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Gingrich Plunges, Santorum Surges; Weekly Jobs Claims Inch Up; Iran Threatens To Stop Oil Shipments; Wary Investors Eye Oil Supplies; Arab League Mission Slammed In Syria; Syrian Forces Fire On Protesters; New Details In Christmas Day Massacre; Placing Bets On The Presidential Race; Egyptian Police Raid Human Rights Offices
Aired December 29, 2011 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR: We begin another hour with a stunning shakeup in Iowa just five days before the presidential caucuses. There's a new CNN/Time/ORC International poll that shows Newt Gingrich is in a free fall. Did he peak too early?
Santorum's support has more than tripled since the beginning of the month. He's closing in on Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. They are both locked in a statistical tie within the three-point margin of error.
CNN political editor, Paul Steinhauser is in Des Moines. So before I ask you what happened to Gingrich, let me ask you, how did Santorum manage to triple his level of support in Iowa?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Hala, you know, we've been talking a lot about this, social conservative voters here in Iowa, very influential on the Republican side.
Rick Santorum because of his stances on abortion and gay marriage, he's popular with them. He's been making a pitch to social conservative voters. It seems to be working.
Take a look at our poll. When we break down that number you showed, the overall number, look at this. This is of people who describe themselves as Born-Again Christians. Who's on the top, Rick Santorum at 22 percent, Ron Paul at 18 percent, Romney at 16 percent, and so on down the list.
That is one reason. The other reason, maybe it's hard work. That's what Santorum told our Wolf Blitzer yesterday. He's visited all 99 counties. Take a listen to what he said this morning about those new poll numbers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Bread and butter is bread and butter. We better have a message that attracts all across the board. I do. And that's why I think we're the best candidate.
And that's the reason I think the Obama administration fears us the most and does their best to ignore us as best they can. Well, if Iowa says, you're the guy by pushing us up there to the top tier. They won't be able to ignore us anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: One thing about Santorum though, the former senator from Pennsylvania has a pretty small campaign structure. Not a lot of fundraising. Let's see if he can continue this momentum -- Hala.
GORANI: All right, let's talk about Gingrich now then. What went so terribly wrong for him? Although it's early days and there are still five days left. People can still change their minds and make up their minds. What happened to him? Was it the organization of his campaign?
STEINHAUSER: Well, here's what the campaign says. Remember back about a month ago, Gingrich was soaring in polls here in Iowa and nationally.
And then all of a sudden a barrage of negative ads especially here in Iowa went up on the air waves. That's what the campaign says. They've said they've been slammed by the other campaigns both on TV and on the campaign trail. They're pointing towards that.
Hala, one more number I want to show you. Look at this, with five days to go, look at this number from our CNN/ORC poll, 43 percent say, you know what? I still might change my mind. I'm backing one candidate, but I may change my mind. So stay tuned, Hala. This ride is not over.
GORANI: All right. The first of many test and still everything could very much change in the polls. Thanks very much, Paul. We'll see you a little bit later.
In Iowa one thing has remained fairly constant over the last couple of months. Mitt Romney has maintained his spot at/or near the top of every poll. That's the case again.
As you can see there, we put that graphic for you up there again, in this CNN/ORC/"Time" poll, Romney at 25 percent. Yesterday, Romney sat down with our Wolf Blitzer and discussed the message that seems to resonate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is a campaign about the things we believe in. I believe the country's being led in a very unfortunate and destructive way by a president that doesn't really understand our economy or understand America. I can get America working again. That's why I'm running.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, this morning Romney is again emphasizing jobs and the economy as he begins the second day of his bus tour. Tune in Tuesday night. We will have, of course, coverage of the Iowa caucuses. "America's Choice 2012" live coverage beginning Tuesday night, January 3rd, at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Well, of course in the general election the biggest issues on the campaign trail, even at this early primary stage, are jobs. Earlier this morning we learned that the number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits inched up just before Christmas, the new number, 318,000. That's an increase of 15,000 individuals from what had been the lowest figure in more than two and a half years. So this is being seen as positive news for the jobs picture in the United States.
Let's turn our attention to overseas. Iran is threatening to stop the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz if new sanctions are imposed on its crude exports. The sanctions are meant to pressure Iran to halt its nuclear program.
A third of the world's oil supply travels through the strait. You see it there on the map. Closing it could send gas prices soaring to historic levels.
Jill Dougherty is here with more on this. We have reaction from the United States to what they are saying is sabre-rattling from Iran -- Jill.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, I mean, let's start with the sabre-rattling, Hala. Back and forth, we just most recently this morning had a statement by Revolutionary Guards commander who said that the U.S. is in no position to tell Iran what to do in the Strait of Hormuz.
