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Iran Claims U.S. Drone Shot Down; Cain Might Give Endorsement Today; Trump's New Gig: Debate Moderator; Post Office Might End Next Day Delivery; Stocks State Early Rally; USPS Plan Could Kill Next Day Delivery; Santa Ana Winds Whip Across West; Strong Winds Slam South California, Utah; "Occupy Buffalo" Gets Donated Dome; Stealth Smartphone Software; Most Shoplifted Items of 2011; What To Do With Saddam's Palaces; Attorney Explains Sandusky Interview; Stemming Europe's Debt Crisis; Madonna to Perform at Super Bowl; Grandmother Ticked Off by TSA; Most Teen Aren't Sexting; Tiger Wins for First Time in Two Years; Student Wins $100,000 for Tuition

Aired December 05, 2011 - 10:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this hour with Iran claiming that it shot down a U.S. spy drone like this one over its air space. Washington's account is a little bit different. Government sources only will confirm that a drone is missing.

CNN's Chris Lawrence is at the Pentagon. Chris, you've been following this. What have you heard?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, I spoke with a couple of sources who say it is highly unlikely that Iran shot down this drone. That more likely there was a problem with the satellite connection or some other sort of mechanical malfunction that would have caused it to go down.

Simply put, the U.S. officials are not confirming that a drone has been captured by Iran. They will only say that one is missing. Here's the official statement. The UAV to which the Iranians are referring may be a U.S. unarmed reconnaissance aircraft that had been flying a mission over Western Afghanistan late last week.

The operators of the UAV lost control of the aircraft and had been working to determine its status. Key line in there is that they saw that they had lost control, which means they may, may have been able to activate a self-destruct sequence if one existed.

PHILLIPS: So what are the implications of losing this drone?

LAWRENCE: Well, if part of it is intact and if part of it is intact in Iran. That poses a lot of complications. This isn't a reaper or a predator. This was an RG-170, a sentinel drone. This had special shape, special coatings to basically enable it to penetrate enemy defense that is would pick up on reapers or predators.

This is stealthy drone, the same type of drone that was flying overhead Osama Bin Laden's compound in Pakistan earlier this year. For the Iranians to get this sort of technology could be hurtful to the U.S. down the road because this same sort of stealthy technology exists in some of the U.S. bombers.

Some of the newest U.S. fighter jets all of which could enable Iran possibly to figure out ways to stop some of this technology in the future and when these drones go down say in Afghanistan or Pakistan, the U.S. usually sends a bomber out to blow it up. That wouldn't be possible if the wreckage is in Iran -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Chris Lawrence at the Pentagon. Chris, thanks.

Well, Herman Cain is out, but he's got lots of supporters and one big endorsement that other Republican candidates would love to have. Listen to what Cain said about that over the weekend in his exit speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will be making an endorsement in the near future. I will be making an endorsement, and I can tell you right now, it will not be the current occupant of the White House. That will not be my endorsement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Newt Gingrich might be getting some of the spoils of the Cain campaign. Let's bring in our Mark Preston. So what are you hearing about a possible endorsement today, Mark?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, I mean, look, Kyra, the fact of the matter is it's probably not going to happen today. There's been some chatter over the last 12, 15 hours overnight that in fact he would make the endorsement today.

I think that's probably not going to happen. It will probably happen within the next week or so. The reason why is it has to happen while he's still relevant. Right now, Herman Cain is still relevant, but as we get farther and farther away from his exit from the White House race, then he's not as relevant.

However, if you were to endorse somebody in the next week or so, it looks like it would be Newt Gingrich. They have strong ties. They're both from Georgia. They have known each other for a long time. In fact, the fall of Cain has led to the rise of Newt Gingrich.

Let's look at a couple of polls right now that shows you where Newt is right now. Let's first look at Iowa right now. He's at 28 percent, which is a huge number for Gingrich because he did not -- there was no way that he had any organization in Iowa.

Then if you switch over there, we saw New Hampshire as well, he gained major traction up in New Hampshire. So Newt Gingrich with very little campaign staff right now, Kyra, has got some traction that he didn't have that we never thought he would have had, say, two or three months ago.

PHILLIPS: All right, well, Gingrich is in New York this hour. We've been talking about this, to meet with shall we say a pretty famous New Yorker, outspoken for sure. Let's talk about what's going on with Trump and Gingrich.

PRESTON: Yes, of course. Now these two gentlemen are going to meet today. This is one in a long line of Republican hopefuls that have asked to sit down with Donald Trump. And of course, Donald Trump loves to get the ask because he certainly loves the media attention.

