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Holiday Travel Turbulence; 'The Big Play'; Holiday Shopping Starts Earlier; The Train Guys Talk Issues; Boa Constrictor Hitches A Ride; Doctor Becomes a Patient; House Rejects Jobless Extension; Released But Still Not Free

Aired November 19, 2010 - 11:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello there, folks.

Live from Studio 7 here at the CNN world headquarters, I'm T.J. Holmes. Good to see you all.

News and information you need right now on this Friday, November the 19th.

Guess the holiday travel season is also ramping up today. A lot of people thinking about traveling next week for Thanksgiving, but it kind of starts today, kind of a 12-day period. And already, we've been talking plenty about these new security measures.

And there's also a grassroots plan out there to protest airport security. We'll tell you more about that and how it could mess up your travel day.

Also, we're talking politics on the daily commute. CNN's Jim Acosta rides the rails with a bunch of guys who call it like they see it, including a special invitation to their man cave.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any time he wants to come by.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Also, scenes from a parking lot.

Get on out of here, Kyra.

Scenes from a parking lot. A woman returns from grocery shopping to find a big old snake hugging her car's engine.

Hello to you. I am the aforementioned T.J. Holmes, sitting in today for my good friend Tony Harris.

Those stories and a whole lot more, including your comments, right here, right now in the CNN NEWSROOM.

All right. This could be a rocky holiday travel season, so I hope you're ready for it. For a lot of folks out there, the traveling, like I mentioned earlier, begins today. Some of the issues that could make this holiday different though are those concerns, also the complaints about more invasive pat-down searches. Also, the backlash still going on over those full-body scanners.

According to an airline trade group, about 24 million people are expected to fly over the 12-day Thanksgiving period that starts today.

We want to check in with a travel expert right now to hear how this is going to go, the holiday travel, see if it's going to be as smooth as really we hope it's going to be.

Robert Reid is the U.S. editor of "Lonely Planet." He joins us now via Skype from New York.

We appreciate you being here, as always.

How big of a problem are we going to have over this holiday period?

ROBERT REID, U.S. EDITOR, "LONELY PLANET": Well, Thanksgiving is always a little bit slower than other times of the year. It's the busiest time of year to be traveling, so it's going to be like that.

There's going to be delays, there's going to be longer lines, security lines. And if some of the people opt out of those new X- rated x-rays, or advanced image technology full-body scans, it's going to slow things up more. So people need to account for that when they show up at airports.

HOLMES: But, Robert, how big of a slowdown could it possibly be? Because we need to make this point to people -- that not everybody is going to have to go through these body image scanners. You're either going to be randomly selected, or if you set off another metal detector and something needs to be reconciled, you will go through then.

So, will there be enough people even going through these things and possibly using the pat-downs that it could really slow us down?

REID: Well, it does every year without this problem. The average waiting time for security is up to 15 minutes, up from 12 minutes a few years ago.

And so if someone does go through, and they opt out of this, and they go through a pat-down, according to the TSA, that will take two to four minutes. We don't know the exact number of people that will opt out. We don't know the exact number of people that will have the decision whether or not to opt out. But if you do the math and you think about the amount of traffic, it could be longer than usual this year for Thanksgiving.

HOLMES: And Robert, one more thing to you. And it was the note that really jumped out at me. My producer gave me some of your comments, and I thought this was really maybe the most important one -- telling air travelers to make up your mind, figure it out, and think it through, what you're going to do, before you even get to the airport.

REID: Well, first of all, only 68 airports -- and they are the busiest airports in the U.S. -- have these scanners. So, if you are flying from Portland, Oregon, to Portland, Maine, or Oklahoma City to San Jose, you don't have to worry about this issue. So, know what airports you're going to and whether you have to do that.

And then if you know that you're going to do the pat-down or not, or if you're going to go through the scanner, make sure that everything out of your pockets is gone -- everything. That's non- metallic items as well, because if there is anything in your pockets, you have to go to the pat-down.

HOLMES: Very good information. Again, Robert Reid, editor of "Lonely Planet."

We appreciate you coming on. Happy flying to you. Enjoy your holiday. Thanks so much.