And then a senior U.S. official telling CNN that the saber- rattling is really on the Iranian side and that the U.S. has been committed to Gulf security for decades, it should come as no surprise to anyone that we'll do what we must to ensure that the strait remains open.
So you're getting a tough message back from the United States because even though this is so far a war of words, there is a possibility that some miscalculation could lead to some type of military confrontation.
And that would be very, very serious because as you've been pointing out, that's a crucial chokehold for oil coming out of Iran going into the rest of the world. And if it were to be cut off, it would be enormously significant.
GORANI: All right, Jill Dougherty, live at the State Department. Thanks very much.
We're talking about oil supplies here very much on the minds of investors today. Alison Kosik has a closer look at the New York Stock Exchange. Is there much worry there, Alison, regarding the oil supplies?
We're going to get in touch with Alison in a moment here as soon as we get in touch with her, we'll ask her the question. But we are also going to talk about that jobs picture with Alison because we were talking about initial jobless claims on Thursday that came out this day showing an increase of 15,000.
I think we can go to Alison now at the New York Stock Exchange or maybe not. All right, well, the Dow Jones is inching higher, 80 points at 12,231. We're up at 2/3 of a percent for the Dow.
That jobs picture is starting to look a little more positive month by month. That is helping stocks gain ground today at the New York Stock Exchange.
But what about the concerns over oil supply. I think Alison is with us. Is there much concern there on the floor there about oil prices with all of this saber-rattling in the Strait of Hormuz in that part of the world, Alison?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know what, Hala, investors are a little on edge that Iran could wind up following through on its threat. But it's not really playing out in the oil market right now.
You see oil is down about a third of a percent, just under $99 a barrel. You know, for the year though oil is on track to end about 9 percent higher, just to give you kind of a comparison there.
Now I spoke with oil analyst, Steven Shorck, and he told me that if Iran does follow through with this threat, it could wind up driving oil prices to unpredictable levels. It could wind up throwing the world, the world into a deep depression.
And consumers, you know, this would be a situation where consumers around the globe wouldn't be able to afford it. You'd see a severe contraction in economic activity. But that's a worst case scenario.
Shork told me that he did not expect Iran to close the strait. Many oil traders agree with that sentiment at least for now you see that playing out in the price of oil -- Hala.
GORANI: OK, well, let's talk about the overall level for stocks and these jobless claims. It seems like they're being seen in a positive light.
KOSIK: Yes. We're seeing a trend sort of toward improvement in the jobs market. You know, claims did go up by 15,000 to 381,000 so a little more than expected. But if you look at the overall trend, the four-week moving average, the trend is sort of toward improvement.
That's why you see stocks higher right now. The Dow is up 84 points. The Nasdaq better by 5. Also, you saw that big selloff yesterday in stocks so you're seeing investors buy back into the market.
We've got two more trading days left in the year. You know, a lot of this is also these portfolio managers trying to sort of window address their books before they close the books on the year. The S&P 500 still a little bit in negative territory. That, of course, is the index that our retirement accounts, our 401(k)s track. We'll see if the S&P 500 can pull out a gain for the year. They've got two days to do it -- Hala.
GORANI: OK, thanks very much, Alison.
To Syria now where opposition activists claim 10 people were killed and more than 20 wounded after coming under fire from Syrian security forces.
All this as the Arab League monitors worked in the flash point city of Homs and arrived in other cities. A number of Syrians have been supportive of the league's mission, but some are calling their efforts useless.
CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom is monitoring the situation from Cairo. So we're hearing of deaths just as these monitors are deploying to flashpoint cities such as Homs and Daraa -- Mohammed.
MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Hala. You know, we've heard this repeatedly from the activists that are on the ground. They are concerned about the effectiveness of this mission.
They're calling into question the integrity of the observers that are there wondering if they can really do anything about the violence. Now just today we've gotten reports that in Douma, which is a suburb of Damascus that the observers are visiting.
That just as they were arriving, that there were security forces there cracking down on demonstrators. There's video that purports to show one of the scenes where you hear heavy gunfire and then in the distance you see what appears to be a lot of Syrian security forces.
We've gotten reports at least two people in Douma today killed. Over 10 people countrywide killed today. Now also there's video that's emerged today reporting to show a scene that happened yesterday in Homs when observers were there.
They're still there. But yesterday as the head of the mission was walking along this video appears to show an activist confronting the general talking about why people there are concerned with what the mission was doing. Here's more of the exchange that happened on that video.
