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American Morning

South Korea Starting New Round of Artillery Exercises Today; Deep Freeze Kicking off the Week; Closer to Compromise on Capitol Hill; U.S. vs. WikiLeaks; Iran's Nuclear Breakthrough; Jeff Gordon's Drive to End Hunger; Helpful Holiday Hints

Aired December 06, 2010 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Thanks so much for being with us. It's Monday, December 6th. I'm Kiran Chetry.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And hi there, everybody. I'm T.J. Holmes, sitting in this morning for John Roberts. This is what we're keeping off eye on this morning.

It was a busy weekend on those Bush-era tax cuts. Senate actually was in session. They were working, didn't get much done, but the word now out of Washington is that possibly something could get done on your taxes sometime in the middle of this week. But this could mean the president would have to make a break of his campaign promise. We'll explain all this coming up.

CHETRY: Also, warning shots. South Korea starting a new round of nationwide artillery exercises this morning. They've been seen as a response to North Korea's deadly shelling of a South Korean island nearly two weeks ago. The South Korea's defense minister is now saying that military forces can immediately retaliate if North Korea launches another attack.

HOLMES: And don't tell these folks who are seeing six inches of snow that winter is not officially here yet. We've got a deep freeze that is kicking off the week. Temperatures in some places in single digits, teens in other places, even in the south might not get out of the 30s.

CHETRY: Wow.

Well, first, trying to cut a deal with your paycheck on the line. They're getting closer to cutting a compromise on Capitol Hill this morning on extending the Bush tax cuts. And the clock is ticking before all Americans would see a major tax hike.

Ed Henry is live for us at the White House this morning. So as we've been saying, they worked through the weekend. What did they accomplish?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Really not very much, in fact. Good morning, Kiran. And this was once a line in the sand for this president that he would only support extending tax cuts for those making $250,000 or less, which he defines as middle class, and that he would not extend tax cuts for the rich. Now, the line in the sand not so much. It appears that they're getting closer and closer here to a deal cut as early as this week, in which all of the Bush tax rates for the middle class as well as for the rich will be extended maybe for a year, two years, maybe even more. And that's music to the ears of Republican leaders like Mitch McConnell. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, (R) SENATE MINORITY LEADER: I think it's pretty clear now taxes are not going up on anybody in the middle of this recession. We're discussing how long we should maintain current tax rates. And there are other issues that many people feel are important to address. Obviously the president won't sign a permanent extension of the current tax rates, so we're going to have some kind of an extension. I'd like one as long as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: Now, the president will be making remarks on the economy and this tax cut fight just after noon eastern time today in North Carolina. He's going to be at a community college talking about education, but also, the economy.

I spoke to a White House aide who told me, quote "The president will also renew his opposition to even a temporary extension of the Bush tax cuts if it does not include an extension of benefits for the unemployed and extensions of the other tax cuts that benefit middle class families. Without them, taxes would still rise for 95 percent of Americans.

An important point to make, the White House is still saying that in these negotiations they'll only support an extension of the Bush tax rates if they also get an extension of unemployment benefits. There are millions, as you know, seeing their benefits run out here right before the holidays.

Nevertheless, that may just be a small consolation for the White House and Democrats on the Hill who are expecting a lot more out of this tax cut deal. It's looking like the Republicans are going to get more than the Democrats expected. Kiran, T.J.?

CHETRY: In some ways, could this be viewed as a reluctant compromise? I know the extension of the unemployment benefits was something that was important, as well, the Republicans, some were balking at.

HENRY: Well, Republicans were balking at the notion that they would be extended without them being paid for. They wanted to make sure there was some sort of spending cut, offset, if you will. You're right, it looks like the Democrats may get that without an offset, so you can call that a victory.

But when you take a step back, both sides talking about fiscal discipline lately, meanwhile, they're about to extend the tax rates for everyone, which means hundreds of billions of dollars lost to the federal treasury if those unemployment benefits are extended, also not likely to be paid for. Both talk big game about reducing spending, but not really doing it right now.

CHETRY: Absolutely. Ed Henry for us this morning, thanks.

HOLMES: Let's bring in Christine Romans now. Christine, we've been talking about the back and forth going on in Washington. People have had these in place for a while now. If they go up, you're going to notice it.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You're going to notice it. They were temporary tax cuts. The Bush tax cuts were always meant to be temporary, but you get to really feel how you make your family budget around them. And this would be putting you back to what you were paying for taxes in the 1990s if an agreement isn't reached.

