good morning to you, a very "early start." i'm ashleigh banfield. >> and azoraida sambolin. >> we're new here and i'm getting started. it's really great to be aboard. >> we're very excited to be here. we hope you join us every weekday monday through friday. 5:00 to 7:00 a.m. in the east. let's get started. a developing story, a person of interest now identified on surveillance video in california and those arson fires. >> also, we've got something very unusual that's happening in

mt. rainier. there's been a murder of a park ranger and they're looking for this person. they feel like he's escaped on foot at this point and have had to actually rescue some of the people that have been camping. we'll tell you more details about that. >> the fat weather service says blizzard condition in the great lakes could make the travel you're trying to execute impossible. >> isn't this like one of the busiest days of the year for travel. >> a lot got used to the warmer weather, you know, the nice conditions and -- >> snap out of it. >> bam, wake up. >> hey, guess what you'll have to snap out of that pre-election lull. we're down to 36 hours before vote time in iowa. talk about shaking hands. i wish they had a shake-oh-meter to know how many hands had been shaken buffett the polls started opening in the iowa caucuses. we have numbers for you. some are surprising.

"the new york times" says it is the worst los angeles has seen the 1992 riots in arson fires. police are releasing surveillance video showing what they call a person of interest. seeing it there on your screen, 39 fires are said to be linked to a serial arsonist. casey wian is following all the developments for us live in hollywood this morning. we understand police executed a search warrant. is that true? >> reporter: that's what's been reported, zoraida. we have new developments to report on the actual suspected arson fires themselves. we arrived here at the command center about an hour ago, spoke with an arsing investigator who said so far tonight everything was quiet. well, in the last 45 minutes, things have definitely changed. four confirmed fires we're told linked to automobiles near carports in the los angeles

area. the fire department has responded to all four of those scenes. they're trying to determine if incendiary devices were used in those fires which is what happened with those 39 other fires over the last couple of days. my producer stan wilson just informs me that there is another incident that they are -- that the fire department is responding to where several vehicles in one structure are on fire as we speak. so this night that began very, very quiet. has now turned very different. arson investigators are responding to multiple incident, zoraida. >> do we have a description on this person of interest? >> reporter: well, the one person of interest that they have put out that video that you showed early is described as a white male, balding, but with a pony tail. he was seen emerging from a parking structure, an underground parking structure in the hollywood area not too far from where i was standing walked with his right hand in his

pocket and walked with what appeared to be a limp. now, it's interesting, this is the only person of interest that they have shown video of, but there has been some speculation, i guess, that maybe more than one person is involved and given the fact that they're looking at five different fires they're responding to in the last 45 minutes, that would seem to support that theory. >> we also understand that the police are asking the public for help and they're actually offering here a sizable reward. can you tell us about that? >> reporter: so far $60,000 reward is being offered and, of course, they are asking for the public's help. they're asking anyone who recognizes the image of this person that they've distributed to the local media here to contact police and they're also telling people to be careful and lock their cars overnight. zoraida? >> casey wian live in hollywood, thanks for those details. we've got another developing

story on the horizon right now, as well. this is really strange. killer on the loose in mt. rainier park and listen to how this actually transpired. routine traffic stop, ranger tries to stop a car, car won't stop. so she wires ahead to set up a road block and the person who was setting up the road block was a female ranger, 34 years old, mother of two, gets out of the car and suspect shoots her dead. suspect shoots the ranger dead and then flees on foot. they've got a suspect in mind, here's the ranger, 34 years old, mother of two, apparently married to another park ranger in mt. rainier, as well. the suspect they're thinking of, benjamin colton barnes, the name we've been given. he may also be connected to the shooting of four other people over the weekend at a party. we also hear that he's got survivalist skills and that he's got military experience.