GORANI: All right, Mohammed Jamjoom.
JAMJOOM: This video purports to show a man -- sorry, Hala. Go ahead.
GORANI: No, you go ahead. I thought we had lost your audio.
JAMJOOM: This purports to show a member, an activist there on the ground, who we did speak with later, confirmed that he was walking along with the head of the mission yesterday in the city of Homs.
He was trying to explain that these monitors hadn't been doing what they should be doing and that killings were still going on. Up to 15 people had been killed there the day before even when the monitors were there.
The head of the mission, you can hear him saying to the man in the tape, we've only been here a day. Give us some time to do what we need. We spoke to the person on this tape, the activist, who confirmed he was there on the ground.
He said the people of Homs have no faith in the monitors that are there because the killing has gone on. They believe that the Al- Assad regime only let the monitors into the country as a ploy to delay anything actually from happening -- Hala.
GORANI: OK, Mohammed Jamjoom, thanks very much with the latest.
The 911 types, I should say, revealed chilling new details from that deadly Christmas morning shooting in Texas. We'll have a live report.
Plus betting on the ballots. We'll tell you about an effort that could allow you to place bets on presidential politics. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: It's the chilling sound of near silence on the other end of a 911 call. Not long after that police in Grapevine, Texas, near Dallas found seven bodies in an apartment. All of them fatally shot, including the gunman, his estranged wife and two children.
David Mattinly has more on the crime and those chilling 911 tapes as well. Hi, there, David.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Hala. What we're hearing is something police have been talking about for a couple of days now. They've had these 911 tapes. They've been going over and over and over them trying to listen and hear what's on there because the voice on there is very faint.
But they now believe it is the voice of the killer, the man who was there doing the shooting, the part of the family that came in was celebrating with the family on Christmas Day. As they listened they were able to hear initially very clearly him saying, help, help, but it was what they heard next.
They needed additional software brought in to identify exactly what he was saying. They've been able to do that now. We're going to play it for you so you can hear it for yourself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED OPERATOR: Hello, Grapevine 911.
UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: Help me. Help me.
UNIDENTIFIED OPERATOR: You need help?
UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: I'm shooting people. UNIDENTIFIED OPERATOR: Are you sick?
UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: I'm shooting people.
UNIDENTIFIED OPERATOR: What was that? You need an ambulance or police? Hello? One moment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: And that's all we hear from that, very few words, very few seconds, but police say they believe those were the words of Aziz Yazdanpanah after he had murdered his estranged wife, his teenage daughter, his teenage son and then turned his gun -- he had two firearms there with him also killing three of his in laws.
At this point, they're not talking much about a motive, but they are looking into the possibility that he may have tried to cover up this crime because when police went in, they found one of the handguns that had been placed in the hand of his brother-in-law.
Apparently, Yazdanpanah was possibly trying to cover up this crime and making it look like it was a shootout that his brother-in- law perhaps was responsible for these murders. But of course, that's not what police believe
They were able to check the ballistics and find out that it was, indeed, the bullets from both of these guns that were responsible for the murders of this entire family -- Hala.
GORANI: Well, the couple was estranged, you said it, but is there any other indication as to what the motive might have been?
MATTINGLY: That's what makes this so baffling at this point. The police say they haven't come out to say anything specific about any kind of motive.
He was a welcome guest, they believe, in the home celebrating with his family on that Christmas day. It just makes this terrible tragic scene of murder just all that much more baffling about why it would happen.
GORANI: Thanks, David Mattingly.
In an instant, a California man lost his whole family when a military jet crashed into his home. Now he's getting millions in compensation. We'll bring you that story.
And you can bet on the ponies and the playoffs, so why not presidential politics. Coming up, one company's efforts to lift a long-time ban. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Checking stories from across the country.
A man who lost his family when a Marine Corps jet crashed into his house has been awarded $17 million from the government. The crash happened three years ago in San Diego. His wife, two infant daughters, and mother-in-law were killed. The pilot ejected before impact. Military documents show he tried to steer the plane away from the house.
In New Market, Tennessee, there are three trapped miners were rescued after they were cut off by fire and smoke 800-feet underground. They are fine. Fifty one others got out of the zinc mine when the fire broke out yesterday.
And some of Florida's biggest attractions had to close yesterday. Why? Too many people. The Magic Kingdom, the Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World had to stop admitting customers along with Lego Land.
They say politics is a gamble, but soon we might mean that literally. A U.S. company is asking federal regulators to let Americans place bets on political contests. It could happen in time, in fact, for the 2012 presidential race. CNN's Lisa Sylvester explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You can bet on your favorite team. You can bet if you think the price of oil is going to rise or fall. You can even bet if you think the unemployment rate is going to go up or down.
And in the near future you may be able to win big if you accurately predict who will win the next presidential race. The North American Derivatives Exchange or Nadex in Chicago has filed an application with federal regulators to offer trading on political events. Nadex say trading would be similar to the way a farmer may trade for the future price of wheat or corn.
TIMOTHY MCDERMOTT, NADEX: Whether you're talking tax policy or health care costs, or energy policy, elections matter and can have a really significant economic impact on people. So we think that these types of contracts fit squarely within the traditional functions performed by futures exchange.
SYLVERSTER: You can place political bets currently through the Iowa electronic markets and an exchange in Ireland called in trade, but the big difference with Nadex is you could have big money on the line.
These markets can be a good predictor of not only who sits in the White House, but also which party controls the House and the Senate.
(on camera): So here's how this would work, and this is just a hypothetical example. Say you have a buyer that predicts that President Obama will win the next election. He puts up $50.
You have a seller who says it's not going to be President Obama who wins. It's actually going to be Mitt Romney. He puts up $50. If the buyer is correct, the buyer pockets $100. The seller gets zero.
On the other hand, if the seller is correct, then it's the seller who pockets $100 and the buyer ends up with zero.
(voice-over): The value of contracts would rise and fall before the election as a candidate's fortunes ebb and flow. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates futures trading, can reject Nadex's application.
And at least one of the five commissioners opposes the proposal. Bar Chilton notes that federal law prohibits contracts on other events like terrorism attacks or political assassinations.
BART CHILTON, CFTC COMMISSIONER: I'm not sure that we want to throw our political process into the trading pits where just a few well- heeled speculators could theoretically wager on the outcome of an election and thereby take away the power of actually people who vote. So even in Vegas they don't allow gambling on elections. They know something about election gambling.
SYLVESTER: But Nadex insists political outcome trading has a public merit and it hopes to have the options list January 4th.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SYLVESTER: If the CFTC doesn't act by January 4th then the application is automatically approved. Three of the five commissioners would have to vote to stop the trading from going forward. Another option is the commissioners could ask for more time to review the Nadex proposal. Lisa Sylvester, CNN, Washington.
GORANI: Well, Rick Santorum supporters may see their bet pay off. We'll talk about the secret behind his new-found success next in "Political Buzz."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Checking top stories now.
More violence in Afghanistan today, this time from an unexpected source. A man wearing an Afghan National Army uniform killed two French soldiers. France's president called it sad, but says the country is committed to the mission to restore peace in Afghanistan.
Stratfor says it's going to wait to launch its web site. Hackers stole credit card information from subscribers and released Stratfor's private client list. The company analyzes international security threats. Apparently, it didn't see this one coming though.
And according to "The Wall Street Journal," BP could now face its first criminal charges stemming from the 2010 Gulf oil disaster. It's the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Prosecutors say BP engineers misled regulators about the risks of drilling at that site in the Gulf.
"Political Buzz" is your rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day. Three questions, 30 seconds on the clock. Playing today political analyst and culture critic, Goldie Taylor, Dean Obeidallah, the co-founder of the Arab American Comedy Festival and CNN contributor, Will Cain.
Hello, everyone. First question, Newt takes a nose dive in a new CNN/"Time/ORC poll out of Iowa. Romney's going strong, but today everyone is talking about Rick Santorum surging to third place. What's going right for Santorum, Goldie?
GOLDIE TAYLOR, POLITICAL ANALYST AND CULTURAL CRITIC: Rick Santorum is going back to the very basics of politics, door to door, house to house. I think he ran his campaign on a $25 gas card.
I think that's really all he needs at this point. So he's looking to breathe new life into his campaign by reaching voters on a one-to-one basis and it's paying off.
GORANI: All right, Will, what do you think?
WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: A couple things, one, it's just his turn. As Newt Gingrich falls, Rick Santorum rises. Two, hard work is paying off. As Goldie just said, he's hit every county in Iowa.
That's going to pay off sooner or later. Three, his candidacy is tailor made for Iowa. He is a candidate who is put family values, social conservatism first. That's going to pay off in the state that over index is for Evangelical Christians.
Fourth, finally, his weakness, his personality and how it translates in debates is kind of irritated an insult that it's his turn. He hasn't been on display for a couple of weeks, all that is adding up to a surge to third.
GORANI: Well, if you're not on TV and you do well, then perhaps he's not looking forward to the next time he's going to have to appear in that forum. Dean, what do you think, the Santorum surge?
