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Gingrich And Perry Off Virginia Primary Ballot; Ron Paul Mailer Predicted Race War; Holiday Travel Weather; Should You See "We Bought A Zoo"?; Holiday Movie Releases; Most Embarrassing Videos of 2011; Rules for Regifting; Final Hour to Shop for Christmas; Obama in Hawaii for Christmas; Children Skip Santa, Write to Obama; Avoiding Spending Traps; The Mystery of North Korea
Aired December 24, 2011 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HOLMES: And top of the hour here now. From the CNN center in Atlanta, Georgia, this is your CNN Saturday morning for this Christmas Eve. I'm T.J. Holmes.
Got some bad news this morning, for two people in particular. Those two, Newt Gingerich, Rick Perry. Those names, those two will not be on the primary ballot in a key state. We'll tell you why.
Also, financial fitness in 2012. Got some tips on making some smarter money decisions than the ones you made in 2011.
Also, we all remember this video, the Czech president, pocketing a pen. You see him there? You're on tape. We see what you're doing. You're not fooling anybody. Put it under the table. Let me switch it to the left hand, get it in the pocket.
Yes, he's stealing a pen, folks. But this is just one of a number of embarrassing videos from 2011. We'll show you.
And a pretty big setback to tell you about now for Newt Gingerich and Rick Perry. Virginia's Republican Party says the two presidential candidates have not collected enough valid signatures to appear on the state's primary ballot.
Athena Jones has been following this story and the developments from overnight. Athena, everybody's wondering, how in the world, if you're a serious candidate for the nomination, can you, I don't know, just forget to get your name on the ballot? They didn't forget. That's not fair to say. But still, how could this happen?
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I mean, it's really baffling to - to some people, a lot of observers here. People were surprised at this, especially about Newt Gingrich, what happened (ph). But we have gotten a statement from each of these campaigns, the Perry and the Gingrich campaign.
The Perry campaign says, in part, they're going to closely review the facts and law to determine whether an appeal or a challenge is warranted. Now, Gingrich's campaign called the whole way the Virginia - that Virginia handles this - this ballot requirement process, they said it's a failed system and they said they're going to pursue an aggressive write-in campaign to make sure that all the voters of Virginia are able to vote for the candidate of their choice.
Now, this is really interesting because, you know, Gingrich lives in Virginia. He lives in a - in a D.C. suburb. He also is - is on top of the polls, and the latest Quinnipiac poll showed him five points ahead of Mitt Romney. But none of that matters if you can't get on the ballot.
And, it's interesting, even though he talks about his write-in campaign, you know, people are going to say, well, if you didn't have the organization and the ground game to make sure you're on the ballot in your home state, a state that has 49 important delegates, then how are you going to mount this write-in campaign?
So a lot of people kind of scratching their heads, probably, this morning, T.J.
HOLMES: OK, who's feeling pretty good about this now? We got a couple - just a couple, that will be on the ballot.
JONES: Exactly. It makes it a lot easier, I guess you could say, for Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. Those are the - the two candidates who are on the ballot and who will be battling it out for these - these delegates.
And, as you'll remember, this is so important. Each state is so important in this - in this process, because it can be a really, really long process, as we saw in 2008. And so all of these states, primaries and caucuses, they all add up. These candidates are trying to get to 1,143 delegates. That's half plus one of - of all the delegates at - at stake, or at hand.
And so, those numbers can change a little bit, but it's - it can be a long, hard slog to that 1,143 number.
HOLMES: All right, Athena, thank you so much. And for the (INAUDIBLE) politic, you know where to go, CNNPolitics.com.
Can we please get over to Reynolds. Reynolds?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes?
HOLMES: Reynolds is over here, doodling, OK? I'm trying to do some news here. We're coming to you next with weather. Why - why did you erase that? Why didn't you share that with people?
WOLF: It's funny how perspective changes from person to person. What some people might consider doodling -
HOLMES: Yes.
WOLF: -- others would consider hard core meteorology. And that's what I'm focusing on, T.J., right now.
HOLMES: And I don't understand. That's my fault. I don't understand. WOLF: That's all right. That's all right. What it's called is radar, and we're watching it because, well, quite - quite honestly, this is - I actually have a lot to share with you, and that all has happens in Texas.
Take a look at this. You know, one huge thoroughfare that we have in Texas is the I-20 corridor. Imagine, if you're taking off or driving in a minivan or whatever car of your choice, going from Dallas to, well, El Paso. When you get things started in Dallas, what have you got? Some scattered showers.
You're driving through. There are a lot of clouds. Windshield wipers going crazy. Then when you get right to the point of Abilene, you've got an area where - you're moving into areas where you've got temperatures that are right at or below the freezing range. When you get below the freezing point, 32 degrees, a lot of that precipitation's going to switch on over to snow. That's the situation. Take a look at that, all the way to Abilene, back over to even El Paso we're going to see those scattered snow showers.
Now, in terms of accumulation, this is not going to be in the same ballpark as the snow we had up towards Boulder, Colorado about 72 hours ago where we had up to 36 inches of snow. It's not going to be that kind of deal, but still very difficult for people just trying to travel around Texas. That is really going to be the biggest travel trouble spot you would have in the nation today. Dallas, Ft. Worth, you got a connecting flight there, maybe going to Left Field, maybe even San Antonio or - or going to a flight to Austin or Houston, those are going to be your issues.
