going. and daring for dollars, can a proposed high wire act jump- start niagara falls tourism? anthony mason takes a dizzying look. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with russ mitchell.

>> mitchell: good evening. here we go again. it has been a weekend of twists and turns in the race for the republican presidential nomination. a man who lead the field just a month ago is now out of the race. and a man counted out not that long ago is now on top. whit johnson begins our coverage tonight of this weekend's surprising moves in the gop and what the white house thinks about them. >> i am suspending my presidential campaign. >> reporter: with herman cain out of the race and his possible endorsement up for grabs, the now leading republican newt gingrich had kind words for his friend and former rival. >> i think he deserves credit for having had the courage to talk about big ideas and to focus on the economy. >> reporter: no one has benefited more from cain's fall than the former house speaker. a new poll out of iowa, the first state to cast votes shows gingrich leading with 25% followed by ron paul at 18%, romney at 16%. even the white house is beginning to take notice. >> i got to say, i think a lot

of people inside the beltway and outside the beltway woke up today to a very different political environment and one in which newt gingrich is very much for real. >> reporter: but today on "face the nation" robert gibbs, senior campaign advisor to president obama focused on romney who remains a consistent national front-runner. >> the one thing that is certain in this republican primary if you don't like where mitt romney is today, just wait until tomorrow. it's a little bit like the weather. >> reporter: with the republican field still in flux, romney and other candidates are seeing an opportunity in cain's sudden departure. >> i don't think people have really settled down in a final way to decide who they are going to support in the nomination process. i hope they give us a good careful look. >> a lot of herman cain supporters have been calling our office and they have been coming over to our side. >> reporter: newt gingrich has been staging a remarkable comeback in his bid for the white house. remember it was about six months ago, june 9th, when many of his top campaign staffers quit. by august his poll numbers were down to just 3%, russ.

>> mitchell: whit johnson at the white house, thank you very much. for more perspective on the rapidly changing republican race, we are joined in washington by our political director john dickerson, john, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, russ. >> mitchell: newt gingrich started off slow in this race but is now catching fire. why is that happening? >> reporter: there are a few things. one is that the alternatives to mitt romney which republicans have been looking for, they've kind of dropped one by one. herman cain is out of the race, rick perry didn't turn out to be as great as advertised. michelle bashman has had trouble keeping her early fire. so newt gingrich is in some ways the last person standing but he hiss has a lot of attributes republicans like, and in that des moines register poll they think he is a good debater. they think he can be president. they think he's knowledgeable. he has a lot of the attributes people look for in a president. >> mitchell: the iowa caucus is less than a month a way, crunch up time, rough-and-tumble time.

what do you think we will see in the coming days. >> reporter: the question of whether republican voters still have a chronic fatigue syndrome about mitt romney. this has been one of the reasons newt gingrich has come up in the polls. romney has not, he trained his fire on president obama. will he have to start engaging against newt gingrich and will he have to start going on the attack. we'll also see a lot more advertisements from the campaign but also from these super packs, a new animal in the presidential race with a lot of money, sometimes unclear who is behind them. attack the candidates and we'll start to see people spending more time in iowa. the travel schedules have been a little light. they're going to have to, the candidates are going to have to spend a lot more time in that early caucus state. >> mitchell: okay, john dickerson in washington, thanks a lot. >> reporter: thanks, russ. >> mitchell: there is news this evening that a u.s. spy drone is now in the hands of the iranian government. this is the fight between the west and iran over its nuclear enrichment program intensifies. seth doane has details. >> reporter: an unmanned spy

plane allegedly belonging to the united states was downed in eastern iran. that according to iranian official news sources which reported today that the american made rq-170 was shot down and recovered with minimal damage. the aircraft is so secretive even pictures are hard to come by. the pentagon is not commenting but the u.s.-lead coalition in afghanistan said the drone may be a u.s. unarmed reconnaissance aircraft that had been flying a mission over western afghanistan late last week. which it added "the operators had lost control of." neil livingston, a terrorism expert says the iranians already had a drone program. and if true, this recovery could help them further their technology. >> they could potentially reverse engineer this and learn a great deal about our technologies. >> specifics about the spy plane are hard to come by. we do know it's made by lockheed martin. it is said to be equipped with stealth technology. spencer ackerman writes about high-tech security for wired magazine. >> this is a super-secret stealth drone. it exists to make sure that

adversaries with advanced anti- aircraft capabilities don't know this thing's there. >> reporter: this all follows a week of growing tensions between iran and the west over iran's nuclear program. just last tuesday a group of young hard-liners stormed the british embassy in tehran to protest british banking sanctions. in response britain shut down the iranian embassy in london and expelled its diplomats. experts say that the spy plane was most likely being used to keep an eye on iran's nuclear facilities because the west believes iran is trying to develop a nuclear bomb. iran says any violation of its airspace will not be tolerated. russ? >> reporter: seth doane, thanks. exit polls in today's parliamentary elections in russia show prime minister vladimir putin's party in first place. but with just 48.5% of the vote, that's down from 64% four years ago. opposition party leaders this evening are accusing putin's ruling party of ballot box stuffing and other irregularities.