But, you know, Donald Trump does have some sway certainly with independent voters and disaffected Republicans. So a lot of people are wondering who is Donald Trump going to endorse and he has said that endorsement could come in the next couple of weeks.

He's also said that he might run as an independent. I don't think that is going to happen. We should note though that Donald Trump does have a new book coming out. So all these attention certainly helps him very, very much.

But as far as Newt Gingrich goes, will Donald Trump want to endorse somebody who's been a career politician or will he want to go with somebody who's a businessman? So we're not really sure where Donald Trump is going to go, but he's endorsement no doubt will mean something -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, we'll follow it. Thanks, Mark.

We're getting word that the U.S. Post Office is about to take a drastic step to deal with its epic money problems. CNN's Karina Huber covering that for us in the New York Stock Exchange.

So Karina, tell us how the markets are looking right now and then follow up with how this plan is going to work out for the post office.

KARINA HUBER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, well, let's start with the markets. We have a nice little rally underway right now with the Dow up by more than 130 points with the banks really shining.

This, of course, adds to the Dow's nearly 800 point gain last week so nice kick off this week. Of course, Europe is the market driver. A flurry of meetings all week between European leaders and the market essentially is optimistic that structural changes will be put in place, optimistic for today at least -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, now tell us how this plan's going to work out for the post office and exactly how deep in the red it is in?

HUBER: All right, well, we're waiting for more details on the plan today, but essentially what we're expecting to hear is that there are going to be some changes to its next-day service.

Currently, the Postal Service guarantees first class mail delivery in one to three days. What we're expecting them to propose is a change in the delivery time to two to five days.

So bad news is this could mean further job losses and problems for anyone who still pays bills by snail mail. But as I said, we'll get more details later today. PHILLIPS: OK, we'll track it. Thanks, Karina.

In Southern California is in for another of hurricane force winds. Several days of Santa Ana winds have already downed power lines and left thousands of people without power.

Rob Marciano is following, I guess, it's unusual this time of year? I was trying to figure out?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: This is the time of year, October, November, December, even January and February. But to have them be, you know, basically three events in the row.

The event that's happening now and will continue to happen through tomorrow is not going to be as bad as what we saw Wednesday or Thursday.

That was historic. Something we haven't seen in certainly over a decade. But look at this, the winds are cranking up this morning and later last night. Warm springs, California, 51 mile an hour winds.

So we're going to see this crank up in the next few hours and then die down again this afternoon and then crank up again later on tonight. All in all we'll see 40 to 60 mile an hour winds, downed power lines and trees possible.

Because, you know, what didn't come down last week, certainly there will be some weakening trees and tree limbs. So it might not take much to take some of those tree limbs and power lines down. There are still 10 or 20,000 people without power in parts of L.A.

All right, critical fire danger as well with this system. It's been dry, the winds, the low humidity continue. So that's going to have fire fighters with their hands full if anything flares up.

The other big story with this system that's driving this wind is the extreme cold that's dropping down across the northern plains. Temperatures will be well below zero in places like Wyoming and Montana. Denver's high today, it will only be 10 degrees.

Some of this cold air will get down into L.A. Temperatures in L.A. tonight will get down to 40 degrees. We also have blizzard conditions expected across parts of New Mexico and we're seeing that right now as a matter of fact.

Look at the snow not only in New Mexico, but across parts of the Texas panhandle. This is stretching back up across parts of Arkansas. Flood watches and warnings are out.

Heavy rain now falling in Arkansas up through the mid- Mississippi River Valley and up into the Western Great Lakes as well. So flooding on top of the Santa Ana's and the blizzard, certainly all sorts of weather going on across the U.S. -- Kyra, back up to you.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Rob. Could be your smart phone right now. Secret software that tracks what you do that you can't opt out of. Coming up we're going to take a good, hard look at "Carrier IQ" and the controversy.

After months of peaceful protests, things get tense at "Occupy D.C." We're going to check the news cross-country next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Check news cross-country now.

Washington's police have hauled off dozens of "Occupy D.C." protesters after standoff at their base camp. Demonstrators refused orders to dismantle their new wooden shelter and had to be wrestled from the roof. Thirty one arrests in all.

The folks at "Occupy Buffalo" have a roof over their heads just in time for winter. They are staying in a protective dome donated by anonymous supporter and the city is cool with it for now. They could use a dome in Denver.

"Occupy" protesters there already sleeping in the snow. They're relying on tarps, blankets and body heat and they are going to be plenty of it. Today's high temp, 13 degrees.

Well, tech world's all fired up over some stealth tracking software discovered on many smartphones. It's called "Carrier IQ" and once a day it sends reams of information about the phone's activities back to the wireless provider.