So this is what it would look like. Imagine you were a single person making $47,000 a year. You would pay an extra $819 in taxes. A family of four earning, say, $75,000 a year, your tax increase would be about $2,600. Two adults 65 years and older earning $121,000 -- $6,908.

So you can see, it's money at this particular time in the economy that would clearly hurt an awful lot of families. But again, it's back to what you were paying back in the 1990s. And sometimes we talk about tax increases. It's returning to you the tax levels from the pre-Bush era levels.

But it looks as though most people will not have to face this. Looks as though what Ed is reporting, they're making progress on this.

CHETRY: And you also said Friday, if your unemployment benefits are set to run out, still file, still call, still go online. And it looks like that's going to happen, as well. Looks like they are going to possibly tack on this --

ROMANS: People are so nervous about that. They're really nervous.

CHETRY: Understandable.

ROMANS: Even Ben Bernanke this weekend on "60 Minutes" pointed out we need to be looking at structural problems and structural deficits and the like. But right now we shouldn't do anything to hurt the economy. He didn't specifically say -- he didn't specifically say unemployment benefits, but that's something that's very stimulative to the economy.

And he was also asked, you know, when will this jobs nightmare be over?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN BERNANKE, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: The peak and the end of last year, we lost 8.5 million jobs. We've only gotten about a million back so far, and that doesn't even account for the new people coming into the labor force. At the rate we're going, it can be four or five years before we're back to a normal unemployment rate, somewhere in the vicinity of, say, five percent or six percent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: You've heard us say that many, many times on this program. When you do the calculations, you'd have to have 300,000 jobs every month for a period of 50 to 60 months just to get back to normal. When you hear the fed chief say it, it was a little sobering.

He was also asked about the tax cut debate, and he smartly, as he always does, declined to talk about the politics of it. But he did say we need a more are streamlined tax code with lower corporate and personal tax rates in general. So he did weigh in on that front but he would not talk about the tax cuts debate.

HOLMES: He kind of was giving an indication there saying we shouldn't do anything right now to hurt -- maybe he was --

ROMANS: Right. A lot of economists say that, you've got to be very careful about -- what is that robbing Peter to pay Paul? You're talking about the longer term structural deficits to the United States. But right now the economy is right on the border of being self-sustaining. That's not where you want to be. You want more than 2.5 percent growth in the economy and we're not there yet.

CHETRY: Christine Romans for us this morning, thanks so much.

Well, a pilot was badly hurt, but alive miraculously after he crashed his single-engine plane into two homes in Utah. It went down in the town of Roy as it was preparing to land at a nearby airport. People inside were able to get out of the homes without being hurt. The plane, though, then crashed into a power pole, that was torn apart. Power was knocked out to 1,700 homes. Neighbors were the first to find the pilot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY COX, WITNESS: He was pretty banged up, burns on his hands and face. But he was actually coherent and remembered what his name was and what he was doing.

RICK POTOKAR, WITNESS: There was debris all over the road from, I think, it was probably a transformer exploded. The one here in front of this home we're sitting at, the transformer there blew up, as well. It kind of acted like a chain reaction afterwards because the crash site is a good half block from here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Investigators are trying to figure out what led to that crash.

HOLMES: Another internet blackout for Comcast customers, this time in the Midwest. Internet outages impacted Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana, Michigan. Comcast said last night everyone should be back on by now. A similar outage hit Boston and the D.C. beltway just hours before cyber Monday shopping.

CHETRY: Not good. Well, the federal government wants automakers to install backup cameras on all vehicles by the end of 2014. This has saved my life on so many locations, being able to see what you're backing into. It's helped many a fellow driver, I'll tell you that.

Well, some models have them now, like my wonderful minivan, but usually an expensive option. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wants the rule phased in over the next four years.

HOLMES: Are you that bad?

CHETRY: You can parallel park so quickly and precisely because you can get so close, you can practically feel the car.

HOLMES: You said it save your life --

CHETRY: No, I don't reverse down the highway very often, but I'm saying it saved my life figuratively in that I don't have to file an insurance claim.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: That's my mistake.

Well, the football stadium at TCU, it's a pile of rubble. It stood since 1956, imploded to make way for major renovations.

CHETRY: I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you one other thing.

HOLMES: Not back to the camera.

CHETRY: I got in so much trouble because I wasn't looking once and backed into my husband's car in our driveway. He says "You have a camera! How can you not see my car?"

HOLMES: But you had a family accident. So you couldn't file a claim against the other guy. Oh, Kiran.

(LAUGHTER)

CHETRY: He wasn't happy. That's why I don't drive very often.

And 1,000 cold-blooded people took part in the annual polar plunge. Next year we can add T.J. and Reynolds over here. They're going to jump in Lake Erie over the weekend. And it was all to raise money for the Special Olympics. They brought in $130,000.

