>> pelley: tonight, rick perry races to save his presidential campaign. he falls out of the sad until another debate. >> commerce, education around and the um... what's the third one there? >> pelley: the governor calls for calm after penn state students riot in the roe test of the firing of coach joe paterno. after his wife suffered with cancer, mark davis devoted himself to a new and better treatment. jon lapook has his remarkable story. and just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water-- no, not jaws, whales. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening, presidential campaigns are often defined in a moment. for rick perry, that moment came last night and it lasted 53 seconds-- an eternity for the

texas governor as he struggled through another debate and seemed lost in one of his practiced talking points. today, perry threw out his schedule and stepped in front of every t.v. camera he could find to try to erase the gaffe, but he was competing against a video of those awkward seconds that went viral on the internet tod today. >> it's three agencies of government when i get that are gone. commerce, education, and the... um... what's the third one there? (laughter) let's see. >> you need five. >> oh, five. okay. so commerce, education and um, the, um... um... >> e.p.a.? >> e.p.a., there you go. (laughter) >> seriously, is e.p.a. the one you were talking about... >> no, sir, no, sir. we were talking about the... um... agencies of government... e.p.a. needs to be rebuilt. >> but you can't name the third one? >> the third agency of

government? i would do away with the education, the um... >> commerce. >> commerce. and let's see. i can't. the third one i can't. sorry. oops. >> pelley: perry was supposed to go to tennessee today but he ditched that plan to come to new york so he could appear on eight television programs one of them, david letterman, in the top ten segment perry will give his top ten excuses for his debate debacle. cbs news political analyst john dickerson is in spar on theburg, south carolina, the site of the next john debate. john, this isn't the first time we've asked you this question after a debate, can rick perry recover? >> what he was trying to do today was to show in full damage control mode that there's some other person in than that character but also send a message to donors and supporters that he's in the race to fight for the nomination.

after the lackluster debate performances people worried his heart wasn't in it. the message today with this frantic activity was his heart is in it and he's in it until the end. >> pelley: saturday night, spartanburg, all the republican candidates will be there to talk about foreign policy. how important is that debate to the perry campaign? >> the perry campaign knows it's very important. it's one thing to have a brain freeze, it's another thing to be unfit far key job in commander in chief. perry has been studying hard for this debate. he's been talking to former ambassador john bolton, getting advice on foreign policy and what the campaign hopes is that he will be able to have a solid enough performance in this debit that they can say on the substance he knows what he's talking about even if he momentarily gets tongue tied. >> thank you very much. perry lost his front-runner status after getting lost in a previous debate weeks ago. dean reynolds today is with the candidates who are benefiting the most.

reporter: a potential beneficiary of rick perry's political pratt fall had a big smile on his face as he stumped through michigan today. >> whoo, it's cool out here! >> how do you think you did last night? >> i think i did well. >> reporter: and mitt romney seemed satisfied, too. at the debate he rebutted questions about his legendary inconsistency. >> i think people understand that i'm a man of steadiness and constancy. >> reporter: but for romney, the steadiness and constantly also applies to his support among fellow republicans which has never exceeded 25% in our cbs news polling. for herman cain, the troubles of a like-minded conservative like perry could be a plus. >> good to see you! >> you're gonna win! >> reporter: some in the crowd waited two hours to hear hip in ypsilanti. stephanie basar was one. >> he seems honest true even in light of what's been going on this last week. >> reporter: the reference was to the accusations by at least four women who say cain acted

inappropriately with they want. he's denied wrongdoing and blamed the perry campaign, the news media, democrats or others for stirring up trouble. >> since they can't kill the ideas, they're trying to attack my integrity and my character. but the american people are not buying that. they are sick of gutter politics. >> reporter: later at kalamazoo he conceded it's been a trying time. >> over the last couple of weeks i've been through hell. (laughter) it didn't kill me or slow us down one bit. >> reporter: scott, while cain downot in the clear yet, his campaign claims to have raised more than $2 million in the last ten days just as this storm was breaking over him. >> thanks very much, dean. as we mentioned, the next republican debate is saturday evening. you can see it here on cbs and on cbsnews.com at 8:00 eastern

time. pennsylvania governor tom corbett called the penn state students who rioted last night "knuckle heads." they took to the streets after trustees fired head football coach joe paterno and the university president. a former assistant coach is accused of molesting young boys there. paterno told the university athletic director and a vice president about one alleged attack but paterno has been criticized for not telling the police. armen keteyian is following the story in state college pennsylvania. >> joe pa tern snow no longer the head football coach effective immediately. >> reporter: those 11 simple words from the trustee said off a seismic reaction in state college, pennsylvania, last night. >> joe pa! >> reporter: within minutes, thousands of students took to the streets outraged at the firing of their beloved head coach.

