Cuba Pardons Prisoners; Gingrich, Perry Out of VA Primary; Obama Finally on Vacation
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to reset this thing on this CNN Saturday morning on this Christmas eve. Here is a look at some of the stories that are making headlines. We start in Syria where the president there is blaming terrorists for twin suicide bombing in Damascus. Opposition groups however say yesterday's attacks are the work of the regime. One opposition group says violence this week killed almost 300 people. Also something we are watching out of Russia. This morning thousands of people braving the bitter cold in Moscow to protest what they claim are rigged elections. They're calling into question parliamentary elections earlier this month and returned Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's party to power. Also in Cuba, the government will pardon nearly 3,000 prisoners, set them free. The Castro administration published an announcement saying prisoners over the age of 60, women as well as sick inmates are among those being released. President Raul Castro cited the upcoming visit of Pope Benedict as the reason for the pardon. Just past the top of the hour here. We turn to some politics and the battle for Republican president just got a little tougher for Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry. Both candidates failed to qualify for the Virginia primary in March. They didn't come up with enough valid signatures. Virginia is not only an important super Tuesday state, it is the state where Newt Gingrich currently lives. Our Athena Jones has been on this for us this morning. Athena, I was talking to some of our political players this morning and they could not say strongly enough just how big of a deal and embarrassment this is. If you're a serious candidate. You got to be on the ballot in an important state like Virginia.</s>ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, exactly. Of course, you have to be on the ballot and as you mentioned, Newt Gingrich is living in Virginia. The most recent Quinnipiac poll had him at the top of the polls there, about five points ahead of Romney. And so it looked like he could do well in that state. There are 49 delegates at stake. But you can't do well if you're not on the ballot as you mentioned. That is the real problem here. It really does show what a lot of people have been asking questions about these last several weeks when we've seen Gingrich surging in the polls. It's really whether he has the campaign organization to do this long slog. Whether he has the ground game as you'll know. As you remember from back in 2008 it ended up being a really long slogan. It is important to rack up these wins in state primaries and caucuses. That's where Obama ended up besting Hillary Clinton was by racking up those wins sometimes in various states that maybe she wasn't paying attention to. And so it really, really matters to be on the ballot and in all of these states especially a state where he was expected to do pretty well in.</s>T.J. HOLMES: OK. We know there are several candidates but only a couple are going to actually be on the ballot in Virginia.</s>JONES: Right. So Mitt Romney and Ron Paul get to divide up those delegates and that is a big deal. We don't know as I mentioned, you know, where the campaigns will stand, who will have how many delegates by March. It's not one of the first primaries but it is just a really important state and as these - your earlier guests mentioned and as we all know it really matters whether you have the organization and so people who may have been giving Gingrich a real look before might now be scratching their heads and thinking maybe he doesn't have it all together. That is a real problem clearly for him and for Perry.</s>HOLMES: All right. Athena Jones for us this weekend in Washington. Thank you as always.</s>JONES: Thanks.</s>HOLMES: We're going to turn back to one of the candidates who is on the ballot in Virginia. We're talking about Ron Paul. And a problem, an old problem just won't seem to go away for him. Some old newsletters are being deemed racist and homophobic. Our Brian Todd looks at the letters and the issues that continue to haunt this Republican presidential candidate.</s>BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): As he surges in the polls before Iowa, Ron Paul is again having to defend himself over language in a letter written on his behalf. We've reported recently and in previous campaigns how Ron Paul has disavowed newsletters with his name on them, newsletters from the 1980s and '90s with racial insults toward African-Americans and others. With those newsletters Paul said he didn't write them, didn't know who did, and that he rarely read them. Now we're learning of a solicitation letter for those newsletters not only written on Paul's behalf but with what appears to be his signature on them. And the language is incendiary. In the direct mail letter, it warns of "the coming race war in our big cities." It mentions, "the federal homosexual cover-up on aids and then says in brackets "my training as a physician helps me see through this one." It references the Israeli lobby, which plagues Congress like a cheap harmonica. The letter is an effort to get people to send in money to subscribe to three newsletters put out by Paul, including one called "Surviving the New Money" where they lay out what they say is a government conspiracy to track people through new currency. But unlike those letters, there is one item worth mentioning with the solicitation letter. This letter has Ron Paul's signature indicating possibly a closer connection. The Reuters News Agency, which first reported on this and obtained a copy of the letter says this solicitation was written around 1993. Reuters says it got the letter from James Karcik, contributing editor of "The New Republic" magazine. We contacted Ron Paul's campaign. In an e-mail to CNN campaign chairman Jessie Benton said "Dr. Paul did not write that solicitation and the signature is an auto pen. It does not reflect his thoughts and is out of step with the message he has espoused for 40 years." The campaign says Paul disavows the letter, abhors that content. They say there were multiple ghost writers involved in writing all these letters and that Paul does not know who wrote the offensive material. But the campaign also says that because they appeared under his name, "He should have better policed it and that he has assumed responsibility and apologized." We also tried to find out whether Ron Paul's campaign is going to try to find out who wrote the letter and maybe admonish that person. We didn't hear back. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.</s>HOLMES: Six minutes past the hour now. You can join CNN Tuesday, January 3rd, for live coverage of the Iowa caucuses. A special live "America's Choice" 2012 coverage of the caucuses begins Tuesday night, January 3rd, at 7:00 Eastern time. A lot of you all aren't done yet. It's Christmas eve. And you got something to do today. You forgot a couple of gifts. You got to head out to the mall. But we will be out there with some of those last- minute shoppers in New Jersey. Our Alison Kosik, we sent her out and we'll talk to her and see who she has been talking to. Also our Reynolds Wolf has the important forecast for you. Good morning to you once again.</s>WOLF: Good morning, T.J.. We got two big weather stories we're following. First and foremost your travel weather. You got to know what is going to happen out there if you're trying to get from one side of the country to the other or just right down the street to get those last minute presents you're referring to. The second big thing we're following is who is getting a white Christmas and who is going to miss out on Mr. Snow man? We're going to let you know, coming up in a few moments, T.J..