By the way, the temperatures outside temperatures only 20s, so the water probably felt warmer, actually.

HOLMES: You sure you don't want to go back to the cameras one more time?

CHETRY: No.

(WEATHER BREAK)

CHETRY: Still ahead, Jeff Gordon driving for much more than just the Sprint Cup now. He's teaming up with the new charity, one that the number 24 car will be proudly displaying next year, the new design right under that cover. And we're going to be lifting it coming up in just a minute. Jeff Gordon will be here late this hour to show us the new paint job and talk all about his drive to end hunger.

HOLMES: Also still to come this morning, WikiLeaks is now exposing vulnerable security secrets to terrorists. Should the U.S. use cyber warfare to try to knock this site off? We'll the tell you. It's 12 minutes past the hour. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Fifteen minutes past the hour here now. WikiLeaks, it's still up and running this morning with some help from a Swiss web host that has so far refused all U.S. infringe demands to take it offline. So with word out today that the site has now exposed what amounts to a secret list of potential targets for terrorists to strike against the U.S., a lot of people are asking the question, why doesn't the U.S. government take action? Maybe even cyber warfare to knock WikiLeaks off the web for good.

Let me bring in Jamie Smith now. He's a former CIA officer who is now CEO of global security and intelligence firm SCG. SCG International is a private intelligence firm that sometimes does work for the government.

Sir, thank you so much for being here. First things first. If the U.S. -- if the U.S. government wanted to, could they covertly take this Web site offline?

JAMIE SMITH, FMR. CIA OFFICER: Yes, T.J, good morning. The U.S. government has got the capability through various agencies and Defense Department units to knock WikiLeaks off the map for good. And just one quick example that the public's aware of already is the Stuxnet virus that attacked the Iranian nuclear system. You know, whomever created that, whichever nation state created that, it was very effective and it was a complex virus. Our country is the best in the world at this. And if we wanted to, yes, it would be gone.

HOLMES: So in your estimation right now, why not?

SMITH: Well, up to this point, WikiLeaks has released classified information. However, the information says it has released classified information. However, the information has not risen to the level that makes it a national security threat in terms of our nation's survival. So it's a military decision as opposed to a political decision.

There are some -- some administration officials that are embarrassed and our diplomats are going to have a tough time executing their mission. However, nothing has been released is threatening the survival of our nation. And if we were to unleash our offensive capabilities, what would happen would be that our enemies would then be able to understand and counter in any future attacks that they might have planned against us, what our capabilities are. It happens on the battlefield all the time. Every time our forces go anywhere, you know, the Iranians, the Chinese, the Russians send their intelligence officers and they study what we do. It would be the exact same thing with our cyber capability. We want to keep that under wraps until we absolutely need it.

HOLMES: But, Jamie, is that an important distinction to make? You say it doesn't necessarily threaten the survivability of this nation going forward. But several administration officials have said there are things in there that could possibly put the lives at risk of others who are working for the U.S. government or the military covertly in Afghanistan or Iraq. So does that not rise to the level?

SMITH: Well, no. I mean, unfortunately -- you know, they -- the risk to lives in covert operations and military operations around the world, that's a risk that those folks take. However, that still does not rise to the level of a national survival threat. You know, that would be something more along the lines of our nation receiving an attack from say, again, the Chinese or the Iranians which would be precipitated by a cyber-hit first and then conventional forces perhaps after that. So we want to be able to counter those types of attacks and not open our kimono up and show exactly what we're capable of doing in terms of offense or defense.

HOLMES: And, Jamie, at this point as well, with so many other sites that have set up mirror sites to WikiLeaks and so much of the information out there. Taking out the actual WikiLeaks Web site, does that even do anything? Because all the information seems to be leaking out to other places, anyway.

SMITH: You're right. It is a hydro with many hits. But again, I point back to the Stuxnet virus and the complexity of that virus itself. I'm not an engineer nor am I a network I.T. guy. That's not what I did. However, I know that we have the capability to put a team of engineers on this thing. And if they wanted to create a virus that could track these files down and the servers that they've been sent to and just track the electronic fingerprint of these files, you know, they could do that. And no matter where that file is sitting, that would be a destroyed file and perhaps even the system that is sitting on would go down.

HOLMES: And, Jamie, last thing here if you can for me quickly. He has been called, Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks a high-tech terrorist by some on Capitol Hill. But in your mind, is he, at this point, a criminal or has done something criminal?