they overturned a television truck, knocked down light polls and battled with police for hours. sources tell cbs news the board of trustees' decision to remove the winningest coach in the history of major college football was, in the end, a matter of weigh paying tern know's 60-year legacy against deep damage to penn state's image, its brand, and a football program that generates more than $70 million a year. >> what we're doing what we believe in our best judgment is in the best long-term interest of the university which is much larger than athletic programs. >> reporter: throughout a packed peres conference, surma deflect it had tough questions tied to the child sex abuse scandal. should coach pa tern foe have alerted the police when he first learned of the sexual abuse allegations in 2002? >> i don't know that i can characterize the board's view on specific determinations like that. our view is a more... a larger view of what was necessary to move the university in the right

direction. >> reporter: 8 the 84-year-old paterno responded to the firing. >> get a good night's sleep. study. we still got things to do. all right. i'm out of it maybe now. >> reporter: he later issued a statement saying he was disappointed with the decision "but i have to accept it." paterno's undoing came at the hands of a man he trusted for more than 30 years-- former assistant coach jerry sandusky. sandusky retired in 1999 but continued to have access to the football facilities. school officials were aware of alleged assaults inside the locker room shower in both 2000 and 2002. but sandusky was reportedly seen working out in the facility as late as last week. >> i take this job with very mixed emotions. >> reporter: today interim head coach tom bradley held his first peres conference. not surprisingly, the legend he replaced was not far from his thoughts. >> coach paterno is... meant

more to me than anybody except my father and i don't want to get emotional and start talking about that, okay? >> reporter: penn state's decision to clean house is not just about protecting its image. from the people we've talked to, scott, it's also about protecting itself legally against what is expected to be a flood of civil lawsuits by the alleged victims. >> pelley: armen, one of the sex abuse cases was reported by an assistant coach back in the early 2000s, what's become of him? reporter: well, that assistant coach, michael mcquery was a grad assistant. he's now a coach at penn state. the interim coach said mcquery will keep his job, he will be at the game on saturday against nebraska but it will be a game-time decision as to whether he's on the field or up in the booth, scott. >> pelley: armen, thanks very much. the obama administration said today that it will hold off on making a final decision about a new oil pipeline between the u.s. and canada.

environmentalists have been critical of the project and today's announcement delays any action until after the presidential election. mark strassmann has been in calgary working on a story about the proposed pipeline. mark? >> reporter: until this month, scott, today's pipeline and the building of it seemed inevitable, even secretary of state hillary clinton said she was inclined to approve it. but today's delay therefore has stunned trans-canada, the company that would have built the pipeline and its c.e.o. is russ curley. >> to come to the conclusion that we need more study is obviously very disappointing to us and is going to be very, very disappointing for our customers. >> reporter: the $7 billion underground pipeline would carry oil 1700 miles from western canada through six u.s. states to refineries of heavy crude here in houston. supporters stay pipeline from canada's tar sand fields would create 20,000 jobs and reduce u.s. dependence on deoil from

the middle east. but opponents argued it was a potential environmental hazard that could have polluted an aquifer that supplies drinking water for eight states. the c.e.o. says the company will regroup with the u.s. state department next week about the next step and blamed environmentalists for hijacking the debate over the pipeline. >> the tragedy to the average american that manufactures things to supply the oil sands, whether it be tires, caterpillar tracker thes in pennsylvania. they're all over the united states. the average person out of work right now, this is a great opportunity to go back to work and we're throwing it out the door if we let this project die. >> reporter: even if trans-canada gets eventual approval, the earliest construction could begin some time in 2013. this delay allows president obama to put off a very tough decision. he was squeezed between environmentalists on one side and labor unions aching for jobs on the other. with this delay, scott, he won't have to decide until well after next year's election. >> pelley: mark thank you very much. how incinerated remains of

america's fallen heroes wound up in a waste dump. an oil engineer comes up with a promising treatment for cancer. and whale watching. the whales are watching back when the "cbs evening news" continues. food,

meet flavor. flavor, meet food. introducing swanson flavor boost. concentrated broth in easy to use packets. mix it into skillet dishes, for an instant dose of... hell-o!

[ female announcer ] new swanson flavor boost. vietnam, 1967. i got mine in iraq, 2003. u.s.a.a. auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation, because it offers a superior level of protection and because u.s.a.a.'s commitment to serve the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. begin your legacy. get an auto insurance quote. u.s.a.a. we know what it means to serve. [ harriat ] you hoo! [ female announcer ] must be the os-cal. only os-cal ultra has the most calcium and d3, plus 7 bone health nutrients. so you can always be strong, with os-cal. >> pelley: an american soldier was convicted today of murder and conspiracy.

it's a story david martin broke. staff sergeant cal again gibbs was charged with killing unarmed afghan civilians. gibbs admitted cutting off the fingers of the corpses to keep as war trophies. he faces life in prison. just when we thought the scandal over mishandled remains ofmainsf fallen american troops at dover air force base couldn't get any worse, it did today. david martin has been reporting on the investigation that led to a career-ending letter of reprimand for the commander of the mortuary and tonight david is at the pentagon with new developments. >> reporter: a landfill is no one's idea of a fitting resting place for a soldier fall in battle. >> no human being should be placed into a landfill, no matter if it's a fingernail, a foot or an entire body. >> reporter: yet that is what happened to gari-lynn smith's husband, sergeant first class scott smith who was blown apart by a roadside bomb in iraq in