REID: Thank you, T.J.

HOLMES: Well, as we get ready for this holiday season, here is something you do not want to see on your flight -- a giant crack in your airplane's windshield.

This happened on board a Delta flight from Atlanta to Orange County, outside of Los Angeles. The pilot had to make an emergency landing in Dallas. One of the passengers on board, Mike Fleming, took the picture for us. Earlier, he talked about it earlier on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE FLEMING, PASSENGER: You could hear a murmur, but everybody was very intent on hearing what the captain had to say, especially when he said that we were going to need to divert to Dallas-Ft. Worth, that we were going to be doing a rapid descent, our ears would start popping, and they were trying to get us below 10,000 feet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, the plane did land without incident. The 145 passengers were put on another flight and they made it on out to California.

Now, we certainly want you to join us. We're dedicating a half hour to this busy travel season tomorrow morning on "CNN SATURDAY MORNING."

We're going to talk about this grassroots revolt over these TSA pat-downs. Also going to be debunking some myths out there about the new rules. Also, the editor of "Travel & Leisure" going to be looking at some of the last-minute deals.

You're also going to hear whether or not you still have time to maybe get a deal on that ticket. Should you wait a little while longer, maybe for the last minute, or should you go ahead and get it now?

All of that, a half-hour special tomorrow morning, 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Let me bring in Rafer Weigel here. He joins me for "The Big Play!" today.

Right before we go on the air, you had to bring up --

RAFER WEIGEL, HLN SPORTS ANCHOR: I know. I'm sorry.

HOLMES: -- the worst moment of the year for me and my (INAUDIBLE).

WEIGEL: It wasn't intentional. I'm sorry.

HOLMES: That's all right. I know. We're just talking.

But, good to see you, as always, for "The Big Play!"

And, you know, Cy Young Awards going out, Felix Hernandez won the Cy Young. Why would anybody have a problem with that?

WEIGEL: Well, and that's my question, as well. I mean, it is historic in the sense that this is the fewest amount of wins for a full season for a Cy Young winner in a hundred years of them giving out this award. And some people are saying, well, the guy only won 13 games. But --

HOLMES: He had a good excuse.

WEIGEL: -- he had a darned good excuse. And it opens up a larger debate.

If you are the best at your job, but you have a crappy team around you, should you --

HOLMES: I think they'd take offense to that, Rafer.

WEIGEL: Could you -- you know, like myself, bringing you down. But, I mean, should you be penalized for it?

This man dominated in every area that he could control -- earned run average, posing pitcher, posing batting average, and number of any space (ph). If he's on the New York Yankees, he wins 25 games. But, yes, surprisingly, there is a debate about him winning this because he only had 13 wins.

HOLMES: But isn't -- there's some people that say isn't this the way it should be? He was clearly the best pitcher. WEIGEL: And it should be. I mean, what the Baseball Writers Association is saying is that it takes nine guys -- or in the case of the American League, 10 guys -- to lose a game. It's not entirely on one man's shoulders, and he was the best at his position and he should be rewarded for that.

HOLMES: All right. Let's turn now to what is unfortunately the biggest story in college football right now.

Auburn quarterback Cam Newton, he is still playing at this point. For all accounts, he is eligible, but all that's surrounding him now about the possibility that that was a pay-for-play scheme, his dad was asking for money during his recruitment.

Now, the Heisman ballots went out. This is another element to this story.

WEIGEL: Right. And we are in unprecedented territory here as well, because the ballots are due December 6th. The word "integrity" is right there in the description of the Heisman Trophy.

This man has not been convicted of anything. He is still eligible. But there are people out there that are going, do we want to vote for a guy who might have to give this trophy back like Reggie Bush had to in September?

Cam Newton may never be proven guilty of anything, but just the allegations alone, there are people -- and what makes it even more interesting is that, as you know, there is nobody even close to this guy terms of talent. He is the runaway favorite for this award. And on talent alone, you have to give it to him, but then there's these other factors. So what happens?

HOLMES: What kind of drumbeat are we seeing? Because some writers have come out and said, you know what? I'm not voting for that guy.

Is there starting to be more momentum going in that direction?