SMITH: Well, at this point, I believe that our government's actions are reflective of, you know, what he -- what he has committed up to this point, which is a violation of the espionage act of 1917. And, you know, if he had crossed the line into terrorism, you know, this guy has done -- if he had crossed the line into terrorism by doing what he did, we would also have charged the Russian spies with terrorism because they did the same thing and we actually worked out a trade earlier this year for them. So he's really more in the espionage in the spying department than he is in the terrorism department. And I think that's why you're seeing a criminal prosecution move ahead as far as -- as opposed to seeing Assange in an orange jumpsuit sitting in Gitmo.

HOLMES: All right. Jamie Smith for us this morning. We appreciate your time and your expertise. Appreciate you. You have a good week.

SMITH: Thank you. You too.

CHETRY: Well, still ahead, a heart-stopping video to show you this morning. A dramatic rescue at a subway station in Madrid, Spain. Here it is.

Close call after a man falls on to the tracks. You see him fall in the upper left hand part of your screen. There you see people in the other side of tracks frantically trying to wave the train as a man, a do-gooder, runs there into the tracks and literally in the nick of time gets him across before that train goes through. Only seconds to spare. Apparently, they say the man who fell initially was drunk. But he got lucky. Some quick thinking got him off the tracks.

HOLMES: Off-duty police officer helped him out.

Well, coming up, I know something you're excited about. I'm excited to see this, as well.

Four-time NASCAR champ Jeff Gordon is going to be coming up live next hour. He is driving that car for a cause next year. Got a new car, you got a new design. It's under wraps right now, but you along with us will be the first to see it coming up in just about 20 minutes. Stay with us.

CHETRY: Drum roll please.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: You a big Christmas music fan?

CHETRY: Of course.

HOLMES: Oh, really?

CHETRY: The Carols all through the holidays. We even have it on our car radio now. They turn one of the stations to just all Christmas music.

HOLMES: Wow. I can't wait to ride with you guys.

Here are a couple of other things that got us talking. I'm talking about Christmas Carols, because certainly sounded like Christmas in Boston. Thousands of folks got together. This is the city's Prudential Center. They actually got together, not just trying to sing carols but actually trying to break a record for caroling. Who knew? Boston Pops, the conductor is actually out there leading the way here. Thirty-two (ph) people got together singing 15 minutes of classics.

CHETRY: How many people?

HOLMES: 3,200. Sounds like a lot.

CHETRY: Yes, sounds like a lot but --

HOLMES: However, they failed miserably. Sorry to put it that way. But they didn't break the world record. It was actually held and still held by the 7,500 folks who set the record in Bob Jones University in South Carolina several years back.

CHETRY: All right. Well, this dog has places to go, people to see, and he's not going to wait around for his owner to get into the car and drive away. Oh, no. This dog decided to be a good idea to let his owner know he's ready. All right, did you deliver that friscos (ph) yet? Because we've got to go. So, we got all of this incredible video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop it! No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Listen, he stopped for a second when she says no. And says really? Really, because you can't stop me.

HOLMES: It seems like he was responding to that person. But he may not even know what he was doing.

CHETRY: Either that, since the Web site of the business is all over that -- maybe they knew it would get viral.

HOLMES: Very nice. And we fell for it this morning.

Well, don't you fall for it this morning. On Facebook, your site hasn't been hacked. Your profile might look a little different and it's intentional. They have a new design. They're going to be rolling it out with some new features. Facebook says it will help you communicate better with your friends. You need better communication with your friends.

CHETRY: Yes.

HOLMES: You put everything out there already. But they want you to put out even more. But they say this will help you -- your comments that you've posted with your friends and your relationships over time will all be in one place together now. So again, the changes are coming. Yours may have already changed. Some have not just yet.

CHETRY: Yes. So just be extra careful about the privacy settings and see if you need to amend what you want your friends to know.

Meantime, check this out. It's like playing Grand Theft Auto, only it's real. A stolen dump truck slamming police cars. This kid took the dump truck and went on a rampage in Ohio. Police say the driver was only 17 years old. They chased him 52 miles. And a lot of it captured on the police dash cam. One witness said he saw the truck coming down the road at 50 miles an hour in reverse and thought it was a movie. The driver ended up ramming a guardrail and was, of course, arrested.

HOLMES: We don't have the answer as to exactly why. Just felt like a joyride possibly for the 17-year-old kid. You steal a car, you usually wouldn't expect somebody to steal a dump truck.

CHETRY: But he's in big trouble either way.

HOLMES: Oh, yes. And we've got the video to prove it.

