thanks so much for watching. i'm alisyn camerota in for megyn kelly and "studio b" with shepard smith begins right now. >> shepard: news begins anew on "studio b." north korea's leader kim jong il is dead or at least that's what they tell us. he has named a successor, his son. who he is? and what about those nuclear bombs? lawmakers on chill -- capitol hill are still fighting other the paycheck. stalemate to extend the deadline tax cut. the latest blow from the house g.o.p. next. plus criminals can easily swipe your money from some of your gift cards that's the new warning from one democratic senator. it's all ahead unless breaking news changes everything on "studio b." but first from fox at 3:00 in new york the so-called dear leader from north korea who

spent $700,000 per year on top shelf liquor and pursued nuclear weapons while his people starved is himself today dead. according to the north korean state run television he died on saturday morning after he had a heart attack on a train. he was, we believe, 79 years old. this anchor woman dressed in a black -- in black delivered the news on north korean state television. she is reportedly the senior anchor woman for the network and as you may be able to see she is apparently struggling to fight back tears as she announces kim jong il died, quote, of overwork. the network aired pictures of people apparently crying in the streets of north korea. of course north korea is a very closed society. you need to watch for tears here. we see actions but do you see tears. the government rarely gives access to outsider. when it does it controls every single thing. he rewind this video from 1994, the state same run television network reportedly featured the same anchor woman

announcing the death of kim jong il's father the son. the network aired these people of people apparently crying in the street in a similar fashion to the reported displays of mourning today. here is a picture carrying the announcement today with the one from 1994. they have added trees. meanwhile, north korea's ruling party today quickly named kim jong il's youngest son kim ill un the grace seq. says sore. a number say there is potential for a violent power struggle. the white house says it's keeping a very close eye on the korean peninsula. the chief fox report correspondent jonathan hunt has more on this. he is live with us here on oset. it's one of the nations about which we know maybe the very least in the world, i guess, jonathan. we are told at least that the dear leader is gone. >> we are told is he gone. this is a great danger. it's a great moment for north korea, a great moment of importance for the rest of the world too. because we simply don't know what is going to happen next. what we have lost here is a

man who of all the dictators we have talked about through this extraordinary year probably had more control over his country than any of the other dictators. any assads, any qaddafis. kim jong il had complete and utter power. listen now to how one of the experts described how he took that power. >> when he took power in 1994, he co-opted the military, kind of downgraded the party and really ran what was called a military first country where the military, in conjunction with kim jong il, basically handled everything. no decision of any major consequence could be taken in north korea without the north korean leader. so his control was absolute. >> no, go back to those pictures of people on the street allegedly crying. whether or not they are really crying tears, it in itself shows kim jong il's power. either they are distraught at the loss of the greater leader or they have been told to go out and show how distraught they are. either way, shep, it is just

one demonstration of how powerful he he was in that country. >> shepard: we don't know much of anything about this son. in fact, prior though this series of episodes, i had only seen one picture of him ever and it was from i think he was a late teenager at the time. >> remember, we talked about him when he was sort of appointed by kim jong il as a successor. we believe is he in his late 20's, anywhere from 27 to 29. we do know he went to school in switzerland. he speaks german. speaks english. like his father, great love of basketball, an obsession of hollywood movies. beyond that we don't know much. he is so young. he hasn't had time to grow into the role as kim jong il had. he had 20 years to prepare. kim jong un has had two years. take a look at the photograph we want to show you. last known picture of kim jong il we have there. behind him is kim jong un or kim the younger. two other people to be aware

of. kim jong il's sister and her husband. two people very powerful. they could become involved in what may very well be a power struggle now, shep. >> shepard: all right, jonathan. thank you. jonathan will be chatting about this story in the rest of the day's headlines throughout the hour foxnews.com/shep click on the hunt link on the right-hand side page. he will be there to chat with you. north korea takes on the world. gordon cheng. gordon chang lived and worked in china and hong kong for almost two decades. he has briefed the cia, the state department, and the pentagon. is he a columnist for forbes.com and the daily, which is an ipad publication and is owned by the parent company of this network. help us process. this. >> there is is too much going on. kim jong un as jonathan pointed out really hasn't had the time to put his own people in positions of power and develop the critical network of friends he needs in the regime. it's a one man regime but

there is a lot of faxzs underneath kim jong il and now kim jong un. the military which is important. the security services and the party. obviously kim jong un doesn't have those networks to be able to say push a button and get what he wants. >> shepard: does the fact that the dear leader has named a dear successor mean that kim the younger will be the successor or is there the possibility of a power struggle. >> both. he will be the successor but maybe not for very long. you have generals who really want to take over on their own. there are two regents that kim jong il appointed to take care of his son the sister and the military. the military detests those guys. they're the strongest in the country. >> shepard: who has their finger on the button, the nuclear button, is there one. >> we did up until friday and that was kim jong il. right now we don't because they're under the control of generals. those generals could sort of

split apart and, you know, the regime could just fractionize. >> shepard: are we getting anything out of that country except the woman with the trees behind her announcing he is dead. >> very little. they control everything so tightly. they keep their people down as gordon has said before. that makes it easier for them to control and easier to head off any potential rebellion so we're getting nothing. >> shepard: south korea. what's their mind set now. >> the stock market dropped 3% on the news. actually i thought it would drop more. south korea right now has got to be worried because kim jong un in order to bolster his legitimacy might authorize provocations like did he last year two attacks on the dright grijt fridge get. they will probably do the same thing. south korea is at risk. >> shepard: has anyone had contact with this dear successor? i mean -- >> -- not really. the only people who might have talked to him are visiting

chinese dignitaries. we are not even sure about that. >> shepard: we were looking over the video that the state television sent out today and watching these, i don't know, trying to find out where the people are. it looks as if they are showing some sort of emotion but i can't figure what it is because i see this crying but i haven't been able to find the tears that go with crying. >> no tears on that. what happened when kim ill un the father died there really were tears. >> shepard: quite a different thing. >> he was the fowrnted of north korea. he had a lot of legitimacy. kim jong il had a lot less legitimacy. he ran the country into the ground. he had behavior that offended st offended the older. >> shepard: ever been to the web site kim jong il looks at things? >> yes. >> shepard: he spent a lot of things looking at things. looking at fish now. he looks at a lot of things. here he is looking at a dvd

labeling machine. and always with the sunglasses. future so bright. >> that's what his dad did on site guidance tours. kim jong il has done the same thing. kim john un has followed his dad to do this because is he sort of learning on the job. >> shepard: gordon chang and jonathan hunt thank you so much. north korea fired two short range missiles less than 24 hours ago that's coming up inside "studio b." first though let's get to capitol hill. two weeks until many of us could lose a big chunk of our paychecks. it's really not so astounding to see what's happening on capitol hill. there is no deal to extend the payroll tax cut. there has been a whole lot of talk. they are very good at that this weekend the state okayed a bill or i should say the senate did that the senate majority leader or i should say minority leader mitch mcconnell said was, quote, not designed to fail but designed to pass. but it's looking now like republicans are voting it down

anyway, sonar of all stunners. mike emanuel on capitol hill. what are they saying this time, mike. >> the frank and -- rank and file in the republic party didn't like it. killing the plan 60 day of the extension of the payroll tax holiday. bottom line speaker john boehner says he believes it is bad for job creators. it creates a lot of uncertainty with only a 60 day extension. here is speaker boehner from earlier today. he was asked whether he was ever on board with the senate plan. he said he just liked one key component. >> that's not true. what i was outlining was the fact that having the keystone pipeline in here was a success. but i raised concerns about the two month process from the moment that i heard about it. >> so republics will push for a one year extension of the payroll tax holiday. they have also jumped on a letter written by a nonpartisan group called the national payroll report

consortium. they say a two month extension would create mass chaos for the vast majority of american employers and employees. and so the republics are saying see, a two month extension wouldn't work, shep. >> shepard: yeah, okay. you wonder what they would pass through on any subject whatsoever. what are democrats saying? >> well, they are frustrated because senate majority leader harry reid points out that 39 republicans in the united states senate voted to pass this extension of the payroll tax holiday. senator reid saying mcconnell and i negotiated a compromise at speaker boehner's request. i will not reopen negotiations until the house follows through and passes this agreement. that was negotiated by republic leaders and supported by 90% of the senate. it is not clear at this point how this showdown will all play out, shep. >> shepard: mike emanuel at the rotunda this afternoon. thank you. a man claims his little girl disappeared from the home in the middle of the night.

cops say both parents are cooperating. what happened to this cute little toddler? that's the main question of the day. get to the search next. man, have you seen this storm? a giant winter storm is now dumping snow across the southwestern u.s. and this one is just getting started. where is it headed as christmas day approaches? we will check in with the fox extreme weather center on a beautiful monday in "studio b."