you can see from the pictures and surmise what else we know about him. here's something else, all the folks who have been in mt. rainier park, camping, visiting over the holidays, many of them had to be rounded up, taken to the visitors center and kept us police escort. we're told they're being evacuated but don't know at this point if they've all been evacuated or how that's going or whether they're under guard because he's sniper style and concerned he's still on the loose. >> a very scary situation there. unbelievable. >> there's like two feet of snow on the ground. so when they're able to use that to their advantage to track him or whether that's tougher because as the snow keeps falling those tracks keep getting covered so snow a problem and for us in the northeast, as well. >> apparently this big chill is coming to the northeast and you know we have gotten so comfortable with warmer temperatures so over two feet of lake-effect snow on the way that may affect people trying to get home from the holidays. i love that it makes news in

january. >> rob marciano is joining us in the extreme weather center. >> welcome to cnn. >> thank you very much. we're happy to be here. >> it's nice -- i swear to god -- >> just meeting. >> and full disclosure we're just meeting right now. >> a good machine, cnn, we're all over the world. >> you've been working hard for the last several months. >> no, we just showed up. >> you're a new dad, too. we found out about this. my first e-mail picture when i was on the job was you with your newborn baby. >> we try to keep everyone informed about the breaking news. >> how are you doing? >> we're doing fine. >> can we do this? >> yes, it is news in january to have snow because it's been such a mild winter. you would think by this time of the winter we would see some serious snowfall totals across, well not only the northeast but midwest.

typic typical band effect. you see the rotation of that white. we haven't seen much in the way of white as far as snow goes across the northeast certainly the past two months, it's still mild in new york, 42, 40 degrees in d.c. that cold air will pour down to the south and east. blizzard warnings are up for parts of the u.p. of michigan and upper hand, as well. 12 inches of snow expected in some of these areas. with winds blowing 30, 0 miles per hour blizzard conditions blinding visibilities. 10 to 20 inches in the favored lake-effect areas, maybe a couple of feet in syracuse or watertown. cleveland, you'll see some delays because of that snow and wind. visibility will be bad. windy across new york metro and the windchills will bring the temperatures down as will the actual temperatures be dropping throughout the day. the high term of 40 in new york city will be short-lived as cold air filters. midsection looks good.

pasadena rose bowl happening later. toasty there. another storm moving in across the pacific northwest and the winter classic, temperatures will be dropping had and that blizzard happening across parts of michigan, finally snow and winter weather across the northeast. >> rob, thank you for that. we'll have to talk more to you because we do love weather stories. love you. i'm trying to make nice with my new colleagues. okay. so i don't know. have you been doing the math, the countdown? it's like christmas for us or holiday time or hanukkah or anything else we celebrate. when the primary and caucuses come, news media go crazy, 36, 34 1/2 -- >> it's two days until we know who won the first caucus at least in this entire race. it's iowa, folks. what did you get me? you know, we might have a sneak peek. of course, we have polls coming

out all the time. 64 republican iowa insiders, state politician, business leaders, politico, all the people in the know in that tate and got some numbers for you on who they think will finish first. are you ready? not a big surprise, mitt romney, 63% of them think he will take the first spot, 27% think it will be ron paul and are you ready for the this, the guy surging in the poll, rick santorum got nada, doughnut, a little odd because actually in the last two days of last week's polls he insured up. john aft john avlon and also erick erickson, the editor in chief of redstate.com. ruben from "the washington post" and we have at host of "get

right" with lenny mcalister. john, want to start with you. i like that insider thing that cnn did but it's not reflective of the polls everybody else is doing including cnn, so what's a girl to think moving into the last 36 hours? are the polls right, the insiders right? >> as you just said, the insider poll is just that, a poll of insiders in the state of what will happen and does reaffirm a lot of the other large polls that is that mitt romney is in poll position. ron paul can't be counted out. his supporters are so intense. caucuses are low turnout high intensity affairs. rick santorum getting the doughnut hole is a surprise. 60% of the turnout last time in 2008 which made mike huckabee the winner -- >> erick erickson, they often say and i'll repeat it that there are only three tickets out

of iowa and the third ticket is pretty sought after and most people were assuming that it was going to be either rick santorum vying for that spot or gingrich but now we're not sure what to think anymore especially with the big fat doughnut on the insider poll. what should we think? >> it depends on ron paul. john mccain came in fourth in iowa and was the nominee for the republicans. ron paul discounted that with his support. depends where it comes from and the other ground game. i have been told there are several organizations on the outside and complains on the inside alt showing that it's a three-way race. >> perry, honestly? perry at this point? >> well, strong ground game that rick santorum doesn't have. >> he doesn't have those numbers. >> the campaign internals from several of the campaigns have it a three-way tie. even the des moines poll, perry,

