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Rain and Mud Swamp California; Pres. Obama's Momentum; Bombing in Rome
Aired December 23, 2010 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, guys. Thanks so much. We are going to talk about that.
It's 9:00 a.m. right now on the East Coast, 6:00 a.m. out West. Here's some of the stories that have us talking this morning.
That developing story John just mentioned out of Rome, well, bombs have exploded at the Swiss and Chilean embassies there. Italian police say a mailroom worker was seriously wounded when he tried to open the package. No claim of responsibility at this point.
All eyes on the Korean Peninsula this morning after North Korea threatens to launch a quote, "sacred war." The threat comes just after South Korea wrapped up this morning's military exercises. Tensions in that area have been rising for weeks.
And if you're hitting the roads this holiday, get ready for some sticker shock. Gas prices passing the $3 mark for the first time in more than two years. Take a closer look at the big pocketbook issue.
All right. Well, let's start with parts of California caked with mud. Take a look at this. One hillside comes sliding down, neighborhoods just punished by the storm. For now, a little breather, though. And time to survey the damage.
But throughout the southwest, roads, bridges, no match for the drenching rain. Waterlogged homes breaking apart, washing away.
Los Angeles is getting a break from the monsoon-like conditions. Check out this spectacular double rainbow coming up in just a second here. There it is. Right next to the Hollywood sign in the background but some of that wet weather is sweeping east now.
All right. We are going to get the latest on where that storm is headed in just a moment but first we want to get to CNN Radio's Jim Roope. He's on the phone from L.A.
Tim, the pictures are pretty stunning. So much water and a heck of a lot of mud.
JIM ROPE, CNN RADIO: And to see it live, the impact is just incredible. The pictures do not do it justice. Every corner you would turn especially yesterday, there was running water or debris, everything from rocks or branches in the roadway to felled trees to running water, flooding water. It was quite a sight yesterday. I saw the pictures you had up on Highland, California. That's where most of the mud damage is. A huge mudslide yesterday, maybe 10, 20 homes have mud damage right now. Filled -- not really sure what the conditions of the homes are if they are actually destroyed because we can't get inside them or authorities can't get inside them yet. But it is absolutely -- it's devastation is what it is.
PHILLIPS: And so, what happens at this point right now with regard to trying to get people back into their homes, you know, traveling across parts of the city there? I mean, what's next for everyone that got evacuated or is stuck?
ROOPE: Well, a lot of the evacuation orders, for instance, in the La Canada, Flintridge area, above Los Angeles, below the Station Fire burn areas, those evacuation orders have been lifted because the damage wasn't as extensive as they thought it was going to be. No debris flows there yet.
In Highland, however, where all that mud damage is, evacuation orders are still in effect. They're not sure when these people can get back into the homes to assess the damage or even rescue some or any items they may have left that are not damaged in that area. So it's unclear yet exactly when they're going to allow people back into the homes. The mud-filled homes, anyway, especially in Highland.
PHILLIPS: And the time couldn't be worse. Just around the holidays.
Jim, thanks so much. We'll --
ROOPE: My pleasure.
PHILLIPS: Yes. We'll keep checking in with you.
Well, Rob Marciano is also tracking the storm system.
So what do you think? Where is it headed next?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, it's finally pulling out. And I think that video that you showed of the rainbow really - it illustrates the rain that was moving east and the sun that was setting in the west and peeking through the clouds, but I think you got -- a good handle on what's going on. And these kinds of situations the pictures don't do it justice, although this particular picture certainly gives these folks a little bit of hope.
It's going to be a long cleanup, for sure. And quite sometime in many places. Even the beaches for that some contamination issues to get cleaned out.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MARCIANO: Back over to you.
PHILLIPS: All right. Thanks, Rob. MARCIANO: You bet.
PHILLIPS: Well, turning now to politics. President Obama concedes that his party took a self-described shellacking in the midterm elections but just one month later some key congressional victories suggest that the president may have recaptured momentum.
Here's some of the big scores. Extending the Bush era tax cuts, winning the congressional repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, adoption of the START nuclear arms pact with Russia -- that's awaiting the president's signature -- as is the 9/11 healthcare bill. It will provide free medical treatment to workers exposed to the toxic dangers of ground zero.
CNN's senior White House correspondent Ed Henry is in Honolulu where the president is now beginning his vacation.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the president landed here in Hawaii in the middle of the night after the long flight from Washington. This Hawaiian vacation have been delayed by the lame duck session of Congress.
And before he left Washington, the president had an end-of-the- year news conference where he really touted some of his victories in that lame duck session, a lot of people had been skeptical that after the big midterm election loss that this president's standing had been hurt so much that it probably would not get a lot done at the end of this session of Congress.
Instead, he had a laundry list of victories. Let's look at them. The new START treaty, the missile reduction plan with Russia. Secondly, that tax deal with the Republicans. It'll make sure the tax rates don't go up on January 1st. Repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Now allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the U.S. military.
A big food safety bill, securing America's food supply, and finally a bill that will give health care to 9/11 workers. Some of the first responders who dealt with that tragedy so these were five big victories for this president.
He got a question from a reporter that said, look, are you the new comeback kid?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As I said right after the midterm elections, we took a shellacking and I take responsibility for that.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: Those victories came after a pretty bruising 2010 for this president. He spent the first part of the year really trying to finish that long health care reform battle. He got victory in March but then almost immediately was hit by the worst oil spill in American history. Spent the summer still dealing with unemployment, extremely high. The jobs crisis in America. And then what he called that shellacking in the midterm election. So a long year for this president. That's why aides say here in Hawaii he will be doing very little. No public events planned. Basically just some rest and relaxation with his family because he's got a big 2011 ahead of him.
He's got to pick a new chief economic adviser to replace Larry Summers when he gets back to Washington at the beginning of January. Then he's got a big State of the Union message to Congress to sort of lay out what he hopes to get done with the new Republican U.S. House and a shrunken Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate.
And then after a busy legislative session in 2011, he's got to start looking ahead already to that 2012 reelection battle.
Ed Henry, CNN, with the president in Honolulu.
PHILLIPS: All right. More on that breaking news out of Rome. Those explosions that we just reported at the Swiss and Chilean embassies.
On the phone with us now, Barbie Nadeau with "Newsweek," following the latest developments for me -- for us.
Barbie, what can you tell us?
BARBIE NADEAU, NEWSWEEK MAGAZINE: Well, over the course of the morning, there have been two bombs scares -- telephone calls to Rome government city offices and two bombs that have exploded at embassies.
The Swiss embassy bomb exploded in the hands of the security guard who was opening it around 11:00 local time. He was seriously injured. His hands are very, very seriously injured and he was in a state of shock. He was (INAUDIBLE) and straight to hospital.
Then within a couple of hours, the same type of bomb, same configuration exploded when a guard at the Chilean embassy opened that bomb. He was injured. Not as badly as the other guard. But he is also, you know, on his way to hospital.
You know, the police here are nervous. We've had a week of serious demonstrations all over Italy. Yesterday the city was basically closed down due to what they expected to be violent protests. Anarchist groups, basically, student protesters, things like that, protesting against government. So it's a very tense time in the Italian capital today, definitely.
PHILLIPS: All right. And do we have any other information on who is claiming responsibility, Barbie?
NADEAU: No one has claimed responsibility yet. But the city officials here are leaning towards this being related to the anarchist movement that has really basically woken up again here in Italy. This is something that was prevalent here in the 1970s and 1980s, and they were quite concerned. The type of violence they've been seeing on the streets of Rome and in Naples and in Palermo and in Milan yesterday.
It's very indicative of this sort of civil disobedience, violent behavior, but they haven't ruled out that this could be also some sort of international threat so they're really just in the early hours of this happening so they're really -- they're taking good look at what traces have been left.
So far, though, they've made no concrete announcement about who they think is responsible for either of these.
PHILLIPS: Barbie Nadeau with "Newsweek" reporting to there from Rome. Please keep us updated. This is actually video that being fed in to us right now.
Do we know which embassy this is, guys? OK. So we'll continue to follow the story and bring you more information as we get it.
All right. Ahead, we're also going to take you to the tiniest town in America. Let me put it this way. The village people had more people.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Wave of storms pounding the west. It's finally winding down. Let's head "Cross Country."
The devastation left behind is very clear in Beaver Dam, Arizona. Take a look at this. A home just collapsed. Powerful flash floods have washed away four other homes like this one. We're told that neighbors living on higher ground are opening up their homes to those in need now.
Next stop, Toledo, Ohio, where this little stray dog struggling on the ice launched a full-scale rescue operation. A pair of teachers spotted the poor guy slipping and sliding on the Maumee River. A firefighter reached the dog on a hovercraft, played a patient came of tag with the black Chow mix before pulling him off the ice. Some folks are calling it a Christmas miracle.
Take a look at this face or, more specifically, pistachio in Dublin, Ohio. Remind you of anyone? Michelle Phipps pulled the nut out of a bag at work and there it was, just looking at back at her. Her colleagues say it looks like Jason from those "Friday the 13th" movies, or Freddy Krueger, or -- George Washington? How about Jesus? We'll just let you judge for yourself.
Well, if your wallet is already feeling the pinch of holiday shopping, buckle up. Just this morning, AAA confirmed the national average for gas has inched past $3 a gallon, the highest level in more than two years. Christine Romans, part of the CNN Money team. Christine, oh boy. $3 a gallon. First Christmas, ever, right? That we had this.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Merry Christmas. Here's the gift at the station.
PHILLIPS: Just don't drive.
ROMANS: $3 a -- just don't drive. And we know 92 million Americans are going to be driving at least 50 miles for Christmas, so this impacts a lot of people. Kyra, we also know that every penny gas goes up, according to Peter Beutel, who studied this, is $4 million a day out of consumers' pockets. So, $3.01, that's up 17 percent from last year, when it was $2.58 a gallon.
So, let me give you some tips on how to find the cheapest gas in your neighborhood. First of all, you can go to gasbuddy.com, that's one website that lets you take a look at what the gas station costs are around you. Fuel me up.com, automotive.com.
Also, Kyra, because we do live in a technological world, there are a bunch of apps, really, that can do this on your SmartPhone to help you wherever you are figure out where around you are the cheapest gas pumps.
So, look. At $3.01 a gallon, we can start availing ourselves of some technology. You can also make sure you pay cash if there's a difference of credit for a better price for paying cash, and use self serve. Kyra?
PHILLIPS: All right. Well, there's a number of ways that we can keep our gas mileage down. We could buy a hybrid. We could go diesel, right?
ROMANS: Keep the car in the garage.
PHILLIPS: There you go.
ROMANS: But if you're -- if you're driving --
PHILLIPS: Take out the bicycle.
ROMANS: If you're driving to Grandma's, you know, might be hard to get there on a bicycle with three kids and all the presents. So, you can do a few things. Among those things, you can travel at 55 miles per hour. This is going to give you 21 percent better mileage.
All these tips are from AAA. You can find even more of them on their website. Inflate the tires properly, making sure that it's proper tire inflation, 3 percent mileage improvement per tire. And I grew up on a gravel road, Kyra. I didn't know this. Dirt and gravel roads cost you 30 percent of your gas mileage.
Also, accelerate before you get to a hill. Don't accelerate in the middle of the hill. You want the momentum before you get there. That can help your gas mileage. All of these things matter, Kyra, at $3 a gallon.
PHILLIPS: Sure, because you're trying to get through that gravel, your tires are spinning. You can't go anywhere, and you're just giving it more and more gas, digging a bigger hole, and then you're stuck.
ROMANS: Yes. Absolutely.
PHILLIPS: All right, so why do you think the gas prices are rising now?
ROMANS: It's not really because of demand in this country. We know that our economic recovery has been pretty -- pretty tame, pretty weak. It's because of Brazil, Russia, India, China. The big emerging markets have been recovering nicely.
More and more people, millions of people, entering middle classes around the world. When they get in the middle class, what do they want? They want a car. And what do you do to move that car around in a big country like China? You put gas in it. And, so, there is a lot of foreign competition for scarce resource of oil. And so, that's why oil prices are above $90 a barrel. That means gas prices are going up, and that's why.
PHILLIPS: Got you. Merry Christmas. Thanks, Christine.
ROMANS: You, too.
PHILLIPS: All right.
Taking a census head count is really easy in a town with one person. The report out this week highlighted winners in the 2010 population game. Southern and southwestern states mostly, plus Washington, making gains. The ones in brown, they lost people. Mostly northern states, plus Louisiana.
Then there's Wyoming. It has the fewest people. And one town, Buford? Well, census takers didn't spend a long time there, because Buford has a population of one. And you're going to see him in a moment. His name is Don Sammons. When he says, "This is my town," he is not kidding. Buford used to be about three times bigger, but Don's wife died and his son moved so, now, Buford is the smallest town in the U.S. You can find its entire population right there at his trading post.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DON SAMMONS, LONE RESIDENT OF BUFORD, WYOMING: First question they come in is that, am I the one? When my manager works, I have to have them wear a sign that says "No, I'm not the one."
(LAUGHTER)
SAMMONS: Meetings are always fun. I usually win most of those. Any discussions, I'm usually right there at the top. And people are amazed that they can meet the entire town in just a flash.
(LAUGHTER)
SAMMONS: My son said it was a dictatorship while he lived here, but I told him when he turned 18 that he would have a right to vote, so --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Got to love it. Well, if Buford can just get 8 million, 8,277 more people, it'll catch New York City. One of the perks of being the only person in town, well, you get to name the streets. So, of course, there's a Sammons Lane.
A new video course offers hope to those who fear flying for the holidays.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORREPONDENT: Sigh of relief?
LAURA EDMONDS, AFRAID TO FLY: Sigh of relief. Oh. Yes! I did it.
CHERNOFF: How do you feel?
EDMONDS: I feel OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Her story and your ticket to a stress-free flight, right after this.
(MUSIC - "Fly Like an Eagle")
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Continuing to follow that breaking news out of Rome. Bombs exploding at two embassies there. The first explosion, we're told, a package bomb at the Swiss embassy. That second bomb exploded at the Chilean embassy.
Back at the Swiss embassy, a 53-year-old mail room worker is the one that came across the package and was badly injured, actually, both of his hands, might lose one, we are being told. So far, no one claiming responsibility.
Now, Reuters was reporting that there was a suspicious package at the Ukranian embassy, but we really can't confirm whether or not that is a severe threat at this time. But so far, bombs exploding two packages, one found at the Swiss embassy and Chilean embassy in Rome. We're on the story for you.
For those who have a fear of flying, getting home for the holidays can prove extremely stressful. Senior Correspondent Allan Chernoff actually flew with one woman trying to overcome her phobia. Allan, did she make you nervous?
CHERNOFF: No. She didn't make me nervous. I was, perhaps, a little nervous for her, but she pulled it off. It was actually a lot of work she had to do. She's been worrying about flying for two decades, Laura Edmonds of Connecticut. And finally, two weeks ago, she began a video course to overcome her fear. She agreed to fly with us on her first flight post-course from New York to Baltimore. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF (voice-over): It is flight day for Laura Edmonds. As she checks in and heads to the gate, she battles thoughts of disaster.
LAURA EDMONDS: Plummeting to the earth. Crashing in a fiery blaze. I mean, there's so many things that just run through my mind.
CHERNOFF (voice-over): Aviophobia, or fear of flying, has been Laura's debilitating anxiety for 18 years. She even panicked about her honeymoon.
EDMONDS: I couldn't enjoy my wedding day. I had a wonderful wedding surrounded by love and family, but the only thing that I could think about was the next day, I had to get on a flight.
CHERNOFF (voice-over): This month, Laura began watching the Soar Video Course developed by a retired airline pilot Tom Bun. It's taught her the mechanics of flying and psychological strategies to fight fear. Boarding the plane, Laura presents a letter asking to meet the pilot.
PIOLT: You're going to be fine, we're going to take good care of you.
EDMONDS: Thank you.
CHERNOFF (voice-over): But take-off is a challenge.
EDMONDS: Oh.
CHERNOFF (voice-over): Refocusing the mind is the key to the program.
EDMONDS: Not crazy about that shake. I'm going to think of my good place. You know, I'm wondering if everything's OK with the plane.
CHERNOFF (voice-over): Laura fears the engines may fall off and keeps checking to make sure they're still attached. To push away those thoughts, the program advises focusing on the moment.
EDMONDS: I feel my hands. I feel the seat against my arm.
CHERNOFF (voice-over): Another calming technique, watch water in a glass as proof that the plane is barely shaking.
FLIGHT ATTENDANT: Ladies and gentlemen, we have begun our descent into the Baltimore area.
EDMONDS: I don't care for the turbulence.
CHERNOFF (voice-over): But in a few minutes, the plane lands smoothly.
EDMONDS: That's a great feeling to be down. CHERNOFF (on camera): Sigh of relief?
EDMONDS: Sigh of relief. Oh. Yes! I did it.
CHERNOFF: How do you feel?
EDMONDS: I feel OK. Yes!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF: And when she came into the terminal, she told me, "I no longer feel paralyzed." Now, Laura is not quite cured, but she did say she wants to book a flight down to St. Barts for a little vacation and, Kyra, she also said she'd rather be on a big plane than fly one of those turbo props that we were on.
PHILLIPS: Yes. I think we would all agree with that. Those little planes, I think, make a lot of us nervous. Allan, thanks. Pretty good tips, too.
Rutgers university has been put on notice. The parents of a gay student who died by suicide may sue them. It's been three months since Tyler Clementi's sex acts with another man were secretly streamed online by two students. We're taking a new look at the case and where it may go from here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right. Wall Street continuing its end-of-the-year run-up. Stocks once again hit two-year highs yesterday. Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange with all those details. Alison?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra. We are likely to stay right around those two-year highs that you mentioned today. You know, we are not expecting much movement in stocks. It is because it's Friday on Wall Street or at least the kind of feels like it. The market's closed tomorrow for the extended Christmas weekend.
And we are getting into the spirit here for Christmas. Characters from the New York City's Ballet's Nutcracker rang the bell today. But we did have some business to tend to. We got a lot of economic reports before the bell. We found out that new unemployment claims inched lower. Down 3,000. Still kind of stuck in that 400,000 to 420,000 range. We also found out that personal income and spending were up by less than half a percent. And we got the latest durable goods orders numbers. Those are those expensive items designed to last more than three years, they fell more than 1 percent.
You know, usually a string of reports like that would spark lots of trading but virtually nobody's around today, so expect volume to be very light. Proof of that, take a look at numbers. Barely moving. All of the major averages down slightly. Kyra, back to you.
PHILLIPS: Okay. Alison, thanks.
9:30 now in the East. 6:30 out West. Let's take a look at stories that we're talking about this morning.
Two embassies in Rome hit by bombs around noon local time. The first explosion, a package bomb at the Swiss embassy. A second bomb later detonated at the Chilean embassy. Two people were injured. No one has claimed responsibility for these bombings.
After a week, this is the messy scene across parts of California. Can't really tell by all this, but those strong storms are beginning to calm down. Good thing because flash floods submerged many homes, businesses and street, putting them under a thick blanket of mud and water. Some of those areas more than 20 inches of rain, by the way.
President Obama in Hawaii. A holiday vacation underway with a lot to feel good about. Just before leaving, the president praised his administration and Congress, saying "We're not doomed to endless gridlock." And he acknowledged January 5th as a new year with a new Congress.
The curtain will go up again tonight on Broadway's "Spiderman" musical. Evening and matinee performances cancelled after an actor fell during a stunt on Monday. Show producers say they needed extra time to add safety precautions and rehearse them. "Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark" is the most expensive production in Broadway history.
The parents of a Rutgers University freshman who killed himself have told the school that they're thinking about suing the university. You'll remember Tyler Clementi. He was 18 years old, an accomplished violinist that liked video games and computers. But he jumped to his death off the George Washington bridge earlier this year.
Tyler was gay, and he died by suicide after his roommate and another student allegedly live streamed Tyler's dorm room sex acts online. Now, the victim's parents have filed legal notices that they may sue.
Civil rights attorney Avery Friedman live in Cleveland. So, Avery, on what basis do they think they can sue here?
AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Here's the argument, Kyra. They put the university on notice -- that is the Clementi family, that the university should have known that this would happen, this they failed to take appropriate action. And, therefore, under state law they're obligated to put the university on notice before they file the suit. So, their theory is that the university could have done much more to avoid Tyler's suicide.
PHILLIPS: All right. And can you prove liability? Do you think it's possible to really pursue what they want to do on these means?
FRIEDMAN: Well, that's a wonderful question because simply because they filed a notice of claim, which is a requirement before you bring suit doesn't mean that they're going to be able to meet that standard.
And here's what it is. The standard is did the university -- was it reasonably foreseeable for the university to expect that two other students would engage in criminal acts -- both are charged with crimes -- which would have resulted in the suicide? And Kyra, that's an awfully high standard to meet.
The responsibility of the Clementi family -- and no one is questioning unspeakable suffering they're going through -- they still have to meet a very high burden of showing that the university could reasonably expected to see the suicide occurring.
PHILLIPS: Now, are there other cases where parents have sued schools for bullying instances like this and won?
FRIEDMAN: Well, you know, it's interesting. I've actually been researching the issue, and I haven't found -- doesn't mean they're not out there -- I haven't found one case that' equivalent to the Tyler Clementi case. That is, whether or not a university is specifically responsible for the suicide death of a student because of the criminal behavior of third persons.
Now, that may be addressed because the senior senator from New Jersey, Frank Lautenberg, has proposed legislation placing a higher burden on universities. However, right now, Kyra, there is no law on the books that establishes that responsibility. So, again, the responsibility of the Clementi family in recovering for the wrongful death of their son seems very, very remote at best.
PHILLIPS: Yes. Finally, the two students that are responsible for streaming this video online -- you just wonder what were they thinking and how could they even do something like this? They were expelled. Now, if they're convicted under the New Jersey criminal invasion of privacy laws, will they be liable for Clementi's suicide?
FRIEDMAN: See, that becomes a lot closer question. Because knowing Tyler, knowing the way he was, was it reasonably foreseeable for these two students to expect that something like that would happen? And so, while I still think it's a very high burden to meet, Kyra, there's a much more -- there's a greater possibility of liability for wrongful death against these two students. Still a high burden, but much easier to prove that than against the university.
PHILLIPS: Well, we'll continue to follow the case, of course. Avery, good to see you this morning. Thanks so much.
FRIEDMAN: OK. Good to see you, too. All the best.
PHILLIPS: Thanks.
Time for our political ticker. Some of the latest stories crossing the CNNpolitics.com desk. Let's go to deputy political director Paul Steinhauser. What do you have for us, Paul?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hey, brand new on the CNN political ticker this morning. Rahm Emanuel, the former White House chief of staff, a big win for him last night in his bid to stay on the ballot in Chicago's February mayoral election. Remember, the law of Chicago says you have to be a resident of Chicago for a year leading up to the election if you want to run for mayor there. Well, remember, Rahm was right here in Washington, D.C. for most of the last two years, serving as Barack Obama's White House chief of staff until he went back to Chicago in October.
They had a hearing. Rahm had to prove, yes, I remained a resident of Chicago. Last night, the Chicago lawyer who had that -- held that hearing said, yes, Rahm should be allowed on the ballot. Today the Chicago board of elections taking that ruling into account, and I guess you could say it is decision day.
If it was a big win for Rahm Emanuel yesterday, it was a big loss, I guess you could say, for Joe Miller. I'm going to ask for Lloyd Dartmouth, our cameraman, to zoom right in here to the CNN political ticker. Remember, Miller was the Republican Senate nominee in Alaska. Beat Lisa Murkowski, the incumbent Republican senator, in the primaries. But she decided to run as a write-in candidate, and when the results was over from the November election, she was slightly ahead.
He took it to court, he lost in Alaska superior court. And then last night, he lost in Alaska, the state supreme court there. I guess he could still appeal it all the way to federal courts. We'll find out, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Now, yesterday, President Obama, as you know, touting many accomplishments of the lame duck session. Ended up not being so lame. What do Americans think was the big winner this month?
STEINHAUSER: Well, I think they think it's Barack Obama. I guess Americans think it's a December to remember for Barack Obama.
Take a look at this, results from our CNN/Opinion Research Corporation national poll. And we asked, do you approve of how Barack Obama or the Republicans in Congress or the Democrats in Congress acted during the lame duck session? Right at the top there, 56 percent a thumb's up to the president. And look at that. A majority of the people we questioned across the country disapprove of how the Democrats and Republicans acted during the lame-duck session. So it seems Americans really thought the president did a very good job getting things done in the lame duck session, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Paul, thanks. We'll have your next political update in just about an hour. And a reminder, for all the latest political news, just go to our Web site, 24/7, CNNpolitics.com.
After a self-described shellacking in the midterm elections, President Obama ended the political year on a pretty high note, as we mentioned. Working with the gridlocked Congress to pass the tax cut bill, the START treaty and repeal of "don't ask, don't tell." Does the president have his groove back? Well, here's former presidential adviser David Gergen on last night's "PARKER SPITZER."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID GERGEN, CNN FORMER PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER : The president and his team, his current team, deserve an awful lot of credit for this. They did -- I think they played it very smartly with this. I think Harry Reid was smart. It does seems to me he found a new way of governing.
With the end of the elections, he's no longer relying on going up to a a Democratic caucus and getting Democratic victories from Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Instead, what he did in each one of these three victories he got was is form an alliance outside the Democratic caucus that really helped to bring public opinion his way and then sway votes in the Congress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: We're going to hear more from David Gergen in the next hour. And also, you can catch "PARKER SPITZER" every night 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
If you're sick of the holiday shopping, cooking and entertaining already, well, this is your day. It is time to air your grievances. Yes, it's a festivus for the rest of us. How a fake holiday born on "Seinfeld" is going mainstream.
(COMMERICAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, "CONAN": Rudolph the red-nosed rain deer was just on TV and did you notice this? They updated it to make the Rudolph story more a little contemporary. I don't know if they should have, but take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE VOICE: Something wrong with your nose?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE VOICE: My name's Clarisse. Hi.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE VOICE: Rudolph? I think you're cute.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Safety's on.
(SOUND OF GUNSHOT)
SARAH PALIN, "SARAH PALIN'S ALASKA": It's a great feeling of accomplishment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Oh, it's so wrong!
Holiday shoppers expected to shell out $451 billion this season, according to the National Retail Federation. And that's, you know, a lot of dough and a lot of stress. And the shopping is just the tip of the iceberg as you know. There's the cooking, the entertaining, the in-laws, yada, yada, yada.
So if you feel like opting out, there is a holiday for you. Today is Festivus. And you remember where it all started. With "Seinfeld."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JERRY STILLER, ACTOR/COMEDIAN: Many Christmases ago I went to buy a doll for my son. I reach for the last one they had. But so did another man. As I rained blows upon him, I realized there had to be another way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened to the doll?
STILLER: It was destroyed. But out of that a new holiday was born. A festivus for the rest of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well it brings us to our "AM Extra". John Roberts live in New York. You actually talked to Jerry Stiller, a.k.a. Frank Castanza. And it's been 13 years that he introduced all of us with this world holiday, with three trademarks, right? A festivus pole, feats of strength and the airing of grievances.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And he aired some of his grievances for us this morning. I was wondering if he maybe was going to talk about airline fees but no it was all kind of politics for him. He was giving his grievances about the delay in passing the 9/11 first responders bill, the START Treaty, "don't ask, don't tell". Those were his grievances.
He say -- he said basically, though, with his life, he's just happy to wake up every day and make sure that the pacemaker was still working and the stents are still open and all of the other medical devices that have been implanted over him in the years are -- are still working just fine.
You -- you mentioned, though, Kyra, the feats of strength. Then of course, this is a grand festivus tradition and it holds that the head of the -- the festivus celebration is not over until the head of the household is pinned to the ground.
And Jerry told me that he and his famous son Ben Stiller would -- would often demonstrate feats of strength and that Ben had indeed pinned him to the ground. But I asked him what his favorite feat of strength was during festivus. And before the festivus pole, that single solitary aluminum pole, Ben Stiller testified for us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: What's your favorite feat of strength? Would it be arm wrestling? Would it be a -- a thumb wrestle? Staring -- staring contest?
STILLER: I'm not -- I'm not going to be able to talk about that on an early morning show so let's leave it at that, John. No. But you know, I've got a great wife and I'm still get excited. How about that?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, that's good.
ROBERTS: You know. I just wanted to point out that the pole does extend.
STILLER: Oh my gosh. You guys. I didn't think CNN went in that direction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, at least it's going in the right direction. Ok. Festivus actually started as a fake holiday but, you know, a lot of people take it seriously, right? I mean, in some parts of the country --
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: They're --
PHILLIPS: -- they're kind of crossing the line from funny to fact.
ROBERTS: There are a lot of people who have -- who have fun with this at every Christmas season. But there's one fellow who is in the Orange County jail, a fellow by name of Malcolm King, he was a convicted drug dealer. He got sick and tired of the -- the regular food that they were serving at the jail.
So he made up a story and he took it to his jailers to say that he observes festivus and as such he requires a kosher meal. Now, that should have been the tip-off Kyra, because kosher meals have nothing to do with festivus.
But he got away with it for two months before his request was officially declined. I guess somebody caught on to the idea, that no, festivus isn't a real holiday.
PHILLIPS: The fact that he got by with it, that's hysterical.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: For two months, yes.
PHILLIPS: Jerry Stiller probably takes pride in that. Yes.
ROBERTS: You know -- you know the most amazing thing about Jerry Stiller and his celebration of festivus every year? He and his wife Anne Meara have been married now for 56 years.
PHILLIPS: Oh my gosh.
ROBERTS: You know they grew up together in the 19 -- 1960s, 1950s I guess is when they first got together and of course they went to all those variety shows in the '60s and '70s and they're still out there on the Internet together doing comedy.
You know Stiller and Meara's Place, it's -- it's really fun to see them this -- this far into the life, this far into the relationship still kicking it out almost every day.
PHILLIPS: Well, that's the key. You've to keep each other laughing. That's for sure.
ROBERTS: Exactly.
PHILLIPS: That's a great interview. Thanks, John.
Well, festivus -- festivus, rather was created to be a secular holiday. It's all about the festivus pole as we told you, the feats of strength and my staff's favorite, the airing of grievances so get into the festivus spirit, will you?
Head to my Twitter page. Tell us what made you angry this past year. We'll read your responses in a happy way in our 10:00 eastern hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, stamping your "Morning Passport" for three stories, first stop, a South American jungle. You're seeing the Columbian military actually string up Christmas lights on a tree deep in the middle of nowhere.
Now this isn't random decorating folks, the military actually hopes armed rebels will see it, be overcome by Christmas spirit, lay down their guns and go home. The military says 140 rebels have done just that this holiday season. A motion sensor actually turns the lights on.
You got to think armed rebels everywhere would give up if they saw this house in Australia, right? It's not just a display, it's a production set to music. We probably can see it from space. The homeowner uses 65,000 lights and more than four miles of cable to pull this off. Visitors are asked to donate money for a children's charity. Pretty cool but I'd hate to see that electric bill.
All right, we're following lots of developments in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM. Let's start with our meteorologist, Rob Marciano -- Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey Kyra, that historic storm out west is slowly making its way east leaving a wake of devastation behind but who gets it next? The forecast at the top of the hour.
JIM BOULDEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Jim Boulden in (INAUDIBLE) London and I'll be telling you how shopping is going with just a few days before Christmas and how some American products aren't doing so badly.
PHILLIPS: All right, also next hour meet the assistant principal giving a lesson in courage leaving the safety of his desk job for a tour of duty in Iraq.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: George Karl described baseball as a calm game with kind of a picnic feeling. Tell that to this player who got knocked out cold. Apparently (INAUDIBLE) don't get played much where two teams in the Mexican Pacific League really duked it out. It was a scuffle at second base that turned into a bench clearing brawl. When the dust cleared, six players suspended.
This time of year, a lot of us look forward to parking it on the couch and sporting our alma maters' colors. But our Carol Costello actually found out that the interest does not necessarily mean cash for some schools.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: The knights of the University of Central Florida are on their way to a bowl game just like 70 other college teams -- 70. That's more than half the major colleges in the country -- more than half.
The teams are going to compete in the so-called major bowls but not so major bowls as well. The uDrove Humanitarian bowl, the BBVA Compass bowl, the Beef O'Brady's bowl; count them up in today's college football world, there are 35 bowl games in all.
Can you foresee a time when there will be more bowl games?
KEITH TRIBBLE, ATHLETIC DIRECTOR, UCF: Probably.
COSTELLO: Imagine. Fifty bowl games. Many universities clamoring for a spot on ESPN would say yay.
Not everything is rosy for some bowl-bound teams though. Just ask western Michigan. Two years ago, it had to eat almost $500,000 just for the privilege of playing in the Texas Bowl.
According to Sports Illustrated, of the 120 athletics departments that play 1-A football, 106 lost money in 2009. Virginia Tech, the magazine says lost $1.7 million on the Orange Bowl last year. Bill Sutton is a sports business professor at UCF.
BILL SUTTON, SPORTS BUSINESS PROFESSOR, UCF: Well, the system is broken. It's an arms race and the bowls are part of the arms race.
COSTELLO: Consider this, to play in the liberty bowl, the University of Central Florida and its conference are required to buy 10,000 seats at 50 bucks a pop. That's half a million dollars.
It's up to the university to sell its share of tickets. Not easy when it's Christmas time and the game is in Memphis. If UCF can't sell all 10,000 tickets it and the conference eat the rest. So just how much money would a university be willing to lose?
If you would lose like $100,000, would that be too much?
TRIBBLE: I don't know if $100,000 would be too much.
COSTELLO: $200,000.
TRIBBLE: $200 might be stretching a little bit.
COSTELLO: Keep in mind, a bowl game on ESPN amounts to a three-hour commercial, one that gets a lesser known school's name like UCF's out there. Tribble says that's so valuable, admissions could rise as much as 15 percent.
So don't be surprised if one day soon those 35 ball games will balloon to 40? 50? Who knows?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And the tough thing to wrap your mind around on that one, Kyra, it is possible if, you know, we have 40 or 50 bowl games that a team with a losing record could get into a bowl game because right now you can qualify for a bowl game with a 6-6 record.
If you are wondering who is making all the money on the bowl games? It would be the games themselves, the people who put on the bowl games which I don't know if you knew this Kyra. The bowl games like the orange bowl, non-profit tax exempt and you can believe that the CEO of the Orange Bowl makes mondo dollars and actually I know he does.
PHILLIPS: Well, what bowl game are you going to be watching? Have you decided?
COSTELLO: Well, I'll probably watch the Sugar Bowl because Ohio state is playing Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl.
PHILLIPS: I knew you were going to say that.
COSTELLO: I know. And as I think about Ohio State -