>> shepard: federal agents are joining in the hunt for little girl who disappeared from her bedroom in the middle of the night from maine. her father says he last saw 20 month old reynolds friday night asleep in her bed. when he woke up on saturday morning the bed was empty. we are told her parents are separated. the police confirm each parent is cooperating with the investigation. the toddler wearing pajamas with the words daddy's princess and a soft cast on her right arm which we are told she broke several weeks ago. laura ingle is with us from our newsroom this afternoon. what role do we know about these parents and what role either of them might have played as far as the police investigation goes. >> according to the mother the two of them hadn't spoken since she went missing and hadn't been getting along. the father has been unavailable for comment. trista reynolds said she filed paperwork seeking sole custody of her daughter the day before she went missing but doesn't

believe the girl's father knew about the filing and says she wants answers from, quote, the last man to see my daughter. there were two other adult notice father's the night she disappeared neither were family members. state police say they have interviewed both of them. for now, this is being treated as a missing child case. >> there are all types of possibilities and we need to see where the information and the evidence lead us. we have a number of agencies here with a number of resources that are all working together in an attempt to try to find aila. again, that's our primary goal and we will continue to do that. >> canine units were brought in over the weekend to track the little girl's subsequent scent but so far have found nothing. they have been canvassing the whole area. today search crews which include game wardens looking at a stream an eighth of the mile from the father's house. the state police can vasd the neighborhood over the weekend looking for any sign of the miss second degree 0 month old

girl. one resident reportedly found a sip pay cup in the neighborhood and turned it over to police. no word if there is any connection. 2 feet 9 inches tall weighing 30 pounds. blodged hair. she broke her arm in an accidental fall three weeks ago which put her in that soft cast which you mentioned. if you have any information, you are urged to call waterville police. the number there on your screen. we will continue to follow this for you, shep. >> shepard: thank you. laura ingle in the newsroom. a fox winter weather alert now and a storm with blizzard conditions is now barreling across the united states' southwest. our meteorologist janice dean is live in the extreme weather center. this thing is a a monster. >> it is. every week we have been talking about a storm system hitting this very area the southwest. this one is different because we're going to be dealing with incredible snow totals, shepard, and winds in excess of 40, even 50 mirption. just getting its act together now we are starting to see the snow continue across

albuquerque, bleb below and across the panhandle as that cold air sinks southward and eastward. that's going to meet up with the moisture. a quick turnover to a lot of snow and a very short period of time. in some cases 10 to 20 inches with gusts in excess in some cases of 50 miles per hour. so blizzard advisories are up for those very areas, shep. >> shepard: all across there i see a lot of red. where is this headed next, janice do we know. >> it's going to head eastward. it's going to lose a little steam. tonight into tomorrow morning that's the critical area where we're going to see those blizzard conditions heading into tuesday across kansas and in the texas and oklahoma panhandles and then again portions of kansas by tuesday morning but then watch how quickly the storm exits and lifts over the ohio river valley. mainly just a rain event. so the snow is going to be sequestered to the southwest. back to you. >> shepard: sequestered even. janice dean in the extreme weather center. great to see you. thank you. more than 900 people reported

dead. most of them women and children one of the worst disasters to hit this country, the philippines in decades. we're told the remnants of a tropical storm dumped a month's worth of rain in a matter of hours friday night. now officials on a southern island in the philippines say mass burials are underway because the bodies are quite literally piling up and the morgues are full. rescue teams continue to search the thick mud and debris for any survivors on that island. the red cross now reports some 800 people are believed to still be missing. well, if your private medical records aren't already on some computer server, they probably soon will be. so what happens when hackers find their way under the servers that hold your medical records? it has happened. the question now who is to blame and that's next. plus, another straw poll puts newt gingrich and mitt romney in the front of the pack in iowa. there is another name in the

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>> shepard: there are new concerns over the vulnerability of personal medical records. the centers for disease control and prevention say 57% of office space doctor now have digitized those records. criminals can steal or hack into those disks or computers according to one security research group such breech breach cost $6.5 billion last year and up a third this year. last spring one thief reportedly stole a health workers' laptop with personal information on more than

