Rubio Claims He's "Not a Scientist"; David Beckham's Last Days in MLs
BERMAN: All right. At this very moment, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is on her way to Israel to join the effort to broker a Mideast ceasefire. From more on U.S. response to this conflict, we turn to foreign affairs correspondent Jill Dougherty right now. Jill, what do we know about the Secretary's travel plans?</s>JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is pretty dramatic, John, because after all, remember, Secretary Clinton is on a big Asia trip with the President of the United States. He is just abruptly sends her to the Middle East. She jumps on a plane and heads off from Cambodia to the region. Now, she's going to be meeting, of course, with the Israelis, with Benjamin Netanyahu, we believe. And then she'll also be going to the Palestinian Authority to Ramallah. That is kind of a question mark because actually Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority, really has been sidelined in all of this. There's not a lot that he can really do because after all, Gaza is controlled by Hamas. And that is considered by the United States a terrorist organization. And then finally, you have Egypt, and that's really the key. She'll go to Cairo. Egypt is playing the crucial role in this. That new government of Mohamed Morsi who himself is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. There's a lot of sympathy in Egypt for Hamas. But on the other hand, Egypt does want to play a constructive role because they know that they need the help of the United States, the help of the E.U., the help of the international community for their economy. So it's a very delicate type of balance. Hillary Clinton knows the players. She's met several times with Benjamin Netanyahu. She's met with Mahmoud Abbas, and she really knows the issues, so she's the perfect person to do it.</s>BERMAN: Jill, it is speculation, but it seems to me that the Secretary of State would not be on her way to the Middle East at this moment if a ground invasion were imminent. That is not a split-screen picture that the U.S. would like to see, no doubt. But as you said, a lot of what she'll be doing is working the allies. That's what the President's been doing, on the phone with Turkey, with Egypt, with countries in the region trying to stabilize the overall area. Why is that?</s>DOUGHERTY: Well, absolutely. In fact, Secretary Clinton has been making even more phone calls than the President, as you can understand. The President has a lot of things that he was trying to do on this Asia trip which has been overshadowed by all of this. But she has been on the phone to all of the key players multiple times. I mean, I counted at least three times she's been talking with the Egyptians. The President, too, talked about three times with the Egyptians. So, she -- this is really a continuation of that diplomacy, trying to, at this point, bring some type of diplomatic solution. They feel they have a little bit of a breathing space, but I think you're right, there's not a lot of time here. She has to move fast.</s>BERMAN: All right. Jill Dougherty in Washington, thanks so much.</s>BALDWIN: Eighteen minutes past the hour here. You're watching EARLY START. Let's go to Christine Romans with the day's top stories. And with everything happening in the Middle East, we were just talking oil prices. Are they --</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I watched oil prices. They were up almost 3 percent yesterday. They were down a little bit this morning. We'll continue to watch the markets and their reaction to what's happening in the Middle East. Meantime, a new poll from the Pew Research Center finds that more Americans are concerned about the fiscal cliff than the scandal involving former CIA Director David Petraeus -- 36 percent of Republicans, 35 percent of Democrats and 31 percent of independents say they are following the debate on the fiscal cliff very closely. How does that compare with the Petraeus affair? Well, only 28 percent of Republicans, 21 percent of Democrats and 19 percent of independents are following the investigation, quote, "very closely". Florida Senator Marco Rubio didn't give an answer when asked by "GQ" magazine how old the earth is. His response? "I'm not a scientist, man." Scientists estimated the Earth to be more than 4 .5 million years old. Rubio tells "GQ" there are, quote, "multiple theories out there on how the university is created and I think this is a country where people should have the opportunity to teach them all." Conservation experts are teaming up with federal agents to investigate the violent deaths of bottlenose dolphins along the northeast -- of northern Gulf Coast, rather. One of the dolphins was shot. Another was stabbed with a screwdriver. The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies says at least six dolphins have died from foul play since January. After spending six years in Los Angeles, soccer superstar David Beckham will be leaving the L.A. Galaxy after the MLS Cup Game on December 1st. Monday's announcement comes just 10 months after Beckham signed a new two-year contract with the team. Beckham says he wants to, quote, "experience one last challenge before the end of my playing career."</s>BERMAN: What is the challenge?</s>ROMANS: Mystery.</s>BERMAN: It's money. It's China. It's Dubai. There are rumors of Brazil. You know, his best days, David Beckham does a lot of things well and represents a lot of things well, but his best playing days are behind him. He's looking for one last big payday.</s>ROMANS: But how much longer will he look like this?</s>BALDWIN: That's what we want to know. Thank you, Christine Romans. Question for you: is the value here of your home, is it finally going up? We do have some good news for you this morning here on the housing market. We're going to tell you all about that coming up next. Twenty minutes past the hour. You're watching EARLY START on CNN.