Your top stories coming up in just a couple of minutes. Including, there's been now a setback in the case of a Hollywood publicist who was murdered in Beverly Hills. We'll tell you what's next for police and the trail that's actually gone a bit cold.

CHETRY: And Iran's nuclear breakthrough. How will Tehran's bold announcement about having uranium impact nuclear talks that are set to start today? We're live in Geneva with the latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, at the bottom of the hour now. Giving you a look at the stories that are making headlines, including crews battling high winds, rough seas, frigid waters off the coast of Alaska right now as a tug boat is pulling a giant, disabled freighter and its crew back to shore this morning. The cargo ship was carrying nearly half million gallons of fuel oil, started having engine trouble on Friday. It didn't have the power to overcome some 30-foot waves and 50-mile-an- hour winds.

CHETRY: Well, the worst flooding in a century in the western Balkans. It's been raining for three weeks there. Thousands of homes are damaged and thousands of people have been moved to higher ground across Albania, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro but many people are still stranded. Albania has asked NATO for help with the rescue effort.

HOLMES: Well, just in time for the holidays. It looks like we are going to see $3 a gallon gas by Christmas. Some places already there. But the latest Lindberg survey says the national average for a gallon of regular is $2.91 right now, a four-cent hike in just two weeks.

CHETRY: Well, police are trying to solve the murder of Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen, they seemed to have hit a dead end. Preliminary ballistics test showed that a bullet from a gun used by a person of interest to kill himself when police wanted to question him, do not match bullets from the crime scene. Former L.A. police chief Bill Bratton earlier told me this morning that puts police back at square one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM BRATTON, FMR. L.A. POLICE CHIEF: At this stage of the game, it doesn't look particularly promising three weeks in, not much information. In a town like Los Angeles where they're very good at turning out gossip and stories and police leaks, it's fascinating how little they know. Maybe there is not much to leak.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Chasen, you may remember, was gunned down in her car in Beverly Hills right after attending a high-profile movie premiere.

HOLMES: And new this morning out of Iran. Tehran now saying it has everything it needs to produce its own nuclear fuel. This would mean their nuclear program is now self-sufficient. The defiant announcement comes just as a long delayed nuclear talks get underway in Switzerland today.

Our senior international correspondent Matthew Chance is live in Geneva this morning. Matthew, good morning. First of all, we hear Iran say all kinds of stuff about their program over the years. Does everyone including the folks who had those talks that you're at today. Do they take Iran at their word that they are now self-sufficient in their program?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, nobody really knows just how much uranium that the Iranians have and can get their hands on. But yes, certainly, they've been developing this process for several years. U.S. officials that we've spoken to have said they're not surprised that Iran has taken this step of producing what's known as yellow cake.

It's a sort of substance which is essential in the production of enriched uranium. But it doesn't fundamentally alter the issue that they're grappling with, which is to try to get Iran to stop their nuclear activities and to reassure the international community led by the United States, of course, it's not trying to build a bomb, instead it just wants it for peaceful purposes. The talks are still continuing even though they've got a bit of extra urgency, perhaps, T.J..

HOLMES: That extra urgency you speak of there, how much did that have to do with the timing of Iran's announcement? Talks starting up today, Iran made the announcement just yesterday over the weekend.

CHANCE: That's right. It was certainly timed very, you know, determinedly to throw this into the court of the talks as soon as they were to begin. It's perhaps Iran's attempt to show that it's not prepared to back down at this stage about its nuclear program. Perhaps, I mean, there's a lot of question as to why these talks are even going on. Very few diplomats here are optimistic there's going to be anything like a solution to this, these talks, at least. And so perhaps Iran is just using these talks to restate its position that it's not going to compromise.

HOLMES: It's unfortunate, but it sounds like low expectations once again. Matthew Chance for us in Geneva with those talks expected to take place. Matthew, we appreciate you as always.

And still to come this morning, it is a very cold start to the work week for much of the country this Monday. Parts of the Gulf Coast could actually see the 20s this week. Reynolds Wolf is going to be along. We'll have the full forecast for you including some travel issue you need to work out, watch out for, coming up.

Also, forget about the two front teeth. That's all you want for Christmas? No, all I want some cash for Christmas. But is that OK to do? How do you give money without looking tacky? We've got some tips for you. It's 34 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, at 37 minutes past the hour. Welcome back to this AMERICAN MORNING. It is not officially winter yet. Don't tell that to a lot of places that are seeing inches and inches of snow. A lot of other places seeing temperatures that are in the single digits, the teens. Even in the south where we're not used to that, getting in the 30s. Reynolds Wolf is in the south right now. He's in Atlanta, in particular. We're not used to this kind of stuff in the south, Reynolds.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Nope, not at all. We'd normally see this in a couple of weeks. But this is kind of a nice shot of a winter blast we're having this morning. There are some people in parts of the Great Lakes that are maybe waking up to about a foot of snowfall on the horizon.