13,000 patients, information including social security numbers and birth dates. so, with electronic health records likely to stay where does that leave patient security? let's take it to the lawyers. former prosecutor and fox news legal analyst are arthur aidala and defense attorney randy zellen. kind of weird having last i read one in three medical records online has been hacked? >> the hackers are hacking everything. so why not hack the medical records, what's even scarier apparently oftentimes they are not necessarily targeting medical records, they see a laptop, they grab it it they don't know what's on it and lo and behold there are thousands and thousands of patient's stuff. i just got my blood work back. the doctor called today. i wouldn't be real happy camper if they said oh randy by the way somebody hacked into our computer and your stuff is out there on the net. >> shepard, it's the way technology is moving forward.

we're not doing a great job of it now of being smart about it look, fox is a very -- you can't just hack into the computers here. >> shepard: i hope not. >> i may be oversimplifying it when the american motor car had to reduce its side. for the made a car called the pinto. >> shepard: that went real well. '74. >> it would blow up. it exploded people were dying that was technology advancing. this is technology advancing. the benefits are if you are in oxford and you get sick and your doctor get online with new york doctor and see your blood work and allergies and whatever medications you are on. the positives in my opinion outweigh the negatives, it's just technology has to cap -- catch up. >> complete and utter lack of common sense. the government says hey doctors tell you what, we are going to save you money and give you money if you digitize. so the doctors do just what at they need. they don't make sure the stuff

is encrypted this way someone can hack in. that costs money. the government should either do nothing and leave it the way it was in the old days. are we better off now with all of this technology? $6.5 billion. >> under the situation i just described if an individual is another state and that doctor could go online and see the medical records of someone else, that same person from another state of course we are better off. >> what about in the old days, you could fangs it, -- fax it, call up on the phone. >> shepard: 3:00 a.m. in the morning. on the phone at 3:00 a.m. >> hillary clinton i hope we are talking about. >> bill: that's all i know about 3:00 a.m. >> randy, what about the lawsuits that are coming out of this and shepard, what's interesting is their hospital hires a company to encrypt these records, et cetera, et cetera. but when everything gets messed up, it's the company it's the hospital that's in trouble not the company who didn't do their job.

>> shepard: how did the blood work go? why do you care if somebody steals it. >> just making an example. someone could photo shop my blood work and god knows what i will have. >> shepard: i don't know if god does know. randy and arthur. the dear leader, don't you miss him? >> wild story. >> shepard: have you ever been to that web site kim jong il looks at things. >> point you made people coming out and crying. >> shepard: some of them almost look like they were laughing. >> run the country between math and science and study hall? >> shepard: you mean the new guy. is he kind of young. is he dead -- they tell us he is dead. i don't know. show me the body. the north korean leader kim jong il is dead here, reportedly dead. concerns over the nuclear arsenal is very much alive. coming up warnings of a new gift card scam.

you have heard about this? you have heard about it? what you can do to avoid becoming a victim like there is no money on the card once you go to use it we can help you stop that approaching the bottom of the hour, top of the news on a monday's "studio b."

woman: my father came to america selling fishcakes from the back of his truck, and in 1942, of course, they were sent away. after the war, as a japanese coming back from camp, he started a little store on main street in seattle. of course they needed some money, and bank of america was the only bank who would talk to my father. and we've stayed with bank of america. we have four stores now, three in the pacific northwest and one in oregon. my parents would not believe how popular it is now.

>> shepard: i'm shepard smith. this is "studio b." it's the bottom of the hour, time for the top of the news. the death of north korea's dear leader kim jong il could present a brand new challenge to white house diplomacy. the nuclear nation keeps a very tight lid on any information about its military and weapons program. u.s. officials say the country already test-fired two short range missiles less than 24 hours ago the white house reports president obama spoke with counter part around midnight saying the u.s. will not abandon its friends in the region. >> we have reaffirmed our unwavering commitment to the security of our allies south korea and japan.

>> shepard: keep in mind our military is already stationed some 75,000 troops there. many of them right on the border between the north and the south. wendell goler is live at the white house for us. wendell, let's start with what we know about the north korean military and nuclear arsenal. >> there were talks expected this week on the program. basically that might have led to a resumed u.s. food aid to north korea if international monitors had been in place to monitor the distribution of that aid. that seen as a step toward resuming the six party talks aimed at getting the north koreans to dismantle their nuclear arsenal. those preliminary talks now thought to be on hold at least until after the official mourning period ends on december 29th. the korean leader's death dominated talks today between secretary of state hillary clinton and japan's foreign minister here in washington. mrs. clinton says the u.s. has reached out to other countries

concerned about stability on the korean peninsula. >> we both share a common interest in a peaceful and stable transition in north korea as well as in ensuring regional peace and stability. we have been in close touch with our partners in the six party talks today. president obama and president lee spoke last night. i spoke with foreign minister kim early this morning. south korea's military on high alert. u.s. forces on the mill ter militarized forces are not. >> shepard: what concern is the white house stressing. >> the white house down stressing this at least right now. kim jong un the 27-year-old third son or pardon me son of kim jong il's third wife is really inanything matchett we

know very little about him. that period coincided with some provocations by north korea. an attack on a submarine shelling of a south korean fishing village on the border. still, press secretary jay carney said just a moment ago the u.s. doesn't have any new concerns, if you will, about south korea's nuclear arsenal. here is a bit of what he had to say. >> i don't think we have any additional concerns beyond the ones that we have long had with north korea's approach to nuclear issues. and we will continue to press them to meet their international obligations. we have no new concerns as a result of this event. >> carney and other u.s. officials right now refusing to assess kim jong un, his

potential as a leader. shepard? >> shepard: wendell goler at the white house. thank you. joining us now is nicholas burns the former state department under secretary and u.s. ambassador to nato. he teaches diplomacy and international politics at harvard's kennedy school. sir, good to see you. >> thanks, shep. good to be with you. >> shepard: tell us how to think about. this. >> you know, we know very little about the internal workings of the north korean regime and it's a very mysterious situation. i think that this is unpredictable times. kim jong un may very well take power it may be on a de facto basis there are other figures who have a greater amount of power. sitting tight is very important. expressing strong support for the south korean and japanese government as both president obama and secretary clinton have done this morning. they have done the right things in doing that making sure that the north korean leadership understands the strength of our alliance with south korea and japan any kind

of adventurism. any kind of military action would be absolutely beyond the pale at this point. i think that's where the administration is putting its attention. it's what it should be doing. >> shepard: north korea reports that the dear leader died on saturday and nobody knew anything until monday north korean time. what does this us about south korea's intelligence there and for that matter the rest of the world's? >> it just tells us that this is one of the most closed regimes in the world. one of the most incommunicative and aauthoritarian. this third son of kim jong il, kim jong un is 28, 29 years old. we know very little about him. is he going to get on-the-job training with a country with a nuclear program. that makes an element of uncertainty to an already difficult situation on the korean peninsula all the more

reap for the united states to be very tough-minded for our support for south korea. obama administration has sent those good signals today. >> >> shepard: do we know any degree of certitude who controls the military and red button so to speak? >> we don't. obviously there is senior people in the military who have been there a long time and also other members of the kim jong il family including his daughter and son-in-law who have a lot more experience than kim jong un, the 28-year-old who may now take over. this is going to be a transition of sorts and we just don't know who is going to be up, who is going to be down. whether or not this young man going to wield the kind of power his father. it may be. others may hold that power at least on a de facto basis. >> shepard: nicholas, thank you very much. >> thank you, shep. >> shepard: now to a warning about a holiday scam that i mentioned in the last lock

block. the new york democratic senator chuck schumer pointing out that some gift cards could be a sham that he calls a free buffet for scammers and crooks. gerri willis is with us on this news. scam? what kind of scam? >> if you are out there and buying gift cards this week. maybe you got desperate. you couldn't find the gift you wanted to. watch out your scammers are going into stores where they sell these gift cards on end caps right out in front. what they do is take a magnetic strip scanner. steal that activation number off the back and wait for you to activate that card and come in behind you and take all the money off of. >> it make sure whatever card you buy doesn't have a bar code that you can scan. >> yeah. that would help. make sure the card hasn't been tampered with. you. to make sure that everything you are buying is there. and avoid the cards on prominent display. you want to get those cards behind the cash register. >> the dow was down 106. what's that? >> it's not much.