So here's the thing, you can't opt out and choose to keep your data private. Here's the other thing, there are conflicting claims about what kind of info is being collected and how big of a deal this even is.

Let's try and get the low-down from Christina Warren of mashable.com. All right, so Christina, first of all, let's talk about which wireless companies are definitely using this?

CHRISTINA WARREN, ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR, MASHABLE.COM: OK. So the companies that are definitely using "Carrier IQ are T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint, and Rogers in Canada.

Verizon has come out publicly and said they are not using "Carrier IQ." But the general thought is that they're probably using something similar, but they are not using "Carrier IQ."

PHILLIPS: OK, so why are these companies using this?

WARREN: Well, the point of the software is supposed to be for diagnostic purposes. So if I'm making a phone call on my iPhone and I keep getting a drop signal in a certain place or I can't send a message, or I have some sort of error, that information can be sent to my phone carrier, and they can analyze information and say, the tower near Knoxville's offices isn't working correctly. So the point is really is supposed to try to be to diagnose problems while people are having poor service, why calls are dropping or why their batteries aren't lasting this long. But it's the amount of information that is being collected or can be potentially collected has a lot of people really concerned.

PHILLIPS: Sure. I mean, that's private information so we think I guess, my next question, is this even legal?

WARREN: I think that it is legal. I mean, the various -- there is some discussion and there are already some class action lawsuit says as far as whether or not this breaks wire tapping rules.

"Carrier IQ" is saying that they don't take anything like messages. They don't take anything about certain phone call data and they don't log key strokes although there is some conflicting information about whether or not certain keys being pressed are recorded.

And "Carrier IQ" says that, you know, they handle all the information to your wireless carrier so the wireless carrier's ultimately responsible for that information.

And of course, your wireless carrier has access to all of your call logs and your SOS messages anyway. But it mean, it appears that it is legal, but it's still pretty creepy.

PHILLIPS: Yes, it is creepy. I guess, my next question is, final question, how can I find out if it's on my phone and can I get rid of it?

WARREN: It depends. IOS 5 has a setting that you can turn off the diagnostic part that would send anything to "Carrier IQ" and Apple has said that in the future they will be removing "Carrier IQ" completely.

There are a few apps for Android that will let you know if "Carrier IQ" is on your phone. All windows phone devices don't have "Carrier IQ." Blackberry says that they don't install it on their devices, but that your carrier might.

If it is installed on your device and you don't have an iPhone, chances are it's going to be difficult to disable it. I think the hope right now a lot of people have is that all of the negative attention that's hitting all the wireless carriers will force them to do something like allow it to be opted out or be more explicit about what information they collect and how it's being stored.

PHILLIPS: Christine and I are going back to writing letters and using the telephone. Christina Warren from mashable.com, thanks for the info. Appreciate it.

All right, well, the iPhone 4 is number 4 in the list of 10 most shoplifted items. Up next, we'll tell you what three items beat it. Here's a hint. You can eat the winner and watch it down with the runner up after you stuff them under your shirt. What do you do with the nine palaces that have Saddam Hussein's initials engraved everywhere? That's the Iraqis right now. We're going in depth on the end of the Iraq war. Straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: A growing number of Americans are taking advantage of the five-finger discount. That's right, shoplifting, getting more and more popular.

Karina Huber at the New York Stock Exchange. Well, Karina, what exactly are people stealing?

HUBER: Well, Kyra, some surprising things, but the bottom line is it seems to be all about eat, drink and be merry. Topping the list, filet mignon, one of the most expensive cuts of beef that sells for upwards of 20 bucks a pound.

I'm not sure how someone sneaks out of the store discretely with a hunk of meat, but there you go. That's the number one stolen item according to Ad Week.

Number two on the list, Jameson Whisky. The third most stole items are electric tools and male thieves tend to focus on these include power tools and electric toothbrushes.

Four on the list, the iPhone. Experts say gadgets are among the most stolen items. Number 5, Gillette raise or blades. They don't come cheap. They retail for about $20 for four of them.

Some other interesting things on the list include Axe body spray and Marilyn Monroe's favorite perfume Chanel Number 5 perfume.

And of course, clothes and toys are also always hot for some people to not be able to resist -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, we've seen food and drink at the top of the list. So can you say this is tied to the bad economy?

HUBER: Well, yes and no. According to Ad Week, they say some is due to desperation as we're seeing this high unemployment rate. People are taking what they need or what they can to sell actually right now to make money.

But at the same time, we have old-fashioned temptation because statistically most shoplifters actually have jobs. Retailers aren't the ones who are going to suffer among the statistics because according to the data, they're going to lose nearly $120 billion this year -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Wow, all right. Quick check on the markets. It was looking pretty good a little while ago. Still is.

HUBER: It's still looking pretty good. We're up about 150 points on the Dow. It is, of course, because of some optimism about all of these meetings happening in Europe. Investors are hoping to come up with a plan to tackle the debt crisis there. When it comes to manufacturing, it was a little bit disappointing. That brought things down a little bit, but still we're seeing some nice gains today -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Karina, thanks.

Well, this week, CNN is going in depth on the final hours of the Iraq war. Here's a question for the Iraqis now that U.S. troops are leaving.

What do you do with all of Saddam's palaces? With the dictator gone, what happens to all the fancy real estate? Here's CNN's Martin Savidge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Inside what was America's largest military base in Iraq, the war room is dark. The 40,000 U.S. service members that once made it an American city are gone.

The keys to victory have been passed. The victory base complex was the hub of America's war in Iraq since 2003. Now in Iraqi hands there's just one nagging question, what to do with all the palaces?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning, welcome to the Elfa Palace.

SAVIDGE: There are nine of Saddam's palaces here that stand as bloated symbols of a dictator's ego, full of arrogance, extravagance, and as you might expect, bathrooms with gold fixtures. The grandest of them all is this palace. It took 11 years to build and it was a gift Saddam gave himself for his 64th birthday.

LT. COL. JERRY BROOKS, MILITARY HISTORIAN: In case you're wondering, this palace is 450,000 square feet. It has 62 rooms and 29 bathrooms.

SAVIDGE: Just in case anyone might forget whose palace it was, Saddam put his mark everywhere.

BROOKS: Behind you you'll see here, again, Saddam's initials.

SAVIDGE: His initials are also on the chandeliers, on the walls, even looking outside you aren't spared.

BROOKS: Now on the exterior window, again, you'll see Saddam's initials.

SAVIDGE: So what does that say about the man?

BROOKS: For me it says somebody who puts his initials on everything borders on the Meglamania.

SAVIDGE: Like most palaces there's another secret. In this case, there's another palace bombed at the start of the war and left looking deserted only it wasn't.

BROOKS: The exterior was left bombed out so people wouldn't know what was going on inside.

SAVIDGE: Inside contractors secretly built a maximum security prison.

BROOKS: There were two prisoners held here. One was Saddam Hussein. The other was Chemical Ali.

SAVIDGE: And there, of course, is the irony. Saddam Hussein, the man whom all of this was built who put his name in every place became a prisoner in his own palace.

But that brings us back to what should the Iraqis do with them? Some have suggested using them as an Iraqi military base. Others would like to see museums or cultural centers. There's even talk of a hotel yet to be named hopefully with the initials S.H. Martin Savidge, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Donald Trump going to host a GOP presidential debate. But why are some of the candidates taking a rain check? "Political Buzz" right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Checking top stories now.

Today Senate Democrats plan to unveil what they call a compromise plan to extend payroll tax cuts. Republicans don't want the cuts paid for by raising taxes on the rich.

"Sentinel Daily Times" quotes Jerry Sandusky's attorney saying an interview with the "New York Times" wanted to give Sandusky's side to as many people as possible. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JERRY SANDUSKY, FORMER PENN STATE ASSISTANT COACH: If I say, no, I'm not attracted to boys, that's not the truth because I'm attracted to young people, boys, girls.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, but not sexually. You're attracted because you enjoy.

SANDUSKY: right. I enjoy. That's what I was trying to say. I enjoy spending time with young people. I enjoy spending time with people. I mean, my two favorite groups are the elderly and the young.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Sandusky's attorney says the interview shows Sandusky is not articulate or a good speaker, perhaps a defense to Sandusky's halting interview with Bob Costas. There will be a rematch between college football's national championship. LSU will play Alabama January 9th in New Orleans. LSU beat them 9-6 in overtime last month.

Wall Street is watching Europe like a hawk as the French and German leaders hash out their differences on the E.U. debt crisis. So what's the big deal? Well, developments out of Europe are expected to be the main driver for U.S. markets as we close out the year.

CNN's Nina Dos Santos joining us now from Paris. So Nina, the president there, Sarkozy and Chancellor Merkel just emerged from a meeting. They gave a statement, any big announcements or surprises?

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, five big announcements if you want to be precise. They've set out a blueprint, a framework for how to solve the euro zone debt crisis. They'll be putting forward the plan in a meeting in Brussels later on this week.

And just some of the salient points among these five issues. They'll have automatic sanctions for countries around this region that break a rule of having their deficit as more than 3 percent of GDP.