The things is, though, that storm system is going to drive its way to the east, eventually moving into places like New Orleans, so you're going to gave some rough weather in the French Quarter tonight. I'm not saying severe thunderstorms, but certainly some heavy rainfall.
Lake-effect snow fall for the eastern half of the Great Lakes. Breezy and cool as we wrap things up in the Northern Plains, with the high temperatures of 42 degrees in Kansas City, 39 in Minneapolis, 50 in Seattle, 52 in Portland, 70 in Los Angeles, 37 in Albuquerque, a string of 30s and 40s from Boston, New York to Washington, 80 degrees in Tampa. And here in Atlanta, 61 degrees will be your expected high.
How's that for doodling, T.J.?
HOLMES: That's pretty good stuff.
WOLF: All right.
HOLMES: Reynolds, I just don't understand meteorology. That's my bad. I shouldn't have been trying to interpret -
(CROSSTALK)
WOLF: You know what? He was telling the truth. It was just doodling, but it's not to be shared with our viewers. I'm sorry.
HOLMES: All right, Reynolds.
WOLF: (INAUDIBLE).
HOLMES: My mistake. All right, thanks Reynolds.
We're five minutes past the hour, and it's just a part of the Christmas tradition, just as traditional as stocking stuffers, Santa Claus procrastinators. Some folks are out there right now, hustling, trying to get those last minute gifts.
Let's go to our Alison Kosik. Been out there since the mall there in New Jersey opened at 7:00. It's getting louder and busier every time we come to you over the past couple of hours.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It is, T.J. The foot traffic's definitely increasing as the hours go on. We've got a whole mall here full of procrastinators.
And you know what I noticed? I did some little unscientific survey here. I took a walk around, of course, did a little window shopping. You know what I noticed? I noticed a lot of men are out here shopping today. The majority is men. Of course, there are also a lot of women.
And one of the guys I found here is Anthony Ruiz. Anthony, you are doing pretty well, though, considering you are catching up on your Christmas shopping, aren't you?
ANTHONY RUIZ, LAST MINUTE SHOPPER: Yes, I am.
KOSIK: And is it just - this isn't the first time you're out, but you said you had a lot to do.
RUIZ: Yes. We had exams last week and a heavy load of Christmas parties in the restaurant business. I got all my shopping done this morning. I got here earlier. It was quiet, and now it's picked up a lot.
KOSIK: So who are you shopping for?
RUIZ: For my wife.
KOSIK: OK, and - and you've got some bags here. Let me - let me see. What have you got here? Oh, Victoria's Secret. So that's a good one. What did you - what did you get there?
RUIZ: All of the essentials that she - that she likes. So it's been a trend every year since we've been married. I get her a perfume and some of her undergarments.
KOSIK: And what else? I see you've got - you've got more here.
RUIZ: H&M and then Macy's. I can't give it all away because she might be watching.
KOSIK: Good point, Anthony. Anthony, but you're doing pretty well. And, you know, he's one of the guys who's just walking around with bags and bags full of stuff.
But, you know, he's not alone in being a procrastinator because would you believe that 25 percent of the people who were surveyed in the "Consumer Reports" survey, T.J., as of Thursday did any - they didn't do any Christmas shopping. So I think he's ahead of the game. Do you think?
HOLMES: Yes. Just this might be the first CNN SATURDAY MORNING in a while where we talked about undergarments in a - in a live shot. But please -
KOSIK: He gave - he gave it all away.
HOLMES: One quick thing here, though, how much time do people have? I - I made the mistake of thinking a lot of stores are going to be open later, but not necessarily tonight.
KOSIK: Right. They're not going to be open as late as they have been over the past several weeks because of - of the holiday shopping season. Yes, usually on Christmas Eve, the stores do close relatively early.
This particular mall is closing at 6:00 P.M., so that may be the trend. So if you still have shopping to do, I say get out sooner rather than later - T.J.
HOLMES: All right. We will see you again soon. Alison Kosik, thank you so much.
We're at eight minutes past the hour, and while most people, or kids, are addressing their final wish lists to Santa Claus, some kids are sending their letters to another well known name. We'll explain.
Also ahead, is that deal really a deal? Financial expert Clyde Anderson has tips. The mistakes you've been making this year, please don't make them next year.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, 10 minutes past the hour this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
President Obama kicking off the holiday weekend in his home state of Hawaii. He got there last night, just after - hours after signing into law a payroll tax cut extension. You remember that whole fight? He had to wait around, and Michelle and the girls already went ahead on their vacation.
Already - Brianna Keilar, our White House correspondent, have you been out there, just hanging out, waiting on the president to show up?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: This is what happens, T.J. I know it's hilarious. But yes, we've been here for days, playing the waiting game for President Obama.
HOLMES: Poor thing. KEILAR: And, you know, seeing that things always kind of wrap up at the last minute with Congress, it's kind of, I think, T.J., what we expected. It was just a matter of when is he going to get here.
HOLMES: OK. Congratulations to you on this trip. I'll - I'll ask you later what you've been up to the past couple of days. But what is the president - the president is never really on vacation. He has a 24/7 job, of course. But what do they have planned now, and do they have to cut some things out since he's getting there late?
KEILAR: Well, you know, I think all along, there was this uncertainty of when he would get here, so, you know, pretty much the president, when he comes to Hawaii, there's a lot of activities that are pretty standard vacation activities that anyone here on vacation would do. Of course, it's a little different, being the president.
But already, last night, if you can imagine - I don't think I could have handled this after that long, almost nine-hour flight from the D.C. area, President Obama and the First Lady, they went out for dinner with family and friends to Morimoto Restaurant here in Waikiki.
But there's no public - any public events that are actually on the schedule, T.J. So what we're kind of expecting is to see some of these standard activities. You know, in past years, you certainly will expect that President Obama is going to play golf. He's done this the last several years when he's come out here. Maybe he'll go to the Ala Moana Golf Course, where he learned to play golf here as a teen. He's also gone out for Hawaiian shaved ice with his daughters. That's something they do almost every trip.
And then they'll, of course, go to the beach. The beaches here are gorgeous. We're probably not going to get any pictures of President Obama and the First Family swimming out there on the surf because they go to a beach that's on a marine base not far from Kailua, where they're staying, T.J.
HOLMES: How - well, how much work, as we look at these pictures of his arrival, people out there greeting him, how much work can we anticipate the president doing out here? Are there some thing that do need to be done, need to get done?
KEILAR: There's always things that need to be done. I think the White House is hoping for a quiet vacation. But the president is the president and always top of mind, always a concern, would be, of course, whether there might be some sort of terrorist threat or some sort of attack.
If you remember, back in 2009, it was that attempted bombing on that airliner going into Detroit on Christmas Day. I mean, this is something that the president has to pay attention to, obviously, and always be vigilant of.
He will receive, despite the fact that he's on vacation, a national security briefing every day. He's staffed by a member of his national security team while he's out here, so he'll be getting that briefing either in person or in writing. And then, of course, there's another concern, T.J. You may recall President Obama actually coming out a few weeks ago and saying that he wanted the Senate, which had failed to confirm his nominee for that Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Richard Cordray. This is an agency that needs to regulate those financial products that were really at the heart of the financial meltdown.
Well, it's very possible that President Obama is going to be thinking on this trip about a way maybe to circumvent Congress, perhaps. He said all options are on the table. So we'll see, maybe he'll make some news, maybe after this trip, and he can use this time to think about that.
HOLMES: All right. I'm sure you're doing some thinking the past few days, waiting on the president to get there, so you could get -
KEILAR: I am.
HOLMES: -- to work. Brianna Keilar, always -
KEILAR: Oh, wait, and T.J.
HOLMES: Yes?
KEILAR: Mele Kalikimaka to you, in case I don't see you tomorrow.
HOLMES: OK. Well, thank you, and meki mukimaki (ph), that stuff to you, as well.
Thank you so much, Brianna Keilar. Always a pleasure, my dear friend. Thank you.
We're about a quarter past the hour now and it is that time of year for the little ones to write to Santa. But many children are skipping the Dear Santa letter and they're writing a Dear President Obama letter, not just asking for toys. They are pleading for their loved ones not to be deported.
CNN Espanol's Gustavo Valdes with the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUSTAVO VALDES, CNN EN ESPANOL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ana Fragoso has one wish for Christmas.
ANA FRAGOSO, WROTE TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: I don't want my family to be separated.
VALDES: The Georgia native says some of her relatives are not in the country legally, so she fears they could be deported.
FRAGOSO: It - it will be sad for me.
VALDES: Ana and some 5,000 children across the U.S. wrote letters not to Santa Claus, but to President Obama.
TEODORO MAUS, LETTER WRITING ORGANIZER: They're angry at the things that have been created to take their parents away.
VALDES: Teodoro Maus is the head of the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights. He organized a letter-writing campaign in Georgia. Maus says that the almost 400,000 deportations reported by the government last year are having an effect on the kids.
MAUS: They're writing to Obama and saying, listen, don't do this to us. Leave my father here. Let him spend Christmas with us. Let the family be together.
VALDES: And not all of the letters were written by kids whose parents are undocumented. Daniel Godina says his parents and brothers are U.S. citizens, but still wanted to reach President Obama.
DANIEL GODINA, WROTE TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: So I could be able to give the president a better understanding of why I don't want this.
VALDES: He says he has friends whose parents have been deported from the only place they consider home.
GODINA: Hopefully my friends from school don't have to go. And I just - this right here is my life. Here's my town. Here's my - everything I have is right here in Georgia, and I just didn't want to go.
VALDES: Maus said these children have shown an awareness to this difficult issue far beyond their age. Their letters were sent to the White House and members of Congress in hopes the leaders can reach an agreement on immigration reform.
But, for now, the fear of the unknown overshadows the joy of the season.
FRAGOSO: What I think is going to happen is more - more kids are going to be more sad than they've ever been in their life because their parents have been separated.
VALDES: Gustavo Valdes, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: We're at 17 minutes past the hour now, and a story you want to see out of North Korea, a North Korean risking his life to tell CNN about his country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STAN GRANT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: "North Koreans don't speak openly," he says. "If anyone knows I'm talking, I would be sent to prison, and there's no mercy there. I'd be shot dead."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Twenty minutes past the hour now. We've all seen the websites advertising great deals, you know, two for one, but is it really worth it? I talked to our financial expert, Clyde Anderson, about how to make the right decision and avoid some of the mistakes you made in 2011 in 2012. Listen to these traps.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLYDE ANDERSON, FINANCIAL ANALYST: One of them is that deal of the day, you know, the thing you get all the time. The deal of the day, the Groupon, the Scoutmobs. They're telling you that this is on sale, or if you buy right now, you can get it for this price.
HOLMES: That's not right?
ANDERSON: Well, what happens is it wasn't on your list. You know, I'm big on lists. If you don't have that list, it wasn't on the needs list, now it becomes something that you want because you're seeing - and it seems like it's a great deal, so you go for it.
HOLMES: Well sometimes, is it a great deal or you just don't need it?
ANDERSON: You just don't need it. If you need it, it could be a great deal. But if it's not something you need - but now we get so driven by the - the excitement and the chase of a deal that we spend this money we didn't have.
HOLMES: What if I don't need a car and they go and sell it for $5,000?
ANDERSON: No, that's a different situation.
HOLMES: OK.
ANDERSON: It depends on what type of car it is and - and what you can do with the cars you already have.
HOLMES: All right. (INAUDIBLE). You know how I am, man.
ANDERSON: Yes. Yes.
HOLMES: What's next on your list?
ANDERSON: Well, the - the next thing that we have to look at is a lot of times what we're seeing is people that are buying, they're going out finding all these deals that they think are really good deals but they spend hours and hours shopping for these deals.
HOLMES: OK.
ANDERSON: So they exhaust all - you know, all possibilities for the sale.
HOLMES: OK.
ANDERSON: So they're going out and they say, hey, I'm going to look all over, spend five hours looking for this thing. Well, you've got to think about the opportunity cost. How much is your hour worth? So if I spend five hours and I make $100 an hour, I've spent $500 looking for this item that I need.
So you really wasted time, you wasted money instead of just buying it and maybe saving, what? You know, $10 or $5? Is it really worth it?
HOLMES: Is it worth your time? That's - I never would have thought about (INAUDIBLE) that way.
ANDERSON: Is it really worth your time?
HOLMES: All right, let's get that list back up. What was next there, the traps we need to avoid for the next year?
ANDERSON: The next trap that we need to avoid is buying on emotion.
HOLMES: OK.
ANDERSON: You know, this year has been a rollercoaster. We've seen the stock market go up, we've had the debt ceiling debates. We've had all of these things going on, a lot of things really people are tuned into, and so it's driving them to make a decision to buy or not to buy.
So when the stock market's up, we feel good and we want to go and buy. Everything's great, the economy is good. The job number's come out and they're down, we don't want to buy. So we're driven by these things and we got to kind of step away from that and don't make buying decisions based off of how you feel emotionally.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right, something else to keep in mind, Clyde says pay with cash as much as you can. That could help you get around some of those sneaky bank fees. Always, he says, save money first before you spend. Ten percent out of your pay, that paycheck, put it aside before you go buy anything.
Well, Britain's Prince Phillip rushed to the hospital Friday? We'll give the update on his health.
Stay with us on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Twenty-four minutes past the hour now. Give you a look at some of the headlines on the international front.
Syria's president blaming terrorists for twin suicide bombings in Damascus. Opposition groups, though, say yesterday's attacks are the work of the regime. One opposition group says violence this week killed almost 300 people.
Meanwhile, the U.N. saying more than 5,000 people have died since President Bashar al-Assad began a crackdown on anti-government protesters back in March. To Moscow now, more than 10,000 demonstrators have gathered. They are protesting what they say are rigged elections. The rally's also seen as a challenge to the domination of Vladimir Putin over Russia.
Security is tight. Russian media reporting bus loads of riot police lining up along streets.
Also, Britain's Prince Phillip will spend Christmas Eve in the hospital. This, of course, Queen Elizabeth's husband. He underwent a procedure yesterday to block (ph) a coronary artery. Prince Phillip is 90 years old.
And many of us has kind of been taken aback by some of these pictures.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES (voice-over): There you're seeing North Koreans appearing to cry hysterically over the death of their dictator - as they put it, their Dear Leader - Kim Jong-Il. A lot of people have openly wondered if all that sobbing was real. Is it just a show?
Our Stan Grant goes looking for answers. He's just over the border.
GRANT (voice-over): This man does not want to be identified. He's afraid even to talk. "There are many North Korean spies here," he says. "Many, many. There are hundreds of spies."
We'll call him Mr. Lee, a North Korean living on the China side of the border, in Dandong. He says he risks death just being seen talking to us.
"North Koreans don't speak openly," he says. "If anyone knows I'm talking, I would be sent to prison, and there's no mercy there. I'd be shot dead."
As we persevere, he opens up a little more, painting a picture of a harsh life across the border, where people are starving, aide is scarce, and the only factories operating are for making military weapons. Right now, he says he fears a desperate country with a potential power vacuum that could so easily lash out.
"Before Kim Jong-Il died, he was preparing the country for war and death (ph)," he says, "and to hand power to Kim Jong-un."
Other North Koreans here are in mourning, weeping openly for the death of the Dear Leader. Flowers continue to be delivered to the North Korean consulate building. Korean businesses and restaurants normally flourishing have closed their doors.
(on camera): What does that mean? They're closed.
(voice-over): Dandong is separated from North Korea by the Yalu River, about a kilometer, less than a mile across. Cross border trade flourishes here. China props up the destitute North Korean economy. Dandong is a bustling small Chinese city, tall buildings, noise and traffic. On the other side, emptiness and silence. A lone, disused Ferris wheel, a symbol of a colorless world.
From this pedestrian bridge, we can walk right to the edge of the border, so close yet so utterly different.
(on camera): This is the end of the line. This is about as far as the bridge goes. It stops right here. We're at this side of the line. I'm in China. If we step out from this bridge here, I enter North Korea.
(voice-over): Mr. Lee knows too well what happens there, a regime obsessed with pumping money into its military while desperately poor people go hungry, he says. "Pig feet (ph). That's all we can eat. Corn. No one can get full on that," he says. "There is no food, not even food from China. It's been blocked for three years."
"Even if you have money," he says, "there is nothing to buy. Any goods are traded for what little food remains."
Mr. Lee is well off by his countrymen's standards. He has relatives on the China side who run businesses. It's a lifeline for his family back home. Mr. Lee is able to work here on a limited visa, but he crosses back and forward just to keep his family alive.
"I can't not go back. I have to. I have a son and daughter," he says. "If I don't go back, they can't survive."
He has shed no tears for Kim Jong-Il, and harbors no great hope for the so-called Great Successor, Kim Jong-un. But still, he lives in fear of what the North Korean regime can do. Spied upon, afraid to speak out, as much a prisoner of the hermit kingdom as those whose lives are trapped in its borders.
Stan Grant, CNN, Dandong, on the China/North Korea border.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And at the bottom of the hour here now, we're going to turn back to politics in a moment and Ron Paul's problems with a newsletter from 20 years ago still dog him on the campaign trail.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: So we are at 33 minutes past the hour now. Big election news out of Virginia, it's not good for two candidates in particular. The states' Republican Party Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry have not collected enough ballot signatures to appear on the states' primary ballot.
Perry's camp say it's taking a closer look at that decision and Gingrich's campaign says it will pursue an aggressive write in campaign in the states.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump is abandoning the Republican Party? The business mogul has changed his voter registration from Republican to unaffiliated.
Trump switched to preserve his right to run for president, also because he was, quote, "disgusted with the way Republicans handled the payroll tax cut battle."
And a newly released poll of likely Republican caucus goers in Iowa shows Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich in a statistical tie for the lead.
But Ron Paul is still feeling the heat over newsletter written some 20 years ago. Now there's a new twist here, a solicitation for those newsletters has come to light and it describes a race war, a gay cover up and a government conspiracy theory. Our Brian Todd explains.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As he surges in the polls before Iowa, Ron Paul is, again, having to defend himself over language in a letter written on his behalf.
We've reported recently and in previous campaigns how Ron Paul has disavowed newsletters with his name on them, newsletters from the '80s and '90s with racial insights towards African-Americans and others.
With those newsletters, Paul said he didn't write them, didn't know who did and that he rarely read them. Now we're learning of a solicitation letter for those newsletters, not only written on Paul's behalf, but with what appears to be his signature on them and the language is incendiary.
In the direct mail letter, it warns of, quote, "the coming race war in our big cities." It mentions, quote, "the federal homosexual cover-up on AIDS" and then says in brackets, my training as a physician helps me see through this one.
It references the Israeli lobby, which plays Congress like a cheap harmonica. The letter is an effort to get people send in money to subscribe to three newsletter put out by Paul including one called "Surviving the New Money" where they lay out what they say is a government conspiracy to track people through new currency.
But unlike those letters, this one item worth mentioning with this solicitation letter. This letter has Ron Paul's signature, indicating possibly a closer connection. The Reuters news agency, which first reported on this and obtained a copy of the letter says, this solicitation was written around 1993.
Reuters says it got the letter from James Kircheck, contributing editor of the "New Republic" magazine. We contacted Ron Paul's campaign in an e-mail to CNN campaign chairman, Jessie Benton said, quote, "Dr. Paul did not write that solicitation and the signature is an auto pen. It does not reflect his thoughts and is out of step with the message he has espoused for 40 years."
The campaign says Paul disavows letter (inaudible) that content. They say there were multiple ghost writers involved in writing all these letters and that Paul does not know who wrote the offensive material. But the campaign says that because they appeared under his name, quote, "he should have better policed it and that he has assumed responsibility and apologized.
We also tried to find out whether Ron Paul's campaign is going to try to find out who wrote the letter and maybe admonish that person. We didn't hear back. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
HOLMES: And be sure to join CNN for the Iowa caucuses. Finally, time to start doing some voting after all these debates and all this back and forth, finally, the primary season starts.
Iowa caucuses, you can catch it right here on CNN, 7:00 Eastern on January 3rd. America's Choice 2012 coverage begins. It's 36 minutes past the hour. Let's say good morning to a very important person of the morning.
That is Reynolds because he has the info you need this holiday travel weekend.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Where do you keep coming up with this very important person? I'm the guy that just does the weather.
HOLMES: OK, most days, maybe you're not a big deal. But today --
WOLF: It's gone from bad to worse.
HOLMES: Today, really important. People want to know what's happening with the travel.
WOLF: OK, a big question I want to ask you is another big thing if you want to know, but is it a white Christmas. T.J., what do you consider a white Christmas day? White Christmas, when you already have snow on the ground or does snow have to be falling?
HOLMES: You kind of want it falling. You have to see it. Yes, you want it falling.
WOLF: Let me show you would is going to get what. Take a look at this. This is who has snow on the ground and lots of it. Most of the central Rockies, the southern Rockies and then all the way back up into the northern Rockies, parts of the cascades and, of course, into the Sierra, Nevada.
Back out towards the east, you have the U.P. of Michigan, arrowhead of Minnesota and extreme northern Wisconsin and part of the northeast. That's snow on the ground.
Who is going to get snow tonight and into tomorrow? Well, it looks like, as we put this into motion, we're going to see snow in West Texas, parts of New Mexico, parts of the Pacific Northwest and some of the great lakes. That's it
That is completely it, which is unfortunately if you're hoping for a lot of the snow across the nation. You're not going to see tons of it. But if you're just start to go travel, your travel weather is going to be a-OK.
We're seeing great conditions across the eastern and central great lakes. Out to the west, pretty nice if you're taking a flight say from Sa Francisco south to San Diego or even L.A, you're going to be OK.
The only big trouble spot we have in terms of rough weather for travelers is going to be right here in Texas from Abilene back over to Dallas. It's going to be a weird situation with rain on one side, a little bit of sleet mixed in and some heavier snowfall on parts of 20.
We're talking about Abilene, back into midland, Odessa, the snow should continue through a big part of the day before fizzling out. Then, T.J., as we wrap things up, we're going to see that storm system pull its way into Louisiana.
Not a snowmaker, of course, but certainly bringing some rainfall to part of Louisiana.
HOLMES: Good stuff. Pretty good weekend for the most part.
WOLF: It's going to be great. Travel wise seriously, it could have been a lot worse. Our timing is fine.
HOLMES: All right, Reynolds, thank you, as always, buddy. It's 39 minutes past the hour. We're talking movies coming up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm trying to give them an authentic American experience.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it ends with you authentically living on my couch.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, this movie family bought a zoo. Should you and your family, though, go watch the movie?
Also coming up, re-gifting. It's been a debate all morning. Is it okay to re-gift or is this just something tacky and you need to avoid or is it something you do and make sure nobody finds out about it? We'll tell you how to do it, when to do it. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right, it's 42 minutes past the hour. It's the holiday weekend. A lot of folks are going to be out, new movies out. Director Steven Spielberg got one there. Matt Damon's got a big one.
There's something for just about everybody it seems out there. So let's bring in movie critic, Grae Drake from Fandango and movies.com. She's here with us and definitely in the Christmas spirit.
Good to have you with us. Let's start with these dramatic reviews we've been seeing about this movie about a horse. Let's take a look and I'll ask you about it on the other side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You won't be any good in the war.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is going on?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see. What's your name, lad? How old?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Albert, sir. Nineteen, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, sir, but I'm bigger than most 19-year-olds and I'm strong, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are your qualifications? The war is very clear about the appropriation of soldiers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All right, Gray, help us on this one. This one seems pretty dramatic and whatnot. Old yeller like, if you will. So tell us what's grade for "War Horse."
GRAE DRAKE, FILM CRITIC, FANDANGO & MOVIES.COM: You know what? "War Horse" is Steven Spielberg's stacking the deck this holiday. He's got has animal plus saving private ryanesque action and I was powerless against him.
I was sobbing by the end of it and it works. I definitely gave this movie an "A" because I knew I was being manipulated, but I had no choice, but to go along for the ride.
This movie has everything. It's heart warming. It's got action. The horse is just majestic and amazing. What can I say? I'm a sap. I totally fell for it.
HOLMES: So this was going to be sappy and sad?
DRAKE: It is. It's a horse and war. There's nothing else to say. It's like if you sent the dog from "Marley and Me" into World War I for crying out loud.
HOLMES: All right, well, I might need something more upbeat for myself into the holidays. But an "A" you give that one. The next one is "We Bought a Zoo." Let's look at this quick. I'll ask you about you on the other side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Putting yourself into insane debt.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you good?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, all good, thanks. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who is that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's Kelly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Here is the revised Duncan plan. Dump the animals, keep Kelly. That's true joy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's about Rosy, man. She is happy here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rosy is 7. Make her a nice screen saver and she'll be just as happy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: I have it right, this is based a true story of some kind or true event or something? What's your grade for this one?
DRAKE: It is. This movie is truish. The author, Benjamin Meade, that Matt Damon plays, he did buy a zoo. The rest of it, a little bit Hollywood defied. That's a new word, by the way.
And I gave this one a "B minus" because I'm a big fan of Cameron Crow, the director, and this is a great movie for families. There's a lot of family drama in it. How do people relate to each other when they're going through something really difficult, like a death?
It turns out these people started hanging out with animals and yelled at each other and wore comfy sweaters. So I was into it. Cameron Crow makes great movies with great sound tracks.
HOLMES: OK, heart warming not funny necessarily or just a heart warming family film, is that right?
DRAKE: It's actually both of those. It's heart warming and it is actually really funny, as well. But you're going to get a little teary. Not as much as "War Horse." So this is more upbeat for you.
HOLMES: OK, let me see if the next one is going to make me cry. I've been seeing these previews all over the place. A lot of people are excited about it. The girl with the dragon tattoo, let's look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need your help. You come to stay on the island.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A way of avoiding.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You will be investigating. This is the -- collection of people you will ever is see, my family. This is Harry. Someone in the family murdered him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: OK, pretty dramatic stuff. Please tell me this will not make me cry and please tell me this one is good. I've been looking forward to seeing this one. What's your grade? DRAKE: If this one makes you cry, then I would be a little bit concerned for you. It's definitely not a crying movie because what says Christmas better than sexual abuse and Swedish people?
I don't know. Yes, David Fincher made this movie. It's a remake of a Swedish film and it's a watered down version of the original, I think.
However, the story is still so great that people who haven't seen the others aren't going to know what they're missing and they're going to enjoy it.
I gave this one a "B" because, again, I know how good its predecessor was. But for everyone else watching, Daniel Craig is a lovely damsel in distress in his comfy sweaters and Rooney Mara is the techie hard core punk that is going to save him. You know, fantastic music so it works.
HOLMES: There you go, Grae Drake. You enjoy your holiday weekend and you have a thing for sweaters apparently in all these movies. So good to see you. Thanks so much for being with us. Have a good holiday weekend.
DRAKE: Thank you. You, too.
HOLMES: All right, as we get close to the top of the hour, it's the video we just love here on CNN Saturday and Sunday Morning. We caught the Czech president stealing a pen. And he really thought he was going to get away with it, did he? We'll look back at this and some of the other most embarrassing videos we have seen in to 2011.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: In this morning's "Morning Passport," the most embarrassing or personally damaging moments of 2011 from around the world. Nadia Bilchik's stopped by and gave me the highlights of the year.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: The woman we're about to talk about today loves Christmas music too much and she loves Christmas drinks too much.
She got rather inebriated and got off a train in England -- stationed in Yorkshire, England, and she was so tipsy from her Christmas drinking that she literally gets off the train and --
That is called fall down drunk and the video was released to warn people not to do that.
HOLMES: I wonder how she feels about this video being released?
BILCHIK: Well, put it this way. I'm sure it's embarrassing, but she is fine.
HOLMES: OK, we have some of the most embarrassing videos of the year. That's pretty good one. Can you top that one? BILCHIK: Absolutely. A woman in Pennsylvania was so busy texting that she fell into the fountain. The caveat was, after this, she sued the mall saying, you should have warned me. She hated that that video was released.
HOLMES: the judge threw that case out, I certainly hope.
BILCHIK: But you loved the one of the Czech Republic president when he took that pen. Do you remember it was the pen encrusted with gold and lapis.
There he is with the Chilean President Sebastian Panera. Here is what he does. Let's take a look. He takes that pen and he very sureptiously puts it in his pocket and then you're about to see him closing his deck.
HOLMES: Wasn't this the case where he didn't realize he could take the pen so he thought he had to steal it.
BILCHIK: Something like that, but then the Czech Republic government said, you know, that's what we do. We take ceremonial pens out of tradition.
HOLMES: Embarrassing.
BILCHIK: Something that was very embarrassing for an entire country in the Maldives. Now people go to the Maldives to get married. It's a tourist attraction and here you have a couple, a Swiss couple, going to renew their vows.
There you have the celebrant, the person who conducts the ceremony doing this and he did it in Tahiti, which is the native language of the Maldives.
But really he's cursing them, the most terrible things. I can't even tell you how bad. Cursing them and wishing them a terrible life. That was very embarrassing.
Put it this way, let's wonder what happened to their marriage. Was it cursed? How powerful was the celebrant? Anyway, and then this week, very famous video now, FedEx guy arrives. Look what he does with this television monitor.
HOLMES: At least it arrives on time.
BILCHIK: Exactly.
HOLMES: The guy went to look. He said because it arrived, it had broken. He checked out surveillance video and sure enough, explains why it was broken. FedEx, of course, they said the guy was punished. They were shocked by the video as well.
BILCHIK: Well, put it this way. They say no advertising is bad advertising.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: Come on, dude. You could have tried to lower it down. Do something. All right, coming up, about 9 minutes off the top of the hour. Big names out there and even bigger gifts.
Our Alina Cho is in the building. She's joining me next with more on how people like Bill Clinton, Jennifer Lopez and more are giving back. She's also going to be taking over things at the top of the hour at noon as well. Stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: It's 6 minutes at the top of the hour. Look who we have. My dear friend, Alina Cho, how are you doing?
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: T.J. Holmes, I never thought I would see the day.
HOLMES: Of course you, thought you would see the day. How are you doing?
CHO: I'm doing well.
HOLMES: You look great.
CHO: Flew in from New York yesterday. Yes, I'm so glad to see you. Is this the last time we're going to be on television together?
HOLMES: I think it might be. Well, here.
CHO: No, our friendship endures.
HOLMES: Good to have you in Atlanta.
CHO: Thank you so much. We have a lot coming up at the top of the hour. You know, you've been talking about politics, of course, and Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry not making the ballot in Virginia. We'll be talking more about that.
Also the legal briefs. We're going to be talking about the biggest divorce settlement in Hollywood history. Do you know who we're talking about?
HOLMES: I thought there was a bigger one. We got Mel Gibson, $850 million. I thought maybe was it Harrison Ford.
CHO: You know, it's hard to believe, but it's a lot of money. The interesting part about it is that she will be, his ex-wife Robyn will also be entitled to his future earnings as well. So how did that happen?
Can you say no pre-nup? We'll be talking to Avrey about that in the next hour. Thank you so much for the nice plug, my special "Big Stars, Big Giving." You know we've been doing this for a couple of years.
This year I spoke to Bill Clinton, Tony Bennett, Will Ferrell and also coming up in the next hour, we will show you my one-on-one with Jennifer Lopez, which was really a thrill for me.
I went out to the set of "American Idol" in Los Angeles, actually Pasadena to be exact. It was something that happened to her newborn daughter, Emmy. She had a health scare with her.
It was that that inspired her to start her foundation and give back to mothers and children around the world. We'll be talking about that. My special airs at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time on CNN. I'll be on at the top of the hour.
HOLMES: You said Tony Bennett as well, I haven't seen that one.
CHO: Tony Bennett, that's right. It was on Tuesday. It will also be on today 2:00 p.m. Eastern. He sang a song for me.
HOLMES: I'm not going to sing you to break here, but we will see you, Alina, here in uust a couple of minutes, top of the hour at noon. Good to see you, my dear lady.
CHO: Good to see you.
HOLMES: All right, well, here we go. Re-gifting, have you done it before, Alina?
CHO: I'm not going to tell.
HOLMES: That's right. You're not supposed to admit it. That's key. Is it still taboo? We'll give you the dos and don'ts, but definitely one of the don'ts is don't admit it on national television.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. It's the season, right? The gift that everyone just keeps on giving, we're talking about re-gifting here. You give a present to someone that somebody else has already given to you.
Newspaper columnist and blogger, Carol Townsend told me it is acceptable if you pick the right things to re-gift.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROLE TOWNSEND, BLOGGER, NEWSPAPER COLUMNIST: One of the examples I like to use is those beautiful food baskets, wine, cheese, chocolates. You may get so many you can't use them. There may be something in it you don't care for. Great hostess gifts. Same season. Don't stick it in the closet and use it next year.
HOLMES: OK, so are we getting over -- we talked about this being taboo. Do you see us -- you say people still don't own up to it, so if you don't that means it is still taboo.
TOWNSEND: It is still taboo. I think that will always be the case. But I think again in this economy people are being forced to be resourceful. As long as you do it with taste, you can still show consideration and care in selecting a gift. A lot of times what people will do is regift, say, a wedding present to someone during the holidays. It can be something very nice.
HOLMES: We're going to get to the don'ts here in a second. But two things here, how do you handle -- who is it more offensive to, the person you're re-gift to or the person gave you the gift that you're now giving away.
TOWNSEND: I think it's about an even call if you're caught.
HOLMES: Should you ever own up to it?
TOWNSEND: I believe no, you shouldn't. You just have to be careful about it so yes.
HOLMES: So let's go through the don'ts. You said one big don't is don't own up to it, don't tell somebody you're doing it. What else do you need to watch out for if you're doing this?
TOWNSEND: Well, and I'm going to add there, if you have young children, don't tell your children, this is our secret, we're going to give this to aunt so-and-so.
That's the first thing they will say when they walk in the room. Don't share the secret with your children. Another don't is oh, my goodness, don't scratch out the to, from name on the tag, rewrap the present. Yes, I've seen that done.
HOLMES: OK.
TOWNSEND: Rewrap the whole thing that makes it yours, plus you can check for personal note that maybe tucked inside or something say, if it were a wedding gift. You don't want to hand someone a present that has a note written to you. Notes tucked inside the box. Just be careful.
HOLMES: I just don't do it, Alina. I just do not do it.
CHO: You've never done it?
HOLMES: Can't bring myself to do it.
CHO: Not even a bottle of wine? Nothing?
HOLMES: I would prefer to throw somebody's gift out than to actually regift it.
CHO: That - well, you - as I said, you are a more ethical man than I am a woman. But, you know what? That's the kind of man you are.
HOLMES: Well, to an extent. I guess some ethical issue (INAUDIBLE).
Alina, good to see you here.
(CROSSTALK)
CHO: Yes, you know what? It's been a fabulous five years working with you. HOLMES: It's been great.
CHO: As I said, we will always be friends.
HOLMES: Yes.
CHO: And I look forward to seeing you in New York.
HOLMES: I will see you there soon.
CHO: The next chapter.
HOLMES: One more day, though. I'll be here tomorrow.
CHO: I know you will, and so will I. So I will see you then.
Thank you, T.J., very much.
HOLMES: Have a good shift. Thank you.