santorum and gingrich are within the same area. he's probably going to surprise everyone including the iowa insiders but can't discount ground games when there is no snow on the ground either. >> iowa is a big proponent of figuring anybody who works hard and does retail politics will do really well in iowa and we have without cuisine rick santorum been the benefactor of that. ruben, maybe you can weigh in why rick perry hasn't done better. he had a thousand captains who were going to be, you know, taking part in fewer than a thousand actual poll locations. so that's pretty good. and he's been to a lot of places, yet he is doing numbers nowhere near what santorum is doing so why is that, by the way, let me add he's pretty conservative and pretty religious. >> right, and most significantly as you mentioned he spent the most, outspent everybody else in iowa and still poll numbers, i

agree with you, are not moving up. >> what is going on? >> i think the competition is too stiff. once he surrendered the top spot because of his debate performances, i think paul began to surge and he's being elbowed out of the way. i do think it will be the same three names, paul, romney and santorum, but i think the order will be reversed. i think rick santorum will do very well. possibly win iowa with romney in second and paul will get the third ticket out of iowa. >> lenny, let me switch gears but at the same time i still want to work polls into this. that is newt gingrich who hat really struggled to put it mildly in the last week and a half. is the great experiment of going nice a dumb idea and why would you experiment in iowa? >> well, it's not a dumb idea. newt gingrich did not do a whole lot here for the straw poll in

august. if you're going to experiment, experiment here. it's a long-term strategy. it's not a short-term strategy. if you play nice and move forward and rye to be that presidential figure that's above the fray you have to do that for the long haul. newt gingrich hasn't been very discipline the lately. what he needs to do is have the discipline to say this is what i said i will do. i'll stay positive but i want to do this going into new hampshire, i'm going to do this going into south carolina and i want to try to keep that momentum going forward with being positive and then regain those poll points hopefully with some better results, some better responses when it comes to dealing with the media and not letting these other candidates get underneath their skin. >> not the last we'll hear from you. thanks very much to all four of you. >> thanks. >> okey-dokey. it's 5:15 in the east and time to check in on the stories making news. >> i've been up for hour, trust

me. >> police in los angeles have a person of interest in connection to three dozen arson fires during the new year's weekend. investigators say the man was spotted on surveillance video in several locations. there's a person right there. he is said to be in his 20s or 30s and wears a ponytail. >> a manhunt going on around mt. rainier, washington. actually that's in washington state. police are looking for a man they say shot and killed a park ranger while they were trying to stop him and then he took off into the woods. there's the ranger. there's the suspect. his name, benjamin colton barnes, he's believed to have military experience and survivalist skills and also think he is a suspect in a sunday morning shooting that injured four in seattle. >> iran says it successfully test-fired two long-range missiles on the final day of

maybe war games. yesterday they tested their first nuclear rod strengthening fears it's on its way to building nuclear weapons. the u.s. stepped up sanctions against iran in december. it has not ruled out military action to stop iran's nuclear programs. >> so you always tell me you think i'm crazy for having two blackberries. >> no, it's a great idea. >> so is everybody else who teases me. and an ipod and an ipad and -- >> well, social media is you will at craze, right? would you think it is in iowa? >> i do. i'm a prairie girl. i think that's the greatest thing in the world for a disparate area of the world. >> i'm figuring how broadband works. we'll see some farmers and how it's working for them. also, something that we, listen, this will be funny stuff. could be a disaster but we have a very -- >> we'll try it. >> a very famous woman from a very famous political dynasty

that will join us but she doesn't know it. we'll just call her and wake her up. and see if she ants her phone and want her to weigh in. >> we're worried folks will cuss. is there a button we can push? >> actually you'll be in on the joke all along. capital one's new cash rewards card gives you a 50% annual bonus! so you earn 50% more cash. according to research, everybody likes more cash. well, almost everybody... ♪ would you like 50% more cash? no! but it's more money. [ male announcer ] the new capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. what's in your wallet?

woah! [ giggles ]

will be giving away passafree copies of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. you know, i'm trying to figure out is that lenny kravitz. is that our music library. that will wake you up. getting an early read on local news making national headlines. this morning we have papers from maryland and utah. >> this is the kind of papers we have but i know that they have them in their communities. >> there they are. from "the baltimore sun." hawaii and delaware allowed

same-sex unions. >> a know a lot find that controversial. >> it was very controversial in the state and called it a prime example of exercising civic courage. doing what is right. he did get a lot of opposition there. >> not even same-sex marriage. >> five states now recognize these union, washington, d.c. allows same-sex marriage. so, all right. congratulations. some folks very excited. >> you'll learn a lot about us in the coming day, month, years and hopefully decades. we're both moms and so this story is actually quite -- >> i haven't heard it yet. >> you better get your goose bumps ready. three kids in a car in logan

county, utah. these three kids and the driver, look at the icy bank they went into. it was over on its roof at one point. the driver could get out but could not get the kids and kids were only 9 years old, two girls were 9 and a 4-year-old boy apparently passers-by helped this driver as he was struggling a way -- couldn't get the doors open so used a handgun to shoot open the windows of the car. the passers-by got three of the kids out. look, get the goose bumps ready. they were not in great condition but we are told now that they're all expected to recover. but, lord, can you imagine getting into that icy river. you should get awarded. >> that doesn't always happen. okay, it is 5:23. you can knock on more doors and shake more hands and kiss more babies than any other candidate has in history but in a rural state the best way to get

people's votes may actually be the internet. so joining us now to talk about this michael libby, co-founder of central iowa bloggers and members of the des moines central media club, deb brown, larry sealer, an iowa farmer and an undecided voter. we have clair selsy, president of the des moines social club. >> they look freezing. >> it is a little chilly there. so, larry, we'd like to tart with you. when you think of iowa you think of farms, not social media. how are you using the social media to assist you with farming? >> we've got into social media as just a way of communication so we can get on our computers or cell phones and get ahold of our consumers and share ideas and start a dialogue.

>> do you talk politics? >> we talk politics a little bit. it's kind of hard to avoid politics. that kind of decides everything that we do. it's controlled by the government. we got a lot of regulation and have to keep up with it. >> deb, if we can talk to you for a minute here, you connect all the farmers and small businesses. how does that work and is this new to rural areas or have you done this in other areas, as well? >> no, it's not really new to rural areas. we've been talking to each other for quite a while. the technology is a little bit new. using twitter, facebook, those are pretty popular and i think it's 57% of franklin county where i live is on facebook. it's the new party line. >> and, claire, you're the president of the des moines social media club. how is it different in was's largely a rural state? >> it's pretty amazing

considering back in 2000 when there was the internet but no social media it's a lot more labor intensive trying to get political support for your candidate without it so i'm interested in watching ever since probably 2004 on to now, how social media has really caught on as an organizing tool, a fund-raising tool, and really just kind of 24-hour, 7 day a week organizer, i can imagine it's probably saving campaigns a lot of money and a lot of time. >> so, michael, let's talk a little about that. let's talk about how it has changed politics in the area. >> well, social media is one of those tools that business and politicians use on a regular basis to connect with their constituency. a scant six or seven years ago most of us thought a tech fnora

tag was something kids in japan played with on the playground. so many are engaged in it for business and politics. no time in history have the consumers had more power in their hands to be able to connect with not only candidates, but also businesses worldwide. large and small, i should say. >> now, i can't let you go without asking you about the weather. because it looks like the wind is really blowing. seems a little chilly in the area. can you tell us a little about that before we go? >> you know what, yeah, just absolutely. you know, just a couple of days ago we had 53-degree weather. i think it was the day before yesterday and turned off cold for this, the day just prior to the iowa caucuses. we expect there to be a great turnout here in iowa. you know, we're pretty hearty folks here and do enskoi this kind of weather even though it might look like we're a little cold out here. >> you're sitting out there for us. mike, deb, claire, thank you.

young man, wear your coat. they look good. >> they do. >> they look good. okay, so lebron james may not have a ring, i professional ring but he'll get a real pretty one for his girlfriend soon. 

hello, everybody, i'm ashleigh banfield. it's 32 past the hour. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. here is what did on the agenda. trying to get the votes and change minds in the last full day of campaigning in iowa. how many are undecided? versus how many can have their minds changed? we'll talk about that. >> kind of like a half and halfy thing really. some are sort of undecided. by the way, since it's the eve of the political season kicking off which we're so excited about we thought we'd wake somebody up to ask them about it. we're not telling you who. we'll give you a hint. it's somebody from a very prominent political family. it's a kennedy.