WEIGEL: There is more and more, and I think it's going to continue because the attorney for one of the accusers spoke and said apparently there's a text message that was sent specifically asking for $180,000. It was -- granted, it was from the accuser, not necessarily from his father. So, if you have more hardened evidence coming out, is that the writing on the wall? Is it going to go to the kid from Oregon or Andrew Luck from Stanford?

It's going to be interesting to see what happens.

HOLMES: It's unfortunate. They're have a great year, undefeated, and he is just putting on a show, day in, day out.

Last thing, Nancy Lieberman, coaching with the guys.

WEIGEL: It's a great story, because, as you know, this is the woman who broke the gender barrier as a player. She played with the men in the '80s with the USBL. Now she breaks the gender barrier to be the first woman to coach the men in the NBDL, the NBA Development League, the Texas Legends.

And to her credit, everybody asked her -- they said, "So how does it feel? You broke the gender barrier." All she could focus on, they lost the game. She said, "At the end of the day, we lost the game. That's all I'm worried about."

And one of the players said, "I had a hard time listening. I never had a woman telling me what to do, so it was hard for me to listen. But when I realized she knew what she was talking about, then I started listening to her."

I was very impressed that that young man actually admitted that.

HOLMES: Like I said earlier, fellows are used to women telling us what to do --

WEIGEL: That's what I'm saying.

HOLMES: Just not on the basketball court. So that was a little different. But she knows her stuff, no doubt about it.

WEIGEL: Yes, she does.

HOLMES: Rafer, good to see you, young fellow.

WEIGEL: Nice to see you, too.

HOLMES: All right. See you next time.

All right, Coming up, we are talking about Black Friday. We're one week away from what retailers call "Black Friday."

This years, the sales starting even earlier. Will you be shopping at midnight?

Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: So, just how many of you will be shopping next Friday? All of you, apparently. That's a good number.

The National Retail Federation estimates 138 million people will be shopping on Black Friday.

Alison Kosik on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange with some details about this.

Alison, hello to you, dear lady.

That sounds like a big number to me. Is that about right? Is that up? Is that down? Is that a good turnout?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It is a good turnout, T.J., that you're going to want to definitely put on that body armor to really fight those crowds on Black Friday.

Here's the expectation -- that four million more people are expected to hit the stores this year than last year. And that's because people have a little more money in their pockets. And as if you didn't notice, a lot of these stores are really putting out that marketing pitch way early.

You know, people are really changing their habits on Black Friday as well. You know, it used to be where you'd get that circular in the mail, you'd have to go through it and sort of plot your strategy and get out before the sun rises. But now a lot of these stores are getting the word out early to really reel you in before you even know it -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. What do the numbers look like down there today?

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

HOLMES: All right. Alison Kosik for us.

Alison, we appreciate you, as always. Thanks so much.

KOSIK: Sure. You got it.

HOLMES: Want to turn to some stories now making headlines.

We could know today whether a jawbone found on a beach in Aruba is from Natalee Holloway. Experts in the Netherlands are running tests on that bone. Holloway's family provided dental records to Dutch authorities earlier this week. The Alabama teenager disappeared in Aruba five years ago.

Also, police in Ohio say the man accused of kidnapping a 13-year- old girl helped them find the bodies of three people who were missing. One of them was that girl's mother. The bodies were found stuffed inside a hollow tree.

Well, another delay for the Space Shuttle Discovery's final mission. NASA says the launch won't happen before December 3rd. It has been put off several times already because of weather, as well as technical problems.

Those Chilean miners, they are in L.A. for the "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute."

You remember Edison Pena. Well, there he is having a good time.

He's the one that led the miners in Elvis sing-a-longs down in the mine. Well, he stopped at the Elvis star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Hear from Anderson Cooper's on this year's CNN Heroes show. That's coming up in about 75 seconds.

Stay here. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We're less than a week away now from the fourth annual "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute," hosted by our own Anderson Cooper. And on Thanksgiving night, we'll honor this year's Top 10 Heroes.

And this year, CNN has brought the Chilean miners to the U.S. to attend the show. We've learned the impact goes beyond just one night. It has the power to change lives.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "CNN HEROES": Good evening and welcome to CNN Heroes.