DEAN OBEIDALLAH, CO-FOUNDER, ARAB-AMERICAN COMEDY FESTIVAL : I don't think he's doing anything well. I think he's the next contestant on American presidential idol frankly. It's like, so you think you can be president? He is the next guy. He gets elevated and he gets torn down.
Rick Santorum is not a good candidate. The man in 2006 lost re- election in his home state of Pennsylvania by 16 percentage points. People in his own state don't like him. If Rick Santorum was the only Republican candidate he would still be in third place right now. He has no chance. He's unelectable, so this is meaningless.
GORANI: All right thanks. Mitt Romney says he'd rather have Ron Paul on the White House than Obama. Here's what he told Wolf Blitzer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": If Ron Paul were to be the Republican nominee, it's a big if, but let's say he wins the Republican nomination, could you vote for him?
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, I've already crossed that river, if you will, by saying on the stage a number of times, as I believe Speaker Gingrich has, that all the people on the stage would be superior to the President we have. And so yes, I would vote for him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: If Romney gets the nomination, could this come back to haunt him? Will?
CAIN: I guess it could. Look, let's talk about will not should. Ron Paul's candidacy is becoming to be defined by this newsletter issue and the racism and homophobia and the 9/11 stuff that showed up in those newsletters. It's not being defined anymore by his dedication and principles to small government and constitutional conservatism.
So because of that fact, that's kind of a risk Mitt Romney didn't need to take. He's the most risk-averse candidate out there and that's been paying off for him. So why take this risk kind of an unforced error.
GORANI: Right. Goldie, what do you think?
TAYLOR: I think he was backed into it. I think they asked Newt Gingrich about it and Newt Gingrich says no and so they had to ask Mitt in all due fairness. But you know the general election is such a far distance away that they will just forget about Ron Paul and this question by then unless, of course, Ron Paul becomes an Independent candidate. But those newsletters are the gift that just keep on giving.
GORANI: All right. Dean, what do you think?
OBEIDALLAH: As an Independent, to be honest, I don't think this issue means anything. I think it comes down simply to this. Which candidate can help revive our economy? Who can create jobs, who can lower unemployment.
I'll be honest if the economy improves I think President Obama wins easily. If it gets worse President Obama will have the chance for being the third president in the modern day to lose re-election. I think it's simply the economy. These little minor issues mean nothing.
GORANI: Your "Buzzer Beater" everyone; 20 seconds each. A blurb from U.S. news says Jon Huntsman is a regular at the Trader Joe's just blocks from the White House and that no one recognizes him. Does that sum up his campaign or should he just get his trail mix, whatever you get at Trader Joe's, elsewhere? Goldie?
TAYLOR: I think it's less about where he shops and more about nobody knows who Jon Huntsman is and so this is the guy who would be president who won't be president. And so whether or not he shops at Trader Joe's or Whole Foods or your local buy low, who cares? He's not going to win the elections, he's not going to win the nomination.
GORANI: Will?
CAIN: When I first got this, Hala, I've got to admit it I didn't kind of get the -- the analogy. Maybe I'm a little slow. But now I actually think it's perfect. He buys his groceries at a Trader Joe's next to the White House and nobody recognizes him. His candidacy has been failed for two reasons, A, nobody know who he is and nobody recognizes him. And two, those that do think he's too close to the White House. He's too close to the Obama administration. I think it's a perfect analogy now.
GORANI: Dean?
OBEIDALLAH: I don't think Jon Huntsman is a recognized Republican in the presidential debates to be quite honest with you. The guy is running at one percent. He's below the margin of error in Iowa. He might actually owe people votes at this point. My advice to Jon Huntsman, become a Democrat run on 2016 you're going to be a moderate Democratic leader perhaps in the party and get the nomination as a Democrat. Never going to -- never again as a Republican with his stance. It's not going to happen.
CAIN: You know let me just say, Jon Huntsman is the most conservative guy on the stage from a policy perspective and no one seems to understand this including Dean. Jon Huntsman as a policy perspective is the most conservative guy on the stage. I wish everybody would understand it.
(CROSSTALK)
TAYLOR: But --
OBEIDALLAH: But the Republican Party has gone so far right that he can't -- he can't attract the voters. Unfortunately Jon Huntsman is reasonable enough to (INAUDIBLE) that he can't get the votes in the Republican primary --
(CROSSTALK)
TAYLOR: But I'm beating Jon Huntsman right now.
GORANI: Goldie's scoring higher you guys.
TAYLOR: I'm beating Jon Huntsman right now.
GORANI: Thanks to everyone for playing. Goldie, Will, and Dean. We'll speak with you in the coming days as we approach the Iowa caucuses next Tuesday.
And tune in Tuesday night for the country's first true test for the GOP candidates. "America's Choice 2012", 7:00 p.m. Eastern January 3rd. Tune in.
Well, what if all dates were on the same day forever? Say your birthday was on a Monday for the rest of your life, Christmas was always on a Sunday no matter what year it is. Coming up, we'll tell you about a new calendar idea that could do just that.
And later it's not something you'd see on a used car lot. One of the most famous cars in movie history is sold at auction. The "Back to the Future" Delorean the final bid later in "Showbiz" headlines.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Gun shops say weapon sales were off the charts this holiday season. An FBI numbers back them up. What's behind the sudden boom in sales of handguns and firearms? Barbara Starr takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDREW RAYMOND, GUN SHOP OWNER: These are like $3,300 rifles. We sold three of these over the weekend.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In this holiday season of peace on earth good will to man, gun sales are on the rise.
RAYMOND: It was our busiest December ever.
STARR: Maryland gun shop owner Andy Raymond says people are buying everything from assault rifles to handguns.
RAYMOND: We're totally sold out of almost all of our nine millimeter Glocks; all the standard most popular models were totally sold out.
STARR: It's a nationwide trend.
(on camera): The FBI is reporting a million and a half background checks in the month of December alone. That is an all-time record.
(voice-over): Raymond says many customers already own guns and are buying more.
RAYMOND: Then there's also the political aspect of it. Because we have an upcoming election so a lot of people are once again concerned about that. They're concerned about what Obama is going to do if he is re-elected. So they're trying to get stuff while they can.
STARR: Criminal justice experts aren't surprised at the chatter.
JACK MCDEVITT, CRIMINOLOGIST, NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: There is a set of groups out there that every time there's a Democrat going to be elected or a Democrat going to be re-elected say you should go out and get guns because they're going to ban guns.
STARR: There's no indication of a new ban but Republicans, again, are making sure the photo ops show them as pro-gun ownership.
GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm actually for gun control. Use both hands.
MCDEVITT: It's the largest increase we've ever seen. The largest month of sales. It's something that has to -- we have to look into as public safety officials and say why is this happening.
STARR: Some of the people we talked to out there buying guns say the reason they want to buy, they want to hunt or have personal protection. And many say they are buying guns to give as gifts. Barbara Starr, CNN, Washington.
Well, checking stories from across the country. Nobody knows what made a driver in Centennial, Colorado, snap but Tuesday night police say he deliberately rammed his car into several others and then tried to run over people on street. He's being held on a $50,000 bond.
Marine lieutenant Karl Trenker is one tough guy. In Deerfield Beach Florida. He was shot three times in the chest by two men who tried to steal a gold bracelet from him. Trenker calmly called his girlfriend and literally plugging his wounds with his own fingers. Police arrested his alleged attackers.
LT. COL. KARL TRENKER, VETERAN, SHOOTING VICTIM: I go to Iraq, Afghanistan multiple times and I haven't been shot or blown up. And I'm here at home in Florida and here I am brought away in an ambulance with a bunch of gunshot wounds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, doctors say he'll make a full recovery.
And more than a million people have visited the 9/11 memorial in New York City in the four months since it opened to the public. The museum on site is still being finished. The memorial has two enormous fountains marking the footprints of the World Trade Center.
Imagine your birthday always comes on the same day every year for the rest of your life. How about Christmas, always, say, falling on a Sunday. Scientists at Johns Hopkins University are proposing a new calendar system that would match up days with dates.
Reynolds Wolf is here to make sense of it all. That would change the actual day of the month or not? Would it be like Easter that falls on the same day of the week but a different day of the month?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It would be basically on the same day every single year. So say, for example, that Christmas Eve is going to be -- if this comes true, if this happens -- Christmas Eve would be on a Saturday and Christmas Day would be on a Sunday. So we have a little bit more of a regularity, if you will, to the calendar.
The whole thing is weird. Let's see if we can kind of sift through the wreckage and take a peek at it. Ok, let's start off with the standardized calendar. Give you an idea what they're proposing. Some things would be about the same like the seven-day week. The year instead of being 365 days would drop back just a little bit to 364 days. No leap year so you wouldn't have any of those weird birthdays that would be on, say, February 29th. No harm meant or intended if your birthday happens to fall on that day. The extra week in December would be added every five or six years. They would kind of balance things out a little bit.