Let's go right to the forecast and show you what we have in terms of travel delays. We've been talking about the issues you might have on the roadways, say along parts of 90, just south of Buffalo. But hey, if you're going to the airports, you might have backups and all your airports in New York, D.C. metros, Philadelphia could have an hour wait, perhaps even longer.

In Atlanta, Detroit, wind will be an issue. Cleveland, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh. It's going to be a combination of low clouds, snow and wind, in Salt Lake City, low clouds may hamper some disability and that could give you a little bit of a wait out on the tarmac. Now, in terms of your roads again, you're going to have issues along a lot of the major thoroughfares in the Great Lakes from Buffalo, southward to Erie, even into Cleveland, the snow's going to be coming down.

Western Michigan, too, also northward into the upper half of Michigan up near Traverse (ph) city and even the U.P., you could have some snow that could be quite heavy at times, the highest elevations getting up to 12 inches of snowfall. For the east, although we got the snow in the Great Lakes, the rest of the southeast and the Midwest, things look pretty good, but are feeling awfully cold. And back in the central and even parts of the northern Rockies. The snow is going to be coming down. It's going to be rain in the San Joaquin Valley from about Sacramento northward all the way up to Seattle. The Cascades, you might see some snowfall, too.

And as we wrap things up very quickly through, 52 degrees your high in Seattle, 34 in Billings, 16 in Minneapolis, 32 in St. Louis, New York with 36, Atlanta, the high for the day about 43 degrees. Your complete forecast coming up once again. We're going to take a look at the travel weather. Plus, we're going to give you an idea about the departures. What we'd normally get this time of year and where we're going to be by this afternoon. They don't exactly match up as you might expect, T.J..

HOLMES: We do appreciate that though, Reynolds. Thanks so much, buddy. We'll check in with you again. Need to go check in with Kiran Chetry now. She's downstairs for a huge unveiling that's going to take place here shortly.

CHETRY: Yes, and just a quick weather forecast. I can tell you right now it's starting to snow a little bit out here. But we have the distinct honor of being with NASCAR great Jeff Gordon and he has a whole new design for his car. It's for a good cause to help the hungriness here. And we're going to unveil it, we're going to get to see the number 24 car like we've never seen before unveiled in just a moment. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: All right. Welcome back. We have the honor of having Jeff Gordon with us. NASCAR great, champion driver and he's here for a good cause. Welcome, by the way, Jeff.

JEFF GORDON, FOUR-TIME NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES CHAMPION: Thank you. Great to be here.

CHETRY: You have right behind you the number 24 car, his signature car. If you know NASCAR, you associate it with DuPont race. I mean, DuPont, that is you team.

GORDON: For the last 18 seasons.

CHETRY: Since 1993. You're changing it up in 2011, why?

GORDON: We are. I'm excited. In 2011, I get to drive to end hunger, literally through the AARP foundation, with their drive to end hunger program in 2011. There are over 50 million Americans going hungry every year. Six million of those are of the age of 60 or over. And this is something that should not be happening in this country.

And through this program, we're going to be able to create a lot of awareness, also raise funds through our NASCAR fans as well as corporate sponsors out there. And as well as do some research to find out exactly why this is happening and how we cannot just help but end hunger.

CHETRY: Well, let's unveil it.

GORDON: Yes.

CHETRY: Because we want to see it.

GORDON: It's a beautiful car. I can't wait.

CHETRY: We've got a couple of helpers over here, we're going to unveil it this. This is the number 24 car like you've never seen before. Hendrick Motor Sports Team. Gorgeous.

I love the touch of neon, it looks great. Now, for those of you not NASCAR fans, we jokingly said, "can we get in?" And he said, "well, there's no door." So I'd say no. But it looks gorgeous. This is wonderful. Tell us a little bit more about the AARP drive. You know, when you talk about food and security and hunger, you don't necessarily think seniors. 60 to 64 years old, that's an age group where you find a lot of food insecurity and hunger.

GORDON: You know, there are a lot of older Americans here making tough decisions, medications, utilities, and food. And a lot of times those are the ones that are thinking of their family before they're thinking of themselves. That's why it's such a major issue among those that are 60 and over.

CHETRY: Well, it's great you're taking part. This thing is gorgeous. Tell us a little bit - all right. Your Super Bowl of NASCAR kicks off with the Daytona 500 in February.

GORDON: That's right.