>> oh. i'm going to wake up a kennedy. >> but we won't tell you which one and she doesn't know either. i'm not going to tell you if her dad was president or if heir r was a senator. she doesn't know we're calling. >> we have other stories catching our attention. a new lead in a string of arson fires in southern california. police do have a person of interest right there in the circle from surveillance video at two of the fire locations. so this man is said to be in his late 20s to mid-30s with dark hair and a ponytail. 39 fires have been set in and around los angeles investigating another eight additional fires now, as well. another bizarre crime story. dozens of people being escorted out of mt. rainier national park because of this guy. the national park authorities say they're on the hunt for this man. they say he shot and killed a park ranger. it happened yesterday, the

suspect you see here apparently escaping into the woods, just al last hour police reported over a hundred visitors spending holidays in the park of the first they had them in the visitors center. they said this guy could be a sniper. has military experience. they have no idea how dangerous he is. iran's military says it has successfully test-fired two long-range missiles that happened this morning one day after the country claimed to have successfully tested its first nuclear fuel rod. u.s. officials say they have not ruled out military action to top iran's nuclear program. right now, if you're in the great lakes, get on. check it out. there's your winter weather warning, a big storm coming first in 2012. blizzard conditions expected to slam from minnesota to new york today, tomorrow, just when you're trying to travel home. up to 20 inches of snow expected.

40-mile-an-hour wind gusts. national weather service the bearer saying whiteout conditions could make travel, ve ready, i'm sore, impossible. they said impossible, not us. >> maybe just delayed. >> maybe you did want to be delayed for work. we're closing in on the iowa caucuses. the saying is there are only three tickets out of iowa who gets them? we've got a great panel today to tell us what to expect. cnn contributor john avlon, also a political columnist for "the daily beast kw. erick erickson and ruben navarette, and lenny mcallister, conservative commentator who hosts "get right with lenny mcallister." thank you so much for joining us. woo here we have the latest "des

moines register" poll. mitt romney, 24%, ron paul, 22%. rick santorum, 15% and newt gingrich 12% and you see santorum's spike we've been talking about, he jumps to second place. john, let's start with you. how do you see this playing out? >> well, zoraida, the first thing to keep in mind the only poll that matters is on caucus night. all of this is preliminary so remember that basic fact of our democracy. you see mitt romney in the poll position, however, he's the only guy in politics with a glass ceiling. i can't seem to break past 25% so the question is how the rest of the deck is shuffled. rick santorum does seem to have the big momentum. ron paul supporters will turn out. they're deeply dedicated. wouldn't count out newt or rick perry with his big ground organizational game. whether or not retail politics still matters as much as it

historically has in iowa is the question. >> is romney actually going to win this? most folks are saying, yes. >> i can see him possibly winning on tuesday but here's the interesting thing, john mentioned mitt romney's ceiling. the real coming out of iowa is going to be is this going to be newt gingrich's floor? is this going to be rick perry's floor? rick perry has the money and newt gingrich had the momentum coming out of the debates. if this ends up being their floor, they could say this is their low water mark and start regaining momentum. for romney, if he win, it's great but if he still starts running into trouble in south carolina and florida, he's recovered there but if he can't solidify his base there he has the same problem he's had for the last several months. let's talk about somebody different. you had pretty harsh words for rick santorum and asked his supporters why they think he is the best candidate.

you don't get why he's surging. >> you know, i get why he's surging and the other candidates who have appealed to evangelicals have fallen flat so now it's rick santorum's time. i'm not sure if it's been overstated in the polls or it's legit talking about replacing a guy that folks don't say has enough experience to be president to one who was swept out with the largest margin of loss and he hasn't been back. the private sector experience that romney had for job creation, i give evangelicals want an evangelical. i get it. i'm an evangelical. it's not much more of a record that they say barack obama had. >> retail politic, this guy has done it. ruben, santorum, he has spoken at nearly 400 events got the