Something else you have to keep in mind. What they're proposing every third month would have 31 days. Others would still have 30. And it would simplify finances, drug prescriptions, academic calendars and sports schedules.
You'd still have a few weird things. You'd still have Friday the 13th. There would be four of those each year, so you can't get rid of that. But the idea is just for simplification.
Personally, I don't know if you like it or not, but it is an opportunity, something they're trying to play with a little bit. I can certainly see where they would say it might make things a little more simple. But I don't know, I'm one of kind of those guys who actually prefer to have say Christmas instead of on a Sunday every year have it on a Thursday which would guarantee a four-day weekend. That's just my -- what do you think about it -- Hala?
GORANI: No, I do too. I don't see an issue. I think we can all adapt to the fact that some dates fall on different days of the week every year.
WOLF: Variety. Yes.
GORANI: I think we're fine with that.
WOLF: Absolutely. Just one of those things.
GORANI: Yes. But imagine this, Reynolds. What if you could just skip a day? If you're in Samoa and your birthday happens to be on the 31st of December, you're not in luck.
WOLF: No. Absolutely.
GORANI: It's not happening.
(CROSSTALK)
WOLF: It just vanishes.
GORANI: You're going from, they're right -- or I should say from 29th to the 31st. So the 30th of December birthdays may have issues. It sounds a bit confusing. That is what's happening in the Pacific Islands, Reynolds. They will go to sleep on the 29th and they will wake up on the 31st. So anyone whose birthday's on the 30th of December, not celebrating this year.
We'll be right back. We'll explain after this.
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GORANI: The island of Samoa is about to figure out what a difference a day makes. The Pacific Island is jumping from today to Saturday, New Year's Eve, and totally skipping Friday. It's all to accommodate its move to the west side of the International Dateline. Here's Barbara Dreaver (ph) of CNN affiliate TVNZ.
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BARBARA DREAVER, REPORTER, TVNZ: Time might fly but Samoa intends to beset. The Dateline bill will see the island nation jump time zones, losing a full day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It will give our economy an immense boost.
DREAVER: That's because Samoa is a day behind its biggest trading partner New Zealand. Their Friday is our Saturday which can make doing business difficult.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After five working days really we only have three working days a week to transact our business with our partners in New Zealand.
DREAVER: But critics say the government is change-happy pointing out that just two years ago it changed what side of the road Samoans drove on. Now it's changed the Dateline.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It will affect us very much, especially our privacy.
DREAVER: It's not the first time the Pacific has toyed with time. In 1995 Kiddibati which stretches over 2.5 million square kilometers moved its state line so its far reaching islands would be in the same time zone with its capital. And in a cunning move Tonga introduced daylight saving for the year 2000 so it could claim to be the first in the world to see in the new millennium. What do the locals think?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a big thing for our country, to change our date.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So that we can trade at the same dates for New Zealand and Australia, I think it's a good thing.
DREAVER: The law change means the country will go to bed on the 29th of December and wake up the next day on the 31st. Barbara Dreaver, Kwan Yu (ph).
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GORANI: Researchers discover a connection between obesity and teenagers and the emotional bonds with their moms when they were toddlers. We'll dig deeper on this with a psychologist next hour on CNN NEWROOM.
And stores that allow customers to roll their own cigarettes and save money are getting snuffed out. We'll show you why. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: All right.
Let's take you to Cairo. We have breaking news there where police raids are being conducted on some local NGOs including two American rights groups in Cairo. Mohammed Jamjoom joins me now from the Egyptian Capitol with more on these raids on the National Democratic institute and the International Republican Institute in Cairo. What's going on, Mohammed?
JAMJOOM: Hala we just got this confirmed through Adel Saeed (ph), he's the official spokesman of the general prosecutor's office.
He said that the request to investigate these rights groups have come from judicial authorities here. They'd requested that the prosecutor's office inspect the offices of 17 local and 2 foreign rights groups for an ongoing investigation, that they may have received illegal foreign funding. We're also told that some of the offices were shut down. Some of the computers and documents have been confiscated, this is according to Abu Saeed (ph). He says a report will be prepared and sent to the judicial authorities for further investigations.
These groups, as you said, include two U.S. rights groups, the National Democratic Institute and The International Republican Institute. Also includes the Arab Independent Judicial group.
Now, as you can imagine, this is sending a chill down the spine of rights activist and rights groups here in Cairo. Some of them suggesting that this seems to be like a Mubarak era tactic. Many saying, you know, this is a clear violation of what these rights groups can do here and they're saying that possibly this is happening because these are organizations that were questioning not just crimes of the former regime but also investigating allegations of abuses by the current military leadership of this country -- Hala?