Now interestingly enough, those rules have been in place here in Europe for the best part of ten years, Kyra. But they haven't been implemented with any strength and rigor. They'll change that. They're also going to be making the European bailout fund turn into a permanent vehicle, which is being dubbed the ESM.

Another one of those strange bunches of two or three-letter words. That's going to become a permanent fund at least one year sooner than expected. That just gives you an idea, Kyra, how severe the crisis is.

How important it is they get it right. Nicolas Sarkozy saying that they're going to try and make sure that these measures were applied to all 27 members of the European Union.

Remember that 10 E.U. members don't actually share the euro and aren't part of the euro zone. If they can't get all 27 people to agree, they'll put up with all 17 members as a plan B if you like.

PHILLIPS: We'll, indeed, follow if there is a plan B. Nina, thanks.

All right, "Political Buzz," your rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day. Three questions, 30 seconds on the clock. Playing today, Sirius XM political talk show host and comedian, Pete Dominick, CNN contributor Will Cain and radio host and Tea Party leader Dana Loesch.

First question guys. Now that Herman Cain is out, there's a mad dash for his supporters even Michele Bachmann thinks that she's going to pick up some. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: One thing that we've seen is that a lot of Herman Cain supporters have been calling our office and they've been coming over to our side. I think part of that is because people see that I'm the Tea Party candidate in the race. They saw Herman Cain as an outsider. And I think they see that my voice will be the one that will be most reflective of his.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: So with no Cain, who's the next best thing. Will?

WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, some people are going to think Michele Bachmann is. But most polls show that Newt Gingrich is the second choice of former Herman Cain supporters which we should stop and marvel at the absurdity of that. The ultimate Washington outsider with character flaws. Well the second choice for people to like him is the ultimate Washington insider with character flaws.

It makes a lot of sense. That being said, Herman Cain was capable of fostering this image of conservative purity, something Michele Bachmann has been to as well. So I imagine they'll be some supporters that will flow over to her.

PHILLIPS: Someone with no character flaws, Dana Loesch.

CAIN: Really.

DANA LOESCH, RADIO SHOW HOST: I am going to have to agree with Will on this. Yes, none. No, I'm going to have to agree with Will on this. I think that Bachmann is going to pick up some. But as we've seen with all of the polls, and especially right now with Iowa, Newt Gingrich is in the lead. And he's doing exceptionally well.

So he's obviously picking up some Herman Cain supporters which is really, really ironic when you consider where we were with Newt Gingrich just a couple of years ago or even five years before that. So it's kind of an amazing thing to behold. But -- but I think Bachmann will pick off some. But will she catch Gingrich in the polls, I don't know?

PHILLIPS: Pete?

PETE DOMINICK, COMEDIAN: You know Kyra, Rick Santorum hasn't got his chance to be the front runner. How come Rick Santorum can't be the next best thing?

Listen, Michele Bachmann was finished before she started. But she's smart to say we're getting a lot of calls from former Cain supporters. But what does a lot mean? Is that that mean like the -- when I say I get a lot of hate mail every time I'm on CNN when it's only just a couple of tweets and a couple of e-mails, Kyra. I don't think she's getting a lot of phone calls.

I think Newt Gingrich is going to be the flavor of the what, next four weeks up until Iowa and he can get a ground game going maybe longer. We'll see. PHILLIPS: Ok guys, Ron Paul is still strong in the polls. Here is what he tells our Candy Crowley about his standing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RON PAUL (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've had the flavors of the month up and down, you know, so far in this campaign. I'd like to think of myself as the flavor of the decade so we keep plodding along on a couple of issues that are really striking a chord with the people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: All right, guys, so how far will he go in this race, Dana?

LOESCH: I think that Ron Paul would do a lot better if more conservatives agreed with him on some of his foreign policy stances. And that seems to me to be the big divide. Because you know I love Ron Paul on domestic issues. He is pretty much almost untouchable.

But then when you look at some of his foreign policy stances, that's when I kind of pull back and have questions. And I know a lot of other conservatives to whom I've spoken sort of feel the same way. And he's doing really well. He's number two in Iowa. So anything can still happen.

PHILLIPS: Will?

CAIN: Yes I want to build off what Dana said. But I think this is fascinating. Have you ever heard of Peratos (ph) principal. It's that you can divide things in the world into 80/20; 80 percent one way, 20 percent another. Tim Ferries popularized it in the four hour work week. It applies to Ron Paul, 80 percent of what Ron Paul says is absolutely awesome and stunning and principally correct and right; 20 percent is an insane deal killer.

