in the room that actually happened at a coffee shop inside des moines proper. so the question, of course, is, you know, here's a guy down in the polls, he's been attacked in multiple ads and he needs a spark. so, you know, politically, how is this crying incident, if you will, going to play among the voters here in iowa, the people going to the caucuses? i have a captive room here of republicans waiting to see newt gingrich. so i just happened to walk around and talk to a few people. most, the vast majority of the people i asked about this had not heard about it, seen anything on tv. two people i spoke with who did hear something about it thought it was irrelevant to selecting the republican nominee for the president of the united states. so, we'll see how to plays, candy. >> thanks so much. joe johns covering the newt gingrich campaign tonight. remember that old advertising slogan, can you hear me now? well, tonight the folks at verizon wireless got your message. one day after announcing it, verizon is dropping what they called a convenience fee for some customers. cnn's alison kosik is here from the new york stock exchange with the decision to reverse the charges. allison? >> reporter: you know what, it's interesting how this didn't take long. it took less than 24 hours, as you said, after announcing this new fee that verizon wireless said, never mind, we're not going to impose this fee. put another check mark in the win column for angry consumers who spoke out about this. this battle began thursday afternoon. yesterday afternoon when verizon announced it would impose a $2 fee for every one-time payment that you make either with a credit card or a debit card, whether you did it online or over the phone and immediately it set customers off. just the idea that you may have to pay a fee for the privilege of paying a bill caused a huge outrage on twitter, on facebook, on blogs, and clearly the outrage worked. because this afternoon, verizon wireless succumbed to the pressure from consumers and a warning from the federal communications commission it was interested in looking into this matter and verizon wireless went ahead scrapping the fee listening to feedback from consumers. >> allison, what makes a difference here for some of these companies? there have been a lot of outrageous fees it seems to be out there for banks and other things in some sort of turn on a dime and others don't. it took netflix a little while to response to all of the folks dropping out of their program. this was so quick. was it the sheer volume of complaints? >> it was the -- you know what? it was a little bit of the sheer volume but sort of the outconlie that took hold. i think of bank of america. remember the $5 debit card feed that bank of america was going to impose and you got the backlash from consumers. in this time in this day and age, when everybody is sort of scraping two nickels together we're all struggling and you know, you've got 13 million people out of work. and then you hear about these big companies with a lot of money looking to impose these fees like a $5 deb it card fee r a $2 fee here. you get this outrage. what happens it becomes a huge pr nightmare. what you saw here was verizon wireless saw that and immediately took action, less than 24 hours after making this announcement, candy. >> so complain loud enough and long enough to become a pr nightmare. >> yes. >> that's the lesson we take from this. thanks so much, alison kosik. next up, joins by a top lib in congress in danger of losing his seat and not at all happy about the reason. later, what will they say this year? 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[ding] [fans whirring] announcer: chill raw and prepared foods promptly. one in 6 americans will get sick from food poisoning this year. check your steps at foodsafety.gov. nighttime downtown des moines. coming to you live from the beautiful cap nal des moines. one of the leading liberals in congress, dennis kucinich, in danger of losing his seat, not to a republican but another democrat. here's why, ohio is losing congressional district because of the declining population. people who draw the maps looked at current districts anchored in toledo and cleveland and decided to combine them. the new district looks like this. the old districts were prepped by prominent democrats and now there's only room for one of them. that set up a clash of the titans. dana bash is here to tell us all about it. >> by most accounts this is a tough decision for dennis kucinich, now to stay in congress, given the fact that his seat disappeared. the ohio democrat flirted with the idea of moving to washington state to run but ultimately decided to stay local and hope the fact that he is the former mayor of cleveland and a longtime representative of the area hopes that that pays off. i'm told he should have an advantage because of fund-raising. he has good lists, i'm told, because of the knack he has run for president in the past. his problem, of course, is that he's running against the dean of the ohio delegation, marcy captor. she happens to be the longest serve woman in the house of representatives. we know marcy