GORANI: All right. We understand computers were confiscated, documents have been confiscated. These are U.S. government-funded rights groups, the NDI And the IRI. It's going to be interesting to see the U.S. response to this. And one of the people commenting on what's going on in Cairo right now said even the Mubarak regime didn't raid offices like this. This has to be a cause for concern once again in Egypt after the revolution.
JAMJOOM: This is a huge cause for concern and something that is guaranteed to cause more tension here at a time when there is so much volatility and when so many people here are suggesting that this revolution is far from over.
You have rights activists here and rights groups that are very upset with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, that's the ruling military council here. They say that this council has been perpetrating abuses upon civilians here. That the civilian government still hasn't been set up here, and they want this military government, you know, out of the picture.
We've seen more people marching, more people demonstrating in the last two weeks. We've seen a lot more violence. And it just -- we just don't know where it's going to go from here.
This certainly isn't something that's going to lessen the tension, especially coming before tomorrow which is a day when protests are being planned in Cairo.
So how this will play out we just don't know. But the rights activists here very upset about what's going on today. And we really just need to see how this will play out. The fact that two American rights groups have been raided. We're hearing that some these rights groups that were raided today, their computers were taken, the documents were taken. Where will they go from here -- Hala.
GORANI: And the general prosecutor's office telling you, Mohammed, and our crew that there's an ongoing investigation that they may have received illegal foreign funds. Thanks very much, Mohammed in Cairo.
Michele Bachmann's former chairman is in Iowa now endorsing another presidential candidate. Details next in your political ticker.
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GORANI: Just five more days until the presidential caucuses in Iowa. Time is running out, and for some candidates support is running thin. A key advisor to Michele Bachmann is jumping ship and throwing his support behind a rival.
CNN political director Mark Preston is in Des Moines with the details. Hi there, mark.
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hey, Hala. How are you? Yes, a lot of intrigue just in the last 14 hours where we stand here in Iowa. Michele Bachmann's Iowa campaign chairman, he's a state senator, was with her campaigning yesterday. Just a few hours later he appeared at an event for Ron Paul where he said he was leaving Michele Bachmann's campaign and he was joining the Ron Paul campaign causing huge shock waves here in Iowa as everyone's trying to figure out where does the social conservative vote go?
In fact, let's listen to what the state senator, Kent Sorenson, said why he decided to leave Bachmann for Ron Paul.
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KENT SORENSON, MICHELE BACHMANN'S FORMER IOWA CHAIRMAN: Tonight's a little tough for me. I've been serving as Michele Bachmann's state chair over the last year. While Michele has fought tremendously for my conservative values, I believe we're at a turning point in this campaign. When the Republican establishment is going to be coming against him over the next few days, I thought it was my duty to come to his aid.
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PRESTON: Now what's even more bringing more drama to this situation, Hala, is that Michele Bachmann once she found out that Kent Sorenson had left his campaign she came out and accused him of leaving the campaign because the Ron Paul campaign offered the state senator money. Now he flatly denies that is true. To add even more intrigue, just in the last hour or so our own Peter Handy got a statement from another staffer from Michele Bachmann, her political director here in Iowa, and he says that it isn't true either. Clearly, somebody is lying, Hala.
GORANI: Ok. Well, let's talk about Newt Gingrich who may have peaked early, as we said earlier, based on the CNN polling. He saw a spike in fundraising over the last several months, but he still may be getting ready to carry over debt into this new year. So, what's going on there?
Reporter: Well, yes. We just found this out from the Gingrich campaign yesterday. They told reporters that, in fact, Newt Gingrich has raised $9 million over the last three months. This was a huge increase of fundraising for Newt Gingrich who was doing terrible for most of the year.
In fact, his campaign back in June imploded because his advisors at the time said he wasn't spending enough time fundraising. The fact of the matter is running a campaign is very, very expensive and he is in debt right now, his campaign says, for the tune of $1.2 million.
I should preface this by saying we shouldn't be too surprised when you're at such a high stakes situation now in a presidential campaign that people would have debt. Newt Gingrich will have some debt. Hala?
GORANI: Thanks, Mark Preston live in Des Moines, Iowa. This reminder for you, Tuesday night join us for the country's first real votes and a true test for GOP candidates. "America's Choice 2012" live coverage of the Iowa caucuses begins Tuesday night, 7:00 p.m. on CNN.
All right. That's going to do it for me, I'M Hala Gorani In Washington. Let's go to a live -- Let's go to Studio Seven live, I should say with Randi Kaye. Hi Randi.
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Hi Hala, thank you very much.