(voice-over): For the last three years, "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute" has given us all a chance to come together and honor every day unsung heroes who are changing the world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just such a tremendous show. This is what real people do every day, with no fanfare and no cameras.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're going to go to any awards show, come out to this.

NEIL PATRICK HARRIS, ACTOR: I'm so honored to be here.

COOPER: On Thanksgiving night, we celebrate the Top 10 CNN Heroes with tributes --

NICOLE KIDMAN, ACTRESS: I want to honor the strength of a remarkable woman.

COOPER: -- awards, and inspired performances.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To the heroes of CNN!

COOPER: And we announce the CNN Hero of the Year you voted for.

(on camera): The CNN Hero of the Year is Efren Penaflorida.

(APPLAUSE)

COOPER (voice-over): But what happens after the show is perhaps the best encore of all. The global exposure all the heroes receive can transform their work and their lives.

Doc Hendley has just opened a water filtration plant in Haiti, bringing clean water to an estimated 8,000 people every month.

ROY FOSTER, CNN HERO: Hello. How are you?

COOPER: Roy Foster is now able help female veterans.

And after being named 2009 CNN Hero of the Year, Efren Penaflorida captured the attention of an entire nation. His pushcart classroom model has been replicated more than 50 times across the Philippines.

More than just one night, "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute" has the power to change our world by inspiring the hero in each of us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you all so much for having us here today. It's a blessing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: So, please be sure to gather around Thanksgiving night and check us out for "CNN Heroes: An All-Start Tribute." It starts 8:00 Eastern Time, 5:00 Pacific, right here on CNN.

We are going to introduce you, of course, to the CNN Hero of the Year that you voted for. Also celebrate the night with special performances and guest appearances.

Again, live from the red carpet, also beginning 7:00 Eastern. And join the live conversation like us on Facebook, and follow us at CNN Heroes on Twitter.

I'll get that right. We'll continue to get more information. You're going to hear plenty about that before we air it next week.

Well, six months ago, we met up with a bunch of regular guys on a New York commuter train to talk about the upcoming elections. Some of the things they had to say might have surprised you. We got back on that train to hear what they're saying post-election.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, in Santa Ana, California, Toyota is pushing to have hundreds of lawsuits over its sudden acceleration issue tossed out. A hearing before a federal judge gets under way next hour. The lawyers for the plaintiffs claim Toyota mechanics new about the problems.

Also, in Chicago, a great day to be in the audience for the Oprah show. Any day is really a good day for that, right? But especially today. The talk show queen is talking about her ultimate favorite things, and she's giving the audience all kinds of good stuff. A Ralph Lauren cashmere sweater, matching cable throw blankets, a 3-D Sony TV, just a few of the items. This, of course, is Oprah's farewell season.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They have a good one-liner on just about everything from why their taxes shouldn't go up --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I last time I checked, I still have to check my own lawns.

ACOSTA: -- to pro football's on-again/off-again quarterback Brett Favre. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He'd make a perfect politician. He doesn't know when to quit.

ACOSTA: But don't let that fool you. Tom McGinley (ph), John Lori, Jim Marron, Steve Cowie, Kevin Sullivan and Andy Garger, six guys who take the Long Island railroad together every night, also like to mix it up on the big issues of the day.

JOHN LORI, LIRR COMMUTER: I don't hear any leader of any party speaking in a rational, mature way about what has to happen.

ACOSTA: Like what to do about that nation's out of control deficit.

(on camera): And what about the Bush tax cuts, would you let those expire?

LORI: I think taxes have to go up. You can argue in what form, but they have to go up.

ACOSTA: Kevin, you don't agree?

KEVIN SULLIVAN, LIRR COMMUTER: No, not all. I mean, say start with the spending cuts first.

ACOSTA: OK, so what would you cut?

SULLIVAN: You could cut out all of the defense budget and we would still have a $300 billion deficit. I would cut some of the entitlement programs. I know this is politically suicidal, but you can't have the budget going to Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.

ACOSTA (voice-over): That spirited mix of Democrats, Republicans and Independents keeps coming back to that old fashioned notion of shared sacrifice.

STEVE COWIE, LIRR COMMUTER: They talk about eliminating the mortgage interest deduction, which is a quasi-tax increase and that obviously has a negative impact on the housing market, but in some form or another, you have to pay the price.

ACOSTA: But you can't solve all the world's problems in a 45- minute commute.

We are getting close to the cave.

ACOSTA: So about once a week, they fish the conversation at the man cave, a little watering hole Tom had installed in his garage where the invitation is hereby extended to President Obama for one more beer summit.

SULLIVAN: In the spirit of beer summits, and I know President Obama had a beer summit, he is always invited to Tom's cave any time he wants to come by and have a beer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any time, he's welcome to join us. I look forward to it.

ACOSTA (on camera): You are inviting the president to the man cave?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's correct.

ACOSTA: I just want to make sure I get that on the record.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can get him a ride home.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: All right, bringing in John Acosta here.

Jim, you're just like me, any opportunity we find to drink beer during a story, we figure that out, don't we?

ACOSTA: Absolutely.

HOLMES: But these guys, really what are their thoughts? How did they think the election turned out and what did it mean in their opinion?

ACOSTA: One thing I have to say about these guys is how well informed they are. You know, it might be a little elitist to think that most Americans out there don't understand the issues. These guys understand the issues pretty well, and as you heard them talking about the deficit, they were offering up some of the solutions that are out there on the table right now.

And I think what they really want to see is a reflection of what a lot of people around the country want to see. And I know you traveled around the country, T.J., and I have as well. People want to see the politicians and Washington solve the major problems that are going on right now and they want to see them do it together in a bipartisan fashion.

That is the message we heard time and again from these guys. And they are just tired of the bickering and infighting. They want to see something done.

HOLMES: That sounds like what we hear so many other Americans talk about as well. But you have been spent a decent amount of time with these guys now. Anything jump out at you or surprise you about the take they have on things?

ACOSTA: You know, the take that I got from them is they think it's really time for sort of shared sacrifice, we talked about that in the piece. That, you know, the left and the right can sort of fight over, you know, who wins and loses in terms of, you know, are we going to cut into entitlements or give in on the Bush tax cuts? You know, what these guys were saying is why don't we put all of that on the table, and I think that is generally the sense -- I don't know how you feel T.J., but that's generally the sense I get from a lot of people.

So that's the big takeaway for me, is that they're sort of ready for folks to roll up their sleeves in Washington and work together on these major problems.

It sounds Pollyannaish and naive, I know, but there's a sincere feeling out there, and if you talk to a bunch of guys on the train and get that feeling, I'm guessing you're going to get that from a lot of people all over the country.

HOLMES: Yes, you're absolutely right. People don't mind sacrifice, they just want to know, you know, if their money is going toward education or certain -- you know, where it's going, but too often they don't trust what going on in Washington, D.C.

Great stuff. I know you are going to follow up with those guys at some point.

ACOSTA: Thank you.

HOLMES: They will have a show on CNN soon enough, I'm sure, soon enough, Jim.

ACOSTA: They will cut me out of the picture together, exactly. They will call it "The Man Cave."

HOLMES: You'll join them. That's not a bad idea, actually, Jim. Well, you heard it here first.

ACOSTA: Maybe you and I could do that.

HOLMES: Oh, goodness, you are asking for trouble there.

Well, coming up here, folks, a couple in California makes a grocery store run. Look what they found when they got back to the car. That's coming up, stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: Well, Rob, a lot of guys back in the day in college would have a pet snake as a pet, a snake as a pet. Did you ever go that route?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I can say many things here, but no.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: I'm glad you went with that one. Well, this is happening in Lancaster, California. This thing was wrapped around someone's engine when they came back from grocery shopping, a nobody knows where the doggone thing came from -- nine feet long.

MARCIANO: So nobody is claiming it as a pet or it just happened to be hanging around?

HOLMES: It just happened to be hanging around. But you're going to know if that thing is missing. You assume that's somebody's pet. They actually used some cooking oil to loosen its grip from the engine. They had to call in Animal Control to get that sucker off. And no, nobody knows where it came from at this point.

MARCIANO: And nobody was hurt?

HOLMES: Nobody is hurt.

Now I can't say the same about this one. Somebody was hurt here. Kids, sometimes -- all right, everybody is already laughing. We will rerack this thing for you, but a guy was trying to do a back flip off a tree I believe is what happened at that take a look. It didn't go --

MARCIANO: Oh, he tried to go all spidy on that tree?

HOLMES: You can say that.

Oh.

MARCIANO: It looks so much easier in the cartoon?

HOLMES: It does. Half a million hits on YouTube.

Let's show it one more time for posterity and we'll get on out of here commercial break.

MARCIANO: He's going to see "The Matrix" I think.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back.

When the doctor becomes the patient, he discovers changes need to be made. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta has today's "Human Factor" report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Medicine has always been Brad Berk's passion. A cardiologist and CEO of the University of the Rochester Medical Center, Berk was known as real go-getter.

But that changed in 2009 when Berk had a bicycle accident, and he knew immediately it wasn't a simple fall. DR. BRAD BERK, CEO, UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER MEDICAL CENTER: I quickly noticed I couldn't feel my legs, I couldn't feel my left arm, and I moved my right arm and then suddenly it couldn't move.

GUPTA: Berk had broken his spine and was paralyzed from the neck down. As paramedics loaded him into the ambulance, he turned to his wife, Mary, and apologized.

MARY BERK, DR. BERK'S WIFE: I knew when he said I'm so sorry that he had a pretty good sense of how our lives were going to change.

GUPTA: Berk spent 12 days in the ICU of his own hospital and there he began to see the importance of compassion in patient care. On a ventilator, unable to communicate, he knew the technology was keeping him alive, but it was his family and the staff that made his life worth living. Something as simple as a friendly burse washing his hair brought him tremendous joy.

DR. BERK: I call it the healing power of touch, cause I felt so good after that. And what she didn't know is the only part of my body that could feel sensation normally was my head.

GUPTA: In less than a year, he was able to return to the hospital he loved as CEO, but he was different.

DR. BERK: I really came to realize how critically important what I call compassion and attentiveness are both for provider satisfaction, patient satisfaction and driving quality and safety.

GUPTA: Berk instituted the Patient and Family Centered Care Institute designed to improve patient care and the employee work environment.

DR. BERK: It's about valuing and respecting everyone.

GUPTA: And today, Berk works with a therapist to help him walk, even though he can't feel his steps. He has promised himself to live as normal a life as possible.

DR. BERK: Courage is not the roar that you make when you go into battle, but it's the quiet voice that helps you get up every day and try again.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: It's time now to get a check of some other stories making headlines.

A bill that would have extended the deadline for jobless benefits has been shot down in the House. Four million out of work Americans are now facing the prospects of falling off the rolls for good after November 30th.

Also, a big day for 80 people with new jobs, though, on Capitol Hill. Yes, these are the freshman. This is the freshman class of the 112th Congress. They posed for their class photo earlier this morning. They are also finding out which office they'll be working out of via a lottery.

Anticipation mounting that the date and place for Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding will be announced today. Westminster Abbey is the frontrunner, Middleton was seen leaving the abbey Wednesday with her parents.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, welcome back.

We're taking a new look at the president's job performance in some new polls, new numbers that we have. And our Mark Preston, Paul Steinhauser, part of "The Best Political Team on Television," they are live from the Political Desk in Washington.

Fellows, take it away.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hey, T.J., you' re right.

Let's talk about the president's approval rating. We have that thing called the "CNN Poll of Polls," and what do we do? We take the most recent national surveys on the president's approval rating. That's that standard question, do you approve or disapprove of how President Barack Obama's handling his duties.

Look at this, all these polls conducted over the last week, including one from CNN, 47 percent approval, 48 percent disprove. T.J., I guess that means Americans are kind of split, they're kind of divided on whether Barack Obama's doing a good job or not in the White House. Those numbers, you know, looking ahead to 2012 and his reelection, I'm sure the president would like to see those numbers get a little bit higher. I think that's fair to say.

Mark, what are you looking at?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: You know, T.J., we're still talking about the midterm elections. It was a disaster for Democrats, as we know. They lost 61 seats in the House of Representatives, of course they lost six over in the Senate. But a Democratic leader in the House of Representatives put out a five-page memo yesterday.

Chris Van Holland, who oversaw the campaign for House Democrats, said that it could have been worse. Worse than 61 seats? He's estimating has his committee, the Democratic National Campaign Committee, reallocated resources from some losing Democrats, that they potentially could have lost says they could have lost 15 to 20 more seats. Add those numbers together, it potentially could have been an 80-seat loss, according to Chris Van Holland.

This is a memo that he circulated to his colleagues yesterday. I was able to get it late yesterday afternoon. So 60 seats doesn't looking too bad if you look at 80.

And last night, Joe Biden was here in this building, T.J., and Larry King sat down and talked to him about a whole range of issues, Afghanistan, tax cuts, even talked about Sarah Palin. Listen to what Joe Biden has to say about Sarah Palin. He said that she was a very appealing person and that she's turned out to be a real force in the Republican Party.

He also said that you should never underestimate anyone, especially when it comes to 2012. You know, the fact that she's a real force in the party, perhaps she could become President Obama's nemesis, so to speak, in 2012.

But Mr. Biden did say this, that if in fact she did, he feels that President Obama and, of course, himself, would win reelection in 2012 -- T.J.

HOLMES: Yes, really didn't expect him to say anything other than that.

Fellows, good to see you, as always. Paul, Mark, thanks so much, we'll check in with you guys again in the next political update coming your way in an hour. For all the latest political news, you know the spot, CNNPolitics.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: In the last hour, Vice President Joe Biden's Middle Class Task Force announced what it calls new initiatives to help middle class and low-income families secure their legal rights. The vice president says he wants to make sure average Americans get a fair shake.

Last night, the vice president told our Larry King what's in the works to secure an extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for the middle class.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to be sitting down on the 30th with the Republicans, the Republican leadership, say, guys, here's our position, what's yours and let's see if we can work something out.

We're not looking for confrontation. We know if we don't extend the tax cuts for the middle class not only is it unfair, but it will have an incredible drag on the economy.

LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": But you don't want to lose your left, do you?

BIDEN: No, we don't want to lose our left, but look, what we want to do, basically is what's right, right for the country. And what's right for the country is, both in terms of fairness and economic growth, is giving the middle class, who's been battered from 2001 to 2008, they lost 5 percent of their worth, 5 percent of their income. And, you know, I don't want to take away from them now.

(END VIDE CLIP)

HOLMES: Coming up, possibly some new forensic evidence found on a beach in the Natalee Holloway case. We'll have a live report from Aruba coming your way in the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM.

Plus, how do dogs think? A special report on how they interact with their owners may have you questioning who's really the master.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Political activist Aung San Suu Kyi is spending her first Friday night of freedom in many years. In the past two decades, she's been under House arrest for 15 of those years, 15 of the past 21 years under House arrest. Suu Kyi says her vision is to be a place where people feel empowered to shape its own future.

In an interview with CNN's Fredrik Pleitgen , she talked about working to advance the cause of democracy and she addressed concerns about whether her own freedom will last.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FREDRIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You've been talking a lot about dialogue, but you've also been very, very vocal on the need for dramatic change, as you say.

Are you afraid they're going to lock you up again for saying that at some point? I mean, right now, they seem to be letting it happen, but you never know how long that's going to last.

AUNG SAN SUU KYI, PRO-DEMOCRACY ACTIVIST: This dramatic change. Let's put it as change in the right direction and -- but your question about do I think they'll lock me up again, so many people ask me this question and the only thing I can say is I don't know.

It's always a possibility. After all, they have arrested me several times in the past, there's nothing to say that they won't arrest me again. But you can't keep thinking about that, you just have to keep on with your work.

PLEITGEN: And that's what you're going to do, keep putting your policies -- or trying to put your policies in place or your ideas?

SUU KYI: Well, we do try to be as amicable as possible and we try to be as -- to be as reasonable as possible in what we ask for. But if you are in the kind of struggle in which we're engaged in, there's certain things you have to do, unless you want to drop out of the movement all together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)