>> shepard: not much to who. >> the stocks were thinly traded today. not much going on. any kind of move will make that dow move around. >> shepard: volume is light between now and christmas. >> well said. >> shepard: i'm asking. >> that's true. keeping our eyes on europe. people are thinking we are not really confident about what's going on in europe. >> shepard: nothing on kim jong il or kim jong un. >> they don't care. it's interesting. they don't care. it's a tiny economic input. we have g.d.p. per head of 40,000. he had have g.d.p. per head of $1,800. >> shepard: the only thing they make is weapons. they don't grow food. >> no food. >> shepard: only the leaders are fat. no one sells fat they are skinny. >> only leaders is crying. >> shepard: we can't find a tear in the bunch. e. gerri, we will watch for you on the willis report on the business network. on the presidential politics success comes are with scrutiny. newt gingrich is no as he tries to get the republic nomination. have you heard what republicans and prominent republicans are now saying

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>> shepard: fox news is america's election headquarters 15 days until the caucuses in iowa. candidates are looking for tea party support. newt gingrich is the winner of the last night's straw poll of tea party voters. before the vote of some 20,000 activists the former speaker of the house and former governor mitt romney of massachusetts gave their best pitches on the economic forum a tele forum. >> >> what i would do at the federal level is eliminate programs. number two, i return programs back to the states. and then number 3, i will reduce the federal employees that remain by at least 10% and link their pay to that which exists in the private sector. >> when i was speaker we made the decision to balance the budget. it took us about three years. we then balanced it for four straight years. paid off $405 billion in debt.

and it worked very effectively very very hard work. >> newt gingrich in first. 231%. anyone society congresswoman michele bachmann 28%. mitt romney 20%. ron paul way down there. the republic candidates are all over the hawkeye state today, carl. >> newt gingrich is here in davenport where he will be holding a town hall style meeting in a few minutes. much of the polls notwithstanding his tea party patriots straw poll win last night suggest that mr. gingrich's polls might be slipping crnlably. tea party was huge force in 2010 and they have been very loud and demanding in the presidential race. but enemy ways, they simply represent yet another part of the conservative coalition in the republic party. that makes up primary and caucus voters gingrich's success in that straw poll is hard to assess. national collection of votes

initiated by tea partiers on their own behalf instead of being selected and screened it does suggest that he has still got a lot of momentum behind him nationally. the problem is the national poll, particularly the gallup survey today suggests that newt gingrich has plummeted a fairly astonishing 15 points just in the last two weeks. there was a time two weeks ago where he had peaked at over 30% now the latest gallup poll suggests statistical tie with mitt romney. mr. gingrich has to get his campaign in accelerated high gear right away. he lacks in organization owe doesn't have as much as his rifles. depends on his ability to rally the forces in a way that has never been done before. >> shepard: newt is slipping with, well, is he strong with tea party sliching overall. who is gaining? >> that's the big question here in iowa. obviously mitt romney is the absolute beneficiary that he is top of the polls with newt gingrich and battling back and for the.

the next person to most benefit is ron paul.tied in a te against the other two. certainly top tier. very deep organization in iowa. on the air with a whole canvassing of the airwaves with attack ads and ads promoting himself. in addition rick 'perry has risen a little bit in the polls in the last several days. he has been on the air and in the middle of very aggressive bus tour take him to 45 cities before the caucuses are over. lastly rick santorum the former pennsylvania senator who complained for some weeks that he wasn't getting appropriate attention in the debates and couldn't get herd is now being heard by caucus goers. evangelical christians, social conservatives giving him a second look. he has been working it very hard. outside of the polls, in the audiences and on the street. a lot of undecides seem to be talking about the former pennsylvania senator. watch for him to start surging in the last two weeks as well. >> shepard: carl, thanks. go to washington.

karen andretti is there. worked for fred thompson presidential campaign and arnold schwarzenegger's gubernatorial campaign and watching all of this along with us. i'm listening to the chatter not among everybody but among republics about newt gingrich a few quotes. representative peter king a republic of new york said and i quote, i haven't -- wait, i have had any number of members of congress come over to me and thank you me. they said this guy is going to kill us if he gets the nomination speaking of newt gingrich. then there is this from representative charles bass. new hampshire republic who was elected with gingrich in 19 the 4. he says i don't see speaker gingrich having ach r. an appeal with the independent vote. largest vote in my state and it's obviously my base along with the republic vote suggested his own vulnerability if he wins. megyn mccain john mccain's daughter said on another network newt gingrich winning the nomination is the death of