Now, here's the deal. That 20 percent is different for everybody. For Dana it's foreign policy issues. For other people it's that he would legalize drugs. For me it's that he would shut down the fed. Everyone has a different 20 percent with Ron Paul but it's always a deal killer.

PHILLIPS: Pete.

DOMINICK: Ron Paul has more integrity than every other candidate, including the President, on every -- almost every issue. He is consistent, he's honest, he doesn't change his opinions although that's not a bad thing except for when you're always changing to appease your supporters.

Ron Paul has a tremendous amount of integrity and consistency. He doesn't take all kinds of special interest money. He's got the support of young people but a lot of people still don't agree with him for the reasons that Dana and Will just articulated very well. But the -- the secret here is that he is Mitt Romney's secret weapon. Ron Paul but we've seen a lot of surprises. A lot of surprises maybe he'll win in Iowa. We'll see if the young people can come through.

PHILLIPS: All right, your "Buzzer Beater", 20 seconds each on this one. Donald Trump is back again. This time to host a debate. Ron Paul and John Huntsman already said they're not going to play. So why avoid it? What's the worst that can happen?

Will?

CAIN: What's the worst could happen? Let's see. You can stain your party, your political movement with the image of a clown. You could attach it to a buffoon and a charlatan, a man who gold plates everything in his life. Let's see what's the worst that could happen? You could take a very serious intellectual movement and attach it to Donald Trump. That ought to be self-explanatory.

PHILLIPS: Dana?

LOESCH: I'm not quite sure how Donald Trump got to be the ultimate arbitrator of who's going to go forward in the Republican primary. But all I know is that if I'm going to watch this, I hope that he goes "you're fired" to one of them, maybe Romney. I don't know. We'll see.

PHILLIPS: Pete?

DOMINICK: Donald Trump is the ring leader of a circus and these candidates most likely don't want to be associated by being called sideshow freaks. Listen, Donald Trump produces these awful pageants, beauty pageants which are terrible themselves. I'm looking forward to all of the candidates and their talent portion with Rick Santorum juggling communion wafers and, of course, the bathing suit where Rick Perry is going to shining -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Boy, you guys were harsh when it came to Donald Trump.

DOMINICK: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Harsh, harsh, harsh. You all agree on that one.

WILL: Is it hard call? Is it hard?

PHILLIPS: Hey, we should -- you know Will was a water polo player, Pete, if you want to talk about bathing suits. Dana?

DOMINICK: I was a synchronized swimmer. A synchronized swimmer.

PHILLIPS: Oh -- ok that's scary.

LOESCH: Oh boy.

PHILLIPS: Guys, thank you.

And coming up, Madonna has been picked to perform on football's biggest night. We'll have the details next in "Showbiz".

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Ok, we've had the Black-Eyed Peas, the Who, even Janet Jackson in a wardrobe malfunction. Now it's Madonna's turn. We're talking about the Super Bowl in our half time entertainment. A.J. Hammer, what do you think?

A.J. HAMMER, HLN HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": I think she'll be great. Madonna is making her first-ever appearance at the Super Bowl, Kyra; at least performing. I think actually a lot of people are going to expect a wardrobe malfunction. But it has been a rumor for months now that she would do the show. The NFL officially confirmed it last night during a spot they ran on Sunday night football.

Obviously it's a great way for Madonna to really become relevant to the masses once again. We know the audience is as big as it gets. The NFL says that last year Super Bowl half time show is watched by more than 162 million viewers just here in the U.S.

Madonna no doubt seizing the opportunity for the massive exposure as she promotes a new album that is due out early next year and her movie "W.E." which she directed, that's supposed to open right around the game.

So Kyra, if you're now starting to fill in your 2012 calendar, type it into your iCal, whatever you do. Mark it down, the Super Bowl airing February 5th on NBC.

PHILLIPS: Well, I'll tell you what I would mark down. If Stevie Wonder really did compete on "Dancing with the Stars". How cool is that?

HAMMER: Yes, no kidding. The news started to get out last week after Stevie appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show. Ellen asked him about all the buzz that she had heard about him wanting to do the show and here's what Stevie told her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELLEN DEGENERES, TALK SHOW HOST: You have to tell me, is there any truth to the rumor? Are you thinking about doing "Dancing with the Stars"?

STEVIE WONDER, SINGER: I'm losing weight. When I get to where I feel like I'm going to look good enough for what I want to do, I'll do that.

DEGENERES: Really?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: Yes. How great would that be? I think it would be a terrific move for the show and for Stevie. And Kyra he would be the first blind contestant on "Dancing with the Stars". He'd be terrific. PHILLIPS: Yes. He sure would. Well, the Kennedy Center honors were last night in D.C. And President Obama, he was in pretty good company.

HAMMER: Yes, he was. It looked like a really fun night in Washington, too. You had Meryl Streep, Neil Diamond, Broadway singer Barbara Cook, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins -- all given recognition for their lifetime achievements in the arts. One of the real highlights last night, I can't wait to see the whole performance. A rendition of Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" led by Smokey Robinson, accompanied by a crowd of Boston Red Sox fans, they've made that song an anthem at Fenway Park. Out there singing along with everybody, Caroline Kennedy herself.

Caroline's the host of the show. Of course, it links back to her dad. And Caroline is in fact, the name sake of that Neil Diamond classic. CBS will be broadcasting the entire show on December 27th. Something to do during Christmas week. I'm looking forward to that.

PHILLIPS: Yes. That sounds like fun. One of my favorite tunes, by the way, too A.J. Thanks so much.

Well, you want any information on everything breaking in the entertainment world, A.J.'s got it every night. "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT", 11:00 p.m. on HLN.

So is sexting among teens really out of control? A new study actually suggests the opposite, that teenage sexting actually happens far less than people think. We've got the details straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Let's check news cross-country now.

An 84-year-old woman plans to sue the TSA after she says she was not only hurt but humiliated during a strip search.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LENORE ZIMMERMAN, GRANDMOTHER: I have a defibrillator so I don't go through the machines. I asked them to pat me down or use the wand. Don't I look like a terrorist? I'm going to be 85 years old. I weigh 103 pounds and they strip-searched me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Now here's the response from the TSA. Quote, "While we regret that the passenger feels she had an unpleasant screening experience, the TSA does not include strip-searches as part of our security protocols and one was not conducted in this case."

Jury deliberations begin today for the second man convicted in a brutal home invasion that ended with the death of a Connecticut woman and her daughters. He could get the death penalty.

And Bishop Eddie Long told his parishioners he's taking time off from his mega church to work on his family. Long's wife Vanessa filed for divorce last week.

It's called sexting, sending sexual photos and text messages. Some studies have shown it's pretty popular among our teens. But a new study now says that one in ten pre-teen or teens have been involved with sexting photos.

Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen here to explain what exactly is going on. You're actually saying that it's down or it's not as bad as we had thought?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, I don't want to go there, and I'll tell you why. This study looked to kids from 10 to 17. So the numbers are a little smaller than studies that only look at, say, 15 to 17-yearolds because you're including the 10 year olds.

So it's really hard to look at a trend or to draw any conclusions about a trend here. But I think as a parent if you look at 10 to 17- yearolds and you see that one out of ten has either posed in, sent, or received an image in a sext, a sexual image via sexting, that's still a high number. That means if you have a school of 1,000 kids, 100 of those kids have either posed, sent or received a sexual image.

And we're talking about everything from where the child might be clothed but standing suggestively to completely naked or even participating in a sexual act.

PHILLIPS: You're a mom. I'm a mom. My heart just stopped when we talk about things like this. These kids don't realize what can happen to them.

COHEN: They don't realize it, right. A 16-year-old boy snaps a picture of his naked girlfriend, sends it to a buddy of his. He doesn't realize that he has just broken the law. His girlfriend is a minor. He's sending it to a minor. He is breaking the law.

Now, most of the time it doesn't rise to that level because most of the time actually these aren't widely distributed. But the minute that they are, your kid could be arrested. Kids don't realize that. Parents I don't think realize that.

PHILLIPS: All right. So the parents don't realize that. What do they need to do to prevent it?

COHEN: Well, first of all, you need to talk to your child about sexting. Because they don't see it necessarily as something big and bad. So you need to talk to them about how in many cases they're actually breaking the law.

Then the second thing that you need to do, I know that somebody's going to say you're invading your kid's privacy, look at their texts. I mean you're invading their privacy. But you know what; they're kids, ok? And you're the adult. And so you can look at their texts.

The third thing if you go to cnn.com/empoweredpatient, we have some information -- more information on how to talk to your kids about sexting and what the legal repercussions can be.

PHILLIPS: You turn 18, you get your privacy.

COHEN: Exactly. Mom's paying for the phone, mom should be able to look at those texts.

PHILLIPS: Thanks Elizabeth.

COHEN: Thanks.

PHILLIPS: Well, Tiger Woods' two-year losing streak comes to an end. We're going to show you the putt that he dropped to go to the top. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: 2011 almost over and we want you to help us pick the top 20 stories of the year. Just go to this Web site, you know it, cnn.com/topstories and take part in our online poll between now and December 15th. The "Top Ten Stories of the Year" will be unveiled on air and online December 30th.