>> mitchell: iraqi officials say a pair of bomb explosions killed six people today, with u.s. troops due to be withdrawn from iraq by the end of the month, many questions remain about iraqi security. elizabeth palmer in baghdad this evening and joins us now. liz, you just arrived back in baghdad yesterday. your last visit was a year and a half ago. how have things changed since then? >> reporter: well, the city feels pretty good. it's a bustling. there are traffic jams. people are out and about in the streets, and the shops are well stocked. that being said there is still only between five and six hours of electricity a day here. there are no signs of u.s. troops, in fact, they were drawn back out of the cities in the summer of 2010. but there's still a feel of an

armed camp in the sense that there are check points manned by either iraqi police or military on all the major roads, and it's a big armed presence. you know, they have military vehicles and big guns. so there is still a whiff of war about baghdad. >> mitchell: how would you compare the level of violence now compared to a couple years ago? >> it's been falling steadily since 2007 when it was at its real peak in the days of ethnic cleansing. there were 50 corporations a night sometimes here in baghdad from assassinations. however, it's still a dangerous place. i did a partial tally there were three bombings, in fact. the one you mentioned, once against an alcohol shop and one against a police station and also an assassination of an army general, a drive-by shooting. so although the prime minister says he's got the forces he needs to keep iraq stable after u.s. forces go, a lot of iraqis are pretty worried. >> mitchell: elizabeth palmer in baghdad, thank you, and take care. here at home in the nation's capitol u.s. police moved against the occupy d.c. movement

today tearing down an unauthorized wooden structure the protestors were building and arresting roughly 20 people. last night in portland, oregon, police arrested 19 people who were occupying a downtown park. and in thousand oaks, california, tiger woods has done it he won his first tournament in some two years today. he captured the chevron challenge by one stroke over fellow american zack johnson. later this evening, the tightrope walker who could hold the key to the future of niagara falls. college graduates forced to move back home in a bad economy. and california, there they go: why are so many residents leaving the state that was once golden? those stories when the "cbs evening news" continues. called atrial fibrillation, or afib, that's not caused by a heart valve problem? are you taking warfarin to reduce your risk of stroke caused by a clot? you should know about pradaxa. an important study showed that pradaxa 150mg reduced stroke risk 35% more than warfarin. and with pradaxa, there's no need for those regular blood tests. pradaxa is progress. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding.

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ben tracy explains. >> reporter: as a freelance photographer duane conder knows his way around a camera. that has come in handy now that he is selling a lot of what he owns on ebay. he's getting ready to move. what is it going to be like to leave your neighborhood? >> it will be rather traumatic... >> reporter: duane and his family have lived in his home near san diego for 11 years. >> ...its like somebody turned off the spigot-- where did the work go? literally it's like you woke up, there is no work. >> reporter: the dot-com boom drew them from texas to california and now the prolonged job bust is forcing them out. california unemployment rate is 11.7%. duane cannot find work and last week the bank foreclosed on his family's home. you viewed california as the land of opportunity, how do you view it now? >> personally, i feel like it's the land that we need to get out of, very fast. >> reporter: the conders are moving back to texas where unemployment is lower, 8.4%. in 2010 texas gained nearly

75,000 new residents while california lost nearly 130,000. the biggest state to state shift in the country was people leaving the golden state and heading to the lone star state. and jobs are just one reason. housing is another. this three bedroom home in los angeles recently sold for more than a million dollars. yet here in a suburb of austin, texas this four bedroom home sold for $387,000. the people who bought it, moved from california. >> we'll stay here in texas and we visit california quite a bit. >> reporter: bill moved his family and computer consulting business from california to austin they traded in a one bedroom apartment for this four bedroom home. >> if we would have stayed in california, in order for us to make it in an area where we would want to live, we would

need to be a two income family. >> reporter: but with the lower cost-of-living and no personal income tax in texas, bill's wife jessica now stays home with their daughter gwen. >> we go to gym, we go to swimming lessons. we do it all. and if we lived in california, i couldn't do that. >> reporter: yet they do miss that california weather and the ocean. >> my very first surfboard, i can't get rid of it. >> reporter: but for now they'll trade blue waters for greener pastures. ben tracy, cbs news, austin, texas. >> mitchell: facing bankruptcy, the u.s. postal service will announce major cuts tomorrow. the agency plans to close half of its 500 mail processing centers next spring. a move that will slow first class service and essentially cancel next day delivery. officials say the cuts will save $3 billion, that's a drop in the bucket for an agency projected to lose 14 billion dollars next year. it got ugly in stillwater, oklahoma, last night as thousands of frantic football fans stormed the field after oklahoma state cowboys beat the rival oklahoma sooners. five people from hurt, two critically. some of them were trampled. the victory gave oklahoma state its first big 12 championship.rf

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unemployment dropping to 8.6% last month, the rate >> mitchell: while friday's jobs report showed overall unemployment dropping to 8.6% last month, the rate for young people is 14.2%. many new college grads are among the jobless, and that's tonight's sunday cover. boomerang kids moving back to live with their parents. ♪ when the disco ball lights up at joe's crab shack near philadelphia kim young joins the rest of the waiters in a dance routine. it's the restaurant's gimmick. but these days young doesn't feel much like dancing. what were you thinking was going to happen after graduation? >> i honestly thought right away i was going to get something in my field. >> reporter: young graduated from college in 2010. since then she say she's explored at least 150 job leads in her field, graphic design, with no luck. she works at the restaurant to try to make money, but it's only $65 a week. what did that do for your spirit, getting all those denials? >> oh my god, it's almost like-- it's almost like my soul is

being sucked out. i've met a lot of artistic people... >> mitchell: young is just one of nearly 6 million young adults now living at home with a parent for financial reasons. that's up 25% since the recession began in 2007. how do you think your parent's lives have changed since you moved back home. >> we are both like headstrong, like fighting all the time and not getting along. but i think they finally realized oh, we no longer have a teenager living here, it's now just one of us. >> i would go out there and network for her if i could, or i would go out and have a sign saying my child needs a job in advertising or any field in the arts, and nothing. >> mitchell: for young's parents it's been a sacrifice as well. for mother katherine had to take a night job to help support her daughter. she's worried about the toll

looking to start a career is taking. >> i'm sorry, i'm getting emotional, but it's hard, it is really, really is hard for me. >> it's time to put america's youth back to work. >> mitchell: professor andrew sum of boston's northeastern university says the growing number of young grads living at home has serious consequences for the overall economy. >> if you don't go out and form new households then the demand for new homes goes down, so that hurts the construction industry. you also have less spending by these young adults, if they don't make more, they can't spend more. so as a result, the aggregate economy is down. >> mitchell: what do you hope for yourself down the road as you move forward? >> i want a job that i can show that my talent isn't going to waste and i want to be able to support myself and be able to support my family down the line. >> mitchell: growing levels of student debt which average more than $25,000 per student are another reason college grads are having to live at home.

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>> mitchell: the recession is forcing many cash-strapped communities to think outside the box and that includes niagara falls, new york. as anthony mason tells us, the idea is to bring more tourist dollars by having a famous tightrope artist risk his life. >> my great grandfather said life is on the wire and everything else is just waiting. >> reporter: 32-year-old nik wallenda is a 7th generation tightrope walker. his great grandfather carl founded the famed flying wallendas. now wallenda hopes to be the first person to walk nearly 2,000 feet, 170 feet in the air across niagara's horseshoe falls. >> walking across niagara falls is a dream of mine. it's something that i have wanted to do ever since i could remember. >> reporter: niagara falls has a long storied history of stuntmen, acrobats and daredevils in barrels. some weren't so lucky.

and after years of economic decline, new york officials think it's death defying past could be the perfect shot in the arm. governor andrew cuomo and the entire new york state legislature have agreed to give wallenda a one-time pass on laws banning stunts at the falls. wallenda estimates his act would bring in $125,000 spectators and $120 million tourist dollars to its region. but janice thomson of the canadian niagara parks commission which oversees the falls wants them enjoyed as a natural wonder. >> you know, people don't come

here to a carnival type atmosphere, they're coming here to appreciate and pay tribute to the beauty and nature of niagara falls. >> i have never heard of a stunt man training for anything, it is an lifestyle, an art for us. >> reporter: last month wallenda addressed the parks concerns and was met by a throng of cameras. >> this is something i won't give up. >> reporter: not only will it be great for the economy, says wallenda, it will be great for the world in the economic dumps. >> there are a lot of people in the world on that wire with me right now looking towards that other end, hoping to make it to the other side. what a strong impactful story of this guy did it. he's on the wire and he made it across successfully and so can we. >> reporter: the canadian parks commission is considering wallenda's proposal. a decision is expected soon. until then, wallenda's walk and niagara falls' economic future hang in the balance. anthony mason, cbs news, new york. >> mitchell: and finally this evening, president obama played host tonight to a white house reception at for this year's kennedy center honorees

included singers barbara cook, neil diamond, musicians yo-yo ma and actress meryl streep. cbs will broadcast tonight's ceremony two days after christmas on december 27th. and that is the "cbs evening news." later on cbs, "60 minutes." thanks for joining us this sunday evening. i'm russ mitchell at the cbs broadcast center in new york. scott pelley will be here tomorrow. good night. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

six figure pensions collecty a rising number of san josey workers... what's driving te trend -- and the impact it d have on pension reform. a frightening end to a victy celebration... cbs-5 captures the moment a railig collapses at a high school football game at a-t-and-t . and a celebration-- a long e coming for niner fans... hoe team captured their division today in impressive style. cbs 5 eyewitness news is ne. good evening, i'm ann notarangelo. california should be proud. we were the first to ban smoking on airplanes. the first to have smoke-free bars and restaurants. all while saving over $86 billion in health care costs... and over a million lives. we've done a good job. but even if you were born today,