the republic party as we know it what's going on. >> i wouldn't put a lot of stock in what meghan mccain says. >> shepard: what about peter king. >> a lot of stock in what peter king says and tom coburn says. he has been adamant that he will not support newt gingrich for president. >> shepard: what's with the pile-on. >> i think the pile-on is those who know him best are most frightened of him winning the nomination. >> shepard: frightened? >> i truly and i do not use that word lightly. >> shepard: no i don't. >> frightened of him winning the nomination. look, he is already doing the little things that aren't getting a lot of attention that people inside d.c. are used to. fringes, he -- for instance, he came out recently and said he would like to see a floating three way constitutional system whereby two branches could overrule a third branch. >> bill: overrule the judiciary? >> no.

the judiciary, the executive, and the legislative. any one of those two could get together and overrule a third. now, that's radical. that's the sort of radical idea and thinking outloud that really scares these people. it's not going to appeal to independent voters. >> shepard: then there is ron paul the latest flavor of the week. is he on the way up and people are chatting about that. >> yeah. look, you know, the latest polls coming out show that ron paul has the momentum going into iowa newt is losing momentum. 15 days to go until the january 3rd caucus. this is no surprise to a lot of people who have been he paying very close attention. >> karen hanretty live with us. a fun 15 days. good to see you. >> it will. it is fun. >> shepard: is he a college professor who got fired after he gave well known actor james franco a d in his film class. the teacher claims the hollywood star skipped 12 of 14 classes and fell asleep

during one of the ones he attended. so now the teacher is suing the school because it fired him. over james franco. hang on. this new at&t 4g lte is fast. did you hear sam... ...got promoted to director? so 12 seconds ago. we should get him a present. thanks for the gift basket. you're welcome. you're welcome. did you see hr just sent out new... ...office rules? cause you're currently in violation of 6 of them. oh yeah, baby? ...and 7. did you guys hear that fred is leaving? so 30 seconds ago. [ noisemakers blow ] [ both ] we'll miss you! oh, facecake! there's some leftover cake.

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>> shepard: new york university. nyu professor is suing the school to get his job back. that professor says he was canned for giving an award winning actor, who was also his student, a d. the actor, the golden globe winner james franco. the teacher says james franco blew off 12 of 14 classes while pursuing a masters in fine arts and earlier this year a student at nyu posted a photo on facebook of james franco fast asleep mouth open during a lecture. some background about james franco according to the

network movie database franco acted in about 69 movies and tv shows including the spiderman trilogy, 127 hours, eat, pray love with julia roberts. he co-hosted academy awards with an hath away. a spokesman for the nyu called the lawsuit ridiculous. to the professor's lawsuit now, the lawyers are back. arthur aidala. i don't know. >> 12 of 14. that's 13 of the% of the time he was asleep. one time he was asleep. eat pray sleep? what do you think randy zell lynn's grade would be? i say to mr. franco, look at yourself in the mirror. what did you really deserve? the man sought of a job because of this. are they going to yank your stag card because you got a d?

>> he is going to get his masters in fine arts. people think he was just there for the class for fun. >> >> he wasn't there. >> shepard, i cannot believe that nyu is going to walk into a courtroom and say yes we fired this professor for giving this guy a d. my guess is they are going to have a laundry list of things that the professor did wrong, policies he didn't follow. having nothing to do with james. >> last i checked teacher say how many cuts. some say you don't have to come to class just do the work. james franco said he did the work. >> that's what doesn't make sense to me. what makes sense to me is that the school had didn't gripes with this particular professor and it's just a coincidence he gave franco a d. i don't think nyu gives a -- >> shepard: careful. >> i don't think they care a lot about james franco and what his grade was. >> somebody smarter than i once said if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck,.

>> shepard: quacks like a duck. >> what an amazing coincidence that here we are, here is a guy no problems, no issues, suddenly gives franco a d. is he out of a job. >> all right. he is going nowhere. >> shepard: we will follow it. what you pay to go to nyu they ought to pass everybody. an arm and freakin' leg in that place. cavuto is up next. a lump sum of cash today. [ male announcer ] if you think tylenol is the pain reliever orthopedic doctors recommend most for arthritis pain, think again. and take aleve. it's the one doctors recommend most for arthritis pain... two pills can last all day. ♪

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