endorsement from the family leader and head of the republican party there says don't count santorum out. people believe in him. any chance he actually pulls this off? >> yes, a good chance because i think he's picking up momentum at just the right moment. he's peaking at the right moment. and, again, the people on the ground, they sort of go with this establishment thinking that mitt romney has this in the bag. if it were true you wouldn't have this up and down quality. everybody but romney -- i think rick santorum despite i agree his weak resume is a weak resume, something is resonating with him. he's out there. he really wants it. it's enthusiasm that gets him across the line. >> john, erick, ruben, lenny, we'll talk to you again. >> thanks. okay. i don't want to be the keeper of

doom and fwloom here but while we're giving you a culture loop, one of the first looks that's trend something a weird one. ready. it's 2012 and for the second year in a row on new year's eve, 200 birds have been found dead in a small arkansas city. again, did i mention second year in a row? last year it was 5,000 blackbirds that fell from the sky -- i'm not sure if it's bybee bybee, arkansas. i will definitely read up. i think it's fireworks which makes sense. it was new year's eve but somebody may have set them off just a little too close to a wildlife preserve, i think. >> oh, no. that wouldn't be nice. but it is a little weird, isn't it? doo-doo-doo-da. >> lebron james and the ring, apparently he popped the

question. he proposed to savannah at a miami nightclub on new year's eve. >> nightclub. >> seriously. the mother of his two children. the news set off a string of twitter jokes about how she has a ring but he doesn't. i'm surprised they didn't know this earlier. >> i know. i don't really follow -- is a basketball player? >> yeah, i knew that would get your goad. >> more of a curling person. >> he's a superstar. >> superstar. >> okay. so i've been telling you all morning i'll wake up a kennedy. i figured it wouldn't be fair if i didn't tell you who it is. it is bobby's daughter. don't call her to warn her if you're a friend of hers but -- >> you happen to have her phone number. >> i'll dial her up. just an experiment and a brand-new show. it could be a total disaster. i can't promise anything. >> oh, she'll answer the phone.

bybee hey, london,

good morning to you. a live picture from london. 10:44 right there now. big ben, i was there not too long ago. >> i wonder if it's as cool there as it is in the northeast, commensurate parallel. >> we have no idea. i'll check for you. lovely this time of year. >> basically on occasion on this program as we move forward and try out crazy ideas essentially we'll wake some poor soul up. somebody connected to the news but really has no idea -- we're

basically exercising our rolodexs and today's rolodex would be kerry kennedy. i hope she actually is awake because -- okay, this is getting embarrassing. >> she's going to answer. >> i'm sure she will. >> come on, kerry. come on. >> hello. >> hi, is kerry there? >> yeah, this is me. >> hi, kerry. it's ashleigh banfield calling. >> good morning, ashleigh. >> you're on the air so no "f" bombs. how are you? >> i'm okay. >> i'm doing my best to imitate howard stern by calling you and waking you up but i wanted to call you particularly on our inaugural show because we're on the eve of the big political kickoff and wanted to know what it was like for you in the political dynasty you grew up with all of the campaigns that you've gone through. i did a quick piece of math and

think it's one, two, three, four, five, six members of your family have been in elected office. is that right? >> oh, i've never counted. >> you had to do -- what was it like going through all the campaigns? we're seeing beautiful pictures of your father, so handsome and so endearing and such a tragic tire and wanted to know what it was like going through the campaigns for you. >> well, you know, we just loved -- i have great memories of campaigning with him around new york and then across the country, of course, when he was running for president. he took us everywhere and made an enormous effort to make it a good time for the kids, so we went to the bronx zoo. we camped i remember going to

ride on little ponies and -- >> you were 8 years old when he was killed, right? >> i was 8, yeah. >> do you still have haunting memories of every campaign? >> well, haunting, did you say? >> haunting memories. this has something -- >> i have wonderful memories. >> yeah, i mean, i have great memories and i think that it's an amazing thing to be through campaigns because you get to see parts of the country or parts of the city that you would never, you know, that you wouldn't normally see and people invite you into their homes and they talk about the problems that they see in their daily lives, you know. >> i want to really just quickly, i have 30 seconds left but want to ask you about the rfk foundation you've been so

intricate in working on projects for children and education and give me a quick 15-second tease on what you've been up to the rfk foundation and the work it's doing. >> well, we have the, of course, power to education program curriculum for middle and high school students and that -- and that's available online to anybody interested in learning about human right, not just -- we invite everybody to come look at our website, rfkcenter.org. >> you are the bomb, my friend. can i just tell you when you wake up, you sound a little like me and also demi moore in the mornings. kerry, thank you, sweetie pie. >> okay, take care. >> at a later hour. >> okay, thanks. >> that was great. >> she has a rather sexy voice. very demi moore. >> this is good news. >> whew.