CHETRY: In the meantime, what are you guys doing around this time?

GORDON: Well, believe it or not, we just ended the season in Homestead, but we're already very busy. We'll be testing Daytona coming up in about a week. There's a completely repaved racetrack at Daytona. We'll be testing at a couple other non-Nascar sanctioned tracks. We're doing photo shoots, we're doing appearances for sponsors, and doing great work for charity over the off-season to get ready for that Daytona 500.

CHETRY: You guys barely have any time off at all.

GORDON: I don't know, they call it an off season. I don't know what an off season is. I'm just having a blast. I have a four-month-old son Leo and --

CHETRY: Congratulations.

GORDON: -- our daughter who's three and a half, Ella. And so we're just having a great time getting ready for the holidays.

CHETRY: And I want to ask you about the car. What's different about it, or what stands out to you? I mean, I know you guys -- you're always tinkering with things, you're always making them better, improving them.

GORDON: Yes. Well, one thing that's new this year is the front fascia on the nose. That's going to create a little bit of an extra front down force, make the car a little bit better aerodynamically. But very few changes for next year other than this awesome paint scheme with the Drive to End Hunger logo on it.

CHETRY: And I can't imagine how much time it takes to do this. I mean, it's meticulous. It looks great.

GORDON: I would not want to have to paint this race car. To paint this race car every weekend, you know, after every weekend, is going to be quite a job. But it's a beautiful car. I'm excited to get in it. A good-looking race car always makes a little bit faster race car.

CHETRY: It is, it's awesome. What about people that are so used to seeing you in a DuPont car? That's not going away?

GORDON: We'll have them for 13 races, we'll have this sponsorship for Drive to End Hunger for 22 races. And we still have Pepsi onboard, as well.

CHETRY: Just in terms of logistics, how do you get this puppy into Manhattan and makes sure nothing happens to it? This is like the nightmare area where there's cars everywhere, taxis everywhere.

GORDON: Well, that's the most challenging part. When you come into Manhattan with a big trailer and you unload a racecar with slick tires, it makes a lot of noise with no license plate on it, it gets a lot of attention, especially when it fires up and it makes that roar from 800 plus horsepower.

CHETRY: Oh, yes. Well it's gorgeous.

GORDON: Thank you.

CHETRY: We'd love to take a spin but we can't mess with it, I understand.

GORDON: Well, we could certainly try.

CHETRY: And I hope you're loving the weather. You were in south Florida last week and we brought you 25 degrees here in New York City.

GORDON: We were here for Thanksgiving for the parade and it was a beautiful day for that. And, you know, a little snow, the first that I've seen so far this winter. I hang out in New York a little bit. So, a great day. Nothing's going to bring us down on this day of introducing this new race car.

CHETRY: Well, it was wonderful of you to stop by, to drive by. We really appreciate it.

GORDON: My pleasure, appreciate it.

CHETRY: Jeff Gordon, great guy. Nice meeting you.

GORDON: Nice meeting you.

CHETRY: And we want to let everybody know we're going to link this up on our web site, as well, so people can find out --

GORDON: Yes, www.drivetoendhunger.org.

CHETRY: Drivetoendhunder.org. We'll link it up with our AM Fix web site, as well.

Jeff Gordon, a pleasure. Thanks so much.

GORDON: Appreciate it. CHETRY: T.J.

HOLMES: All right, Kiran, thank you so much. Great car, great cause, as well.

Well, still coming up here, you don't necessarily need to go through astronaut training to go to space. You will, however, need $200,000. Our John Zarrella is trying to get his funds together, but in the meantime, he's going to take us on the tour of the world's first civilian spaceport.

Also, Tiger Woods did something yesterday he has never done before in his career. And it was not pretty. We'll explain with our Max Kellerman. He's coming up. It is 48 minutes past the hour.

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HOLMES: Welcome back everybody. About nine minutes to the top of the hour here. Everybody's trying to figure out what you want to do, what you want to give folks for the holidays. You got the cousins, the moms, the dads, the grandmas, all this stuff. That's a lot of gifts. That's a lot of creativity. What about cash? Some people are uncomfortable with the idea of just giving cash. Christine Romans says you need to get over it.

(LAUGHTER)

All right. Cash is OK, is it not?

ROMANS: It's OK if it's done properly, if it's done tactfully.

HOLMES: What's properly?

ROMANS: It's not like dirty money. People want you know, make sure they're not crumpled up bills. Make sure they're nice, clean.

HOLMES: That matters?

ROMANS: It matters. It matters. But also, don't ask outright for cash. Very tacky. Look, this is the one gift so many people want for the holidays but they're so tricky to ask about or to get.