well, covering her in congress but she does not have anything close to the national profile that kucinich does. she is very much the inside play, tight with local leaders, fixated on pro-labor and has the rust belt ethos that plays well in ohio. this is a tough primary to watch. seems to be either for the taking. >> yeah. it's always tough. they're allies obviously. not only in the same caucus but the same state caucus. this will in no way put democrats in jeopardy of losing that seat to a republican. >> that's right. whoever wins dennis or marcy is expected to win in november. so the primary is where it's at. at this point it should not affect the balance of power in the house. >> dana bash, joining me to discuss his cam taken to stay in congress is veteran democratic congressman dennis ckucinich. thank you for joining us tonight. i know this is a tough thing for you, not to mention congresswoman kaptur. let me ask you, what went through your mind, she's the most senior female in the house. she's brought home to ohio more federal dollars than any other state lawmaker. what did you bring to the table that she doesn't have there? >> first of all the seat doesn't belong to me, it belongs to the people. and my approach is always to stand up and speak out on behalf of the economic rights of people and the cleveland area, i've been instrumental in helping to save or create thousands of jobs. people know me as a person that gets involved, everyone else that stands on the sideline that says it can't be done, i get involved in big picture items, helping save a steel milk but people need help, social security, medicare, my office helps people, in some cases, save their lives. so my -- i'm a ka-do person. i'm used to being in tough situations. and it's been the story of my life. landing on my feet. so i'm -- i know that this is a competitive race. >> you know, tonally how is this going to work? he was asked what's the difference between you and congressman kucinich be and she says she's operational effective, implication you don't get things done, you have a point of view but she gets things done. how do you get through the campaign without going negative? is that a pledge you're willing to take? how will it work? >> first of all this campaign is not about, you know, my -- criticism of another candidate. i'm not going to do that. marcy katpur's my friend. >> no negative ads? >> i don't even think in those terms. one of the problems in politics with america and i've seen the coverage of iowa primaries people are tearing each other up. it's important for conditions to say what they're going to do for people. retirement security for all and peace. that's the message i'm going to take to people in ohio and if they hear it, i think i should have a chance to succeed. one cannot succeed by disparaging another. that's what's wrong about our politics and it's something that i can demonstrate in this campaign, a way of changing the direction of our politics. >> so from you, no negative words, no negative ads about marcy kaptur? >> why should i? it's about -- first after all, she's a friend of mine. beyond that we need to change our approach to politics. people are fed up with the politics where candidates rip each other apart and the voter lose in the enbecause no one knows what anybody stands for. i'm going to continue to get my message out from cleveland to loraine to toledo, save and create jobs, stand up and speak out for a spokesperson for peace, and you know, take a look at what's happening with iran right now. you'll see why it's important to have a voice like that. but i -- it doesn't have to be done at the expense of another candidate. >> let me ask you, just you brought up 2012. i want to ask you a couple of 2012 questions. do you think -- would you welcome any kind of inner party challenge to president obama? there's been lots of complaints on the left about what he's done. do you think there will be a challenge to him? >> no. i think that for president obama, sure of the nomination. this is a choice between president obama and whoever the republicans nominate. >> and i want to play you something that rick santorum had to say yesterday about one of his colleagues on the presidential campaign trail, ron paul. >> ladies and gentlemen, this is a very important vote you're casting here in iowa. on national security there's no more important. iowa needs to send a message. you want a candidate that is no in the dennis kucinich wing of the democratic party under our ticket. >> i wonder if you consider ron paul to be in the dennis kucinich wing of the democratic party. >> ron paul is a force -- >> you both agree on -- >> he's a force in and of himself. i'm not going to inject myself into republican politics. lie say this, when you have candidates trying to take us into war against iran, remember we went to war against iraq. based on lies. i led the effort in the united states congress in challenging the bush administration's march towards war. i said october 2008 there is no proof that iraq had weapons of mass destruction or intention or capability of attacking the united states. almost 4700 troops died, tens of thousands injured, over 1 million iraqis dead it will cost $5 trillion in the enfor the war. what did it prove? the people who supported the war were wrong and people beating a drum for war against iran is just as wrong. time to take a new direction. don't we have problems at home? don't we have a need to create jobs and save homes and give people have a chance to give their keds to go to better schools and social security? still talking about war? come on! >> on that, there's bipartisan agreement, i think, between you and ron paul across the party line. thank you so much. congressman dennis kucinich. an interesting year ahead. >> happy new year. >> same to you. next, some proof that things tend to balance out just as one prominent couple calls it quits. another big name's ready to say i do, again. we also have much more from iowa. two-time caucus winner bob dole tells us who he thinks should win this year. wanted to visit us...ausso manye in louisiana. they came to see us in florida... nice try, they came to hang out with us in alabama... once folks heard mississippi had the welcome sign out, they couldn't wait to get here. this year was great but next year's gonna be even better. and anyone who knows the gulf knows that winter is primetime fun time. the sun's out and the water's beautiful. you can go deep sea fishing for amberjack, grouper and mackerel. our golf courses are open. our bed and breakfast have special rates. and migrating waterfowl from all over make this a bird watcher's paradise. so if you missed it earlier this year, come on down. if you've already been here come on back... to mississippi... florida... louisiana... alabama. the gulf's america's get-a-way spot no matter where you go. so come on down and help make 2012 an even better year for tourism on the gulf. brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home. sir, can you hear me? 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[ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, thank you, from johnson & johnson. welcome back. here's lisa sylvester with the latest news you need to know right now. >> candy, tone, two doctors are in jail and face murder charges in maryland more performing abortions on late-term fetuses that may have been able to survive outside the womb. the doctors have been under investigation since last year, when maryland authorities raided a clinic and reported finding several fetuses in a freezer chest. the doctors' attorney say no laws were broken, and the charges are without merit. in other news, a high profile show business marriage is on the rocks. russell brand says he and singer katy perry and ending their year-long marriage though, quote, i'll always adore her and i know we'll remain friends. that's what he is saying. on the other hand, michael jordan is trying again. no, he isn't heading back on to the basketball court. he's going to head down the aisle for the second time. jordan and his longtime girlfriend got engaged on christmas day. we wish them all the best. candy. >> goodness. . out with the old, in with the new or something like that. thanks so much, lisa sylvester. see you in a bit. next, a voice from the past. two-time iowa caucus winner bob dole tells us who he's supporting and why it isn't ron paul. another blast from the past. before anderson cooper and kathy griffin join us, here's how things got going in 2009. >> welcome to times square. a warm night compared to last year. >> start over. take it from the top. i'm here with not ryan seacrest. >> yes. a pale comparison to ryan seacrest. [oinking] [hissing] [ding] announcer: cook foods to the right temperature using a food thermometer. 3,000 americans will die from food poisoning this year. check your steps at foodsafety.gov. will be giving away passafree copies of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. in this half hour of "john king usa" he won the iowa caucuses. bob dole's ready to tell us who he thinks should win this year. ron paul may have disavowed some of his controversial newsletters but now will he explain what he wrote about aids, minorities and sexual harassment in a 25--year-old book? anderson cooper and kathy griffin join us to preview condition's special coverage of new year's eve. if anyone knows how to win the eyee caucuses it is bob dole. as we noted the former senator did it twice in '88 and '96. this week dole's calling prominent iowa republicans and urging them to support mitt romney. when we heard about it, we asked him to give us a call as well. we spoke a little bit ago. you knew personally a lot of people in the field. you those back mitt romney over, for instance, newt gingrich. do you think some of the wrap on the former speaker has been he's not tempermentlely suited to be president? do you agree with that? >> well, i tried to work with newt -- worked with newt for ten years. we had our good times and our bad times. i think some of newt's statements he's forgotten that congress is composed of a house and a senate, and the senators had a lot to do with welfare reform and nafta and and cutting taxes, reagan tax cuts. it wasn't just a one-man show in the house of representatives. but you know, newt is n