boss is happy. 48 minutes after the hour here. a developing story from mt. rainier national park where an intense manhunt is under way for a man suspected of killing a park ranger. the suspect, benjamin colton barnes may be armed, military trained and also responsible for shooting four people in seattle. >> have some surveillance video apparently that suggests a person of interest, take a peek, kind of hard to make out who that person is but police want to talk to them because they think he may be connected to more than three dozen arson fires, the pictures have been outrageous. investigators say that guy was spotted in several locations where the fires were happening and they're responding to eight new fires trying to figure out if they're connected. apparently the suspect 28 to 30

years old, dark hair, ponytail. south korea is offering economic aid to north korea if the north gives up its nuclear program. south korea's president is hoping for a, quote, new era of relations following the death of kim jong-il. north korea says it wants nothing to do with the south. the north says it feels insulted because south koreans did not attend or more south koreans did not attend the funeral of kim jong-il. >> call the airline and it's brutal and it's a blizzard.

[pig oinking] [hissing] [oink] [oinking] [ding]

announcer: cook foods to the right temperature using a food thermometer. 3,000 americans will die from food poisoning this year. keep your family safer. check your steps at foodsafety.gov. [oinking] >> extremely bad. the big chill. is it extremely good or extremely bad. rob marciano is joining us. >> we had extreme mildness in december. now we're turning the corner in 2012. the radar as far as what's going on snowwise across the northeast, great lakes, this is cold air barreling south and east. we'll have windchill advisories as far south as west palm beach. it's coming down across the great lakes. advisories for northwestern michigan today.

12 plus inches. windchills near zero, visibility at times near zero as well. cleveland to syracuse, winds gusting over 40 miles an hour, blinding conditions. if you are traveling today new york metro and cleveland will be the hot spots as far as delays are concerned and chicago and detroit, as well and as mentioned that cold air will pour south and east. 48 in new york for the high but temperatures will be plummeting throughout the day to finally feel like -- you guys arrive and things now finally act the way they should weatherwise. >> cold weather. >> yeah, those were big hubs we're expecting delays when everyone is coming back. >> we've been working so hard i forget today is a big holiday. >> not a holiday for journalists or people complaining, let's just say that. >> that is true. >> are you a sports fan? >> yes. >> they say god works in mysterious ways. tim tebow, a weird story. >> i know he lost.

>> but did he really lose in the big picture? doesn't he still get into the big game? god works in miysterious ways. >> they still are in the playoffs. >> the full story after the break. for a limited time, passages malibu

will be giving away free copies of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com.

a football fan. >> yeah, apparently neither one of us is a football fan but football is all the rage. while the whole country was wondering if there would be some tim tebow magic to get the broncos into the playoff, the answer turned out to be yes but

not thanks to him. they made it despite losing to the chief, 7 hi-3. he lost three straight after a series of spectacular fourth quarter comebacks earlier in the seechlths a loss by the raiders pushed them into the postseason. denver will host the pittsburgh steelers in a wild card playoff game happening next sunday. >> yeah, football, do they get goals or baskets? >> come on, seriously. >> no, i'm kidding. i do have a couple of things to update for you at the top of the hour. you won't believe what's going on in southern california, arson fires nonstop. eight more they're looking at. iowa, there are only 5% of the latino population. republican candidates making a mistake ignoring them? we'll talk things latino in iowa when we come back. nice ring. knock it off. ignore him. with the capital one venture card you earn...

double miles on every purchase. [ sharon ] 3d is so real larry. i'm right here larry. if you're not earning double miles... you're settling for half. really? a plaid tie? what, are we in prep school? [ male announcer ] get the venture card at capitalone.com and earn double miles on every purchase every day. what's in your wallet? i was gonna say that. uh huh...