Listen up.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS (voice-over): Bills, Benjamin's, cold, hard cash. We have no problem spending it this time of year but giving it?

JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS, AS ELAINE FROM "SEINFELD": Cash?

JERRY SEINFELD, AS JERRY FROM "SEINFELD: What do you think?

DREYFUS: You got me cash?

ROMANS: Long before the recession, Jerry Seinfeld tried to give cash as a gift and it bombed.

JOEL WALDFOGEL, AUTHOR, SCROOGENOMICS: Cash is really an awkward gift. It's socially acceptable for grandparents and aunts and uncles to give cash. But it really isn't socially acceptable for, say, friends to give cash to each other.

ROMANS: Awkward, yes. But 58 percent of Americans plan to give money as a gift this holiday season. So, how do you give cash and not be tacky?

Peter Post is the great-grandson of Emily Post, who of course, wrote the book on such things.

PETER POST, DIRECTOR, THE EMILY POST INSTITUTE: When the time it's OK to give cash is when a person, after you asked them what they would like, says to you, you know, I'd really like to get cash this year, or money because I'm saving up for a computer and I'll put it towards that computer, or towards my vacation, or whatever it might be.

ROMANS: What if you don't want another sweater or set of bath gels? Can you ask outright, hey, give me money this year instead? Bad manners, says Peter Post.

POST: A person may have already chosen a gift for you. And just because you say you'd like to receive cash or whatever gift it is you said, that doesn't mean the person's obligated to give that to you.

ROMANS: And they, in fact, be offended. Bottom line, whether you're giving or receiving, it's always the thought that counts.

POST: I think that a gift should have behind it a sense of thought about the person. That, I want to do this for you. I appreciate you, you're part of my life in one way or another. And this is my way of showing that appreciation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: OK. So, a gift is a gift, a loan is a loan. You can tell grandma you want money for Christmas only if grandma says honey, what would you like for Christmas? And you have to do it very nicely and you have to make sure you send a thank you note. If that gift is going to be money you've got to treat it like a real gift and don't just -- you know, don't ask grandma, hey grandma, can I have money this year? It's not -- Peter Post says it's not nice.

HOLMES: Does it matter? Are we talking physical cash? You doing the same if you give a gift card sometimes. Does that make a difference?

ROMANS: I know. The same etiquette rules apply for a gift card, too. You know, because a gift card is essentially giving somebody cash. Yes. A lot of people want cash this year.

CHETRY: But you're saying, you can ask for it if somebody asks you what you want.

ROMANS: Yes.

CHETRY: You can't offer that as your suggestion.

ROMANS: That's right. It would be tacky to say, T.J., can you give me some -- can you give me two Benjamin's for Christmas? I'd really --

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: You can talk like that to your grandma. Also, always remember to write a note. And remember that --

CHETRY: Wait. You have to write a thank-you for cash but you don't have to write a thank-you note for Christmas present?

ROMANS: Yes. Thank-you note for everything.

CHETRY: You write thank-you notes for your Christmas presents?

ROMANS: Yes, you should.

HOLMES: Oh, well. Yes, of course. Everybody does that, Kiran.

ROMANS: Don't you?

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: If somebody gives you an expensive, nice gift, and I would consider money an expensive, nice gift, you should make sure you send a thank-you note. That's what Peter Post says. Send a thank-you note. I don't mean to your kids.

CHETRY: I thought that after buying and wrapping and trimming and everything my work was done, the Christmas cards. Now I realize I have to go back and send out hundreds of thank-you cards, as well.

ROMANS: Not hundreds. If your mom gives you something nice for Christmas. OK. I'm going to have to get back to Peter Post about Kiran's specific thank-you note etiquette.

HOLMES: It is Joy to the world around your house.

ROMANS: It sure is.

HOLMES: OK, thank you for that.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

CHETRY: Thanks, Christine.

How many times do you think they heard, we will make you an offer you can't refuse.

HOLMES: Come on, you got to say it right.

CHETRY: Hey, I'm going to make you an offer you can't refuse. The famous Corleone mansion from the "Godfather" is for sale. It's in Staten Island, asking price $2.9 million. The "New York Post" says the home is still filled with some of the pretty awesome pieces of memorabilia. They say Marlon Brando's cue cards, some of the script, everything still there.

HOLMES: That's very cool. Seems like a good price even.

CHETRY: I think so, too. It must be a fixer upper at this point.

HOLMES: Probably. Bullet holes in walls and things.

We're getting close to the top of the hour. Your top stories coming up right after a quick break. Stay with us.

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