Tiger Woods did something he hasn't done in more than two years, win a tournament. CNN's Don Riddell joins us now from London with the story. Hey Don.

DON RIDDELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey Kyra, how are you doing? You know, Tiger Woods has just won his 95th career tournament. I bet he didn't think there would be a 25-month gap between his 94th trophy and his 95th. But he finally rediscovered his winning ways at his own tournament in California on Sunday.

He needed a birdie on the 18th hole against Zach Johnson to win that tournament. Now, critics would say perhaps it was an easy win for him. It was his own tournament. There were only 17 other players involved. But, you know, a win's a win. Tiger has been lacking the confidence of a win for more than two years.

We all know what happened in his private life and to his game after that. So it could well be that he's back. He, I think, would prefer to play next week and the week after to build on the momentum of this win but he's going into the winter break. He won't play until next year.

But I think he'll at least spend the whole of the winter knowing that he can be a winner again. Who knows what kind of Tiger we'll see next year.

PHILLIPS: Tell us about this college student, another winner here.

RIDDELL: Yes. This really is quite a heart warming story. We're talking about a college student called Ivon Padilla Rodriguez who goes to the University of Nevada. On Sunday in the SEC championship game in Atlanta, she had to perform a pretty difficult task against an Alabama student. She had to throw as many balls as she could into that bucket in front of her. She had 30 seconds to do it. She won. She got 13 in. The prize from Dr. Pepper was $100,000 university scholarship.

It meant the world to her. I think you're going to see now she was absolutely overwhelmed when she finally got there.

PHILLIPS: That is incredible. You hear about a lot of great prizes, but this is it. Let's hear from her, Don.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IVON PADILLA RODRIGUEZ, CONTEST WINNER: This is so important to me. Dr. Pepper is seriously the best thing that has ever happened to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: She will be drinking a lot of Dr. Pepper in college.

(CROSSTALK)

RIDDELL: Yes. Just incredible. She's going to spend money on her education. She's going to study English and History, then law school. Then she says she wants to be a federal judge, then make the Supreme Court. If she makes it, keep your eye on this girl, if she makes it. It all started with a can of soda.

PHILLIPS: Got to love it. What a great story Don. Thanks so much.

All right. Checking other stories making news later today.

At 11:00 Eastern NASA holding a news conference to announce the discovery of a new planet. How often do you hear that?

At 1:30 Eastern President Obama meets with a group of college presidents at the White House. They're going to talk about the high cost of going to college.

And at 6:30 Eastern, an anti-hazing forum at Florida A&M University. Every student there will be asked to sign an anti-hazing pledge. It's in response to the death of that student band member we've talked about, Robert Champion.

Coming up in the NEWSROOM with Suzanne Malveaux, Iran's government says it shot down a U.S. surveillance drone similar to this one. We're going to ask a national security expert what information Iran could learn from the drone and if it impacts national security.

Plus a new study says that your ability to quit smoking may have something to do with your genes. That's coming up in about six minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Senator John McCain telling CNN what he thinks is the key to winning the 2012 elections. Our senior political editor Mark Preston here with that story. Mark?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, Kyra, you know, the way that the next president is going to win the election is to win as many states as possible, including the state of Arizona, which John McCain won by nine points in 2008 when he was the Republican presidential nominee.

However he says that President Obama might have a shot at winning it this time. Let's hear why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: The demographics are clear. The demographics are clear that the Hispanic vote will be a major factor in national elections.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PRESTON: There you have John McCain, of course, talking about a key demographic; Hispanics certainly out in the west. Now he says that the Hispanic vote is up for grabs but he says that the Republican Party, Kyra, needs to be more humane when they're talking about how to deal with illegal immigration -- Kyra.

Mark, a New Hampshire newspaper has Mitt Romney's back. We saw that today.

PRESTON: Yes. No doubt. Last week we were talking about the "New Hampshire Union Leader" and how they were endorsing Newt Gingrich. But we saw the "Foster's Daily Democrat", a big newspaper on the seacoast put its backing behind Mitt Romney. It says that Mitt Romney has matured a lot since his last presidential run.

And the fact is the Romney shouldn't have to be held to the positions that he once had in his former political life. He said that -- basically the paper said that these positions should not be written in blood. So Mitt Romney getting a big endorsement which was touted by the Romney campaign over the weekend -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Mark Preston. Thanks so much.

We'll have your next political update in just about an hour. And a reminder for all the latest political news, you can go to our Web site, cnnpolitics.com.

That does it for us here in Atlanta. Suzanne Malveaux in Washington, D.C., today. Suzanne, take it away. Good to see you.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Good to see you, Kyra.