2006. without her knowing, part of his body was incinerated and disposed of as medical waste in this virginia landfill. she found out two years after his funeral. >> i have honestly no idea what we buried of him because they forbid me to see him in the casket. >> reporter: smith's parents signed this form authorizing the mortuary at dover air force base in delaware to make appropriate disposition of any subsequent portions of his body identified through d.n.a. testing. >> they did not ever disclose to us that there was even a possibility that these remains would go into a landfill. >> reporter: but she kept asking what had happened to the rest of her husband's body. >> i finally got a gentleman on the phone who told me "no one wanted your husband's remains so they threw him in the trash with the rest of the medical waste from the hospital." >> reporter: she didn't believe him, but it was confirmed in writing. "take on the a landfill" in king george county, virginia. >> reporter: it shattered me. i have no faith in dover that

our soldiers are being treated there with respect. at all. >> reporter: three years ago, the air force realized in one general's words this is not right. ever since then, remains that never reached their loved ones are buried at sea. >> pelley: david, thank you very much. the engineer who developed a new way to fight cancer after watching his wife go through chemotherapy. wednesday, december 7th. call unitedhealthcare medicare solutions today. consider a medicare advantage plan. it combines your doctor and hospital coverage and may include prescription drug coverage for as low as a zero dollar monthly premium. you only have until december 7th to enroll. call unitedhealthcare today. and it's your fault. instead of blaming me try advil congestion relief.

often the real problem is swelling, not mucus. advil congestion relief reduces swelling due to nasal inflammation. so i can breathe. [ mucus ] advil congestion relief. yum. that's good. you've always loved the taste of classic campbell's soups. well, guess what? we're just getting warmed up. introducing campbell's slow kettle style soups. extraordinary taste sensations, crafted from delicious combinations of premium ingredients. you'll savor every last spoonful. even if you don't use a spoon. new slow kettle soups from campbell's it's amazing what soup can do. than these gas relievers. these you take after food gives you gas, you take beano before, so you don't get gas. and if you don't get gas, maybe you don't need these. take beano before and there'll be no gas. lugging around a hot water extraction unit can be a rush!

that's why i'm carpet for life. but if things get out of hand, there's no shame in calling us. ♪call 1-800-steemer.

>> pelley: in the battle against cancer, there is a promising new treatment, a high tech they are nee targets tumors and with fewer painful side effects from chemotherapy. how this treatmen t was developed is quite a story told tonight by dr. jon lapook. >> you can see the uniformity. >> reporter: mark davis, a chemical engineer at the california institute of technology, was a complete stranger to the world of medicine. his expertise was in the oil industry. then, in 1995, his wife mary was diagnosed with breast cancer. >> there were many times during the therapies where i just really wanted to give up. i thought that the treatment was going to kill me rather than the disease itself. >> reporter: the chemo killed the cancer but wreaked havoc on her body, permanently damaging her hearing. >> when she finished going through this, she just said "well, this is just awful. there really should be better ways to treat cancer patients where you can have high quality of life." she said "why don't you guys

start working on it at cal tech." i said "come on, i don't know anything about cancer." and her response to that was "what kind of excuse is that?" so you can see all of the nano particles here. >> reporter: so, at age 40, davis changed his focus and, with no medical training, developed a novel way to treat cancer. so cancer treatment is an engineering problem to some extent? >> it to s to me. that's the way i looked ate it from the beginning. >> reporter: he turned to nano technology. engineering tiny particles to do big things. in this video, they're seen penetrating the outer membranes of cells. chemotherapy has toxic side effects because, when the molecules are injected into veins, they are so small they can escape the bloodstream and damage normal cells along with cancerous ones. davis built a new drug-delivery system. he loaded hundreds of molecules of a cancer drug into microscopic spheres built from sugar. they are too big to slip out of

the bloodstream until they reach their target. this allows them to destroy solid tumors-- like lung and breast cancer-- and spare healthy issue. >> we get much more drug in the tumor. >> reporter: david cheresh at the university of california san diego is also working on nano medicine for cancer. >> so in effect we can reduce the level of drugs to is rounding tissues, the normal issues, increase the drug at the site of the tumor and get more bang for our buck. >> reporter: davis' nano particles have been tried in more than 50 patients in the u.s. and will be tested at more than 20 sites across europe. so far treatment using nano technology shows far fewer side effects than traditional chemotherapy but using it to treat cancer is still in its infancy. >> almost every month i get a phone call from someone who has a friend who's gotten... been diagnosed with cancer and it's always in the back of my mind, mark, hurry up, hurry up. >> there was a good start, but as engineers, we always want to do bet sore we want to make

version 2.0 and 3.0 and hopefully it will get better and better. >> reporter: researchers are filling nano particles with all sorts of treatments from chemothey are foye molecules that repair the broken genetic material that makes cancer sells grow out of control. >> pelley: fascinating, john, thank you very much. there was a fascinating bit of american history put on display at the smithsonian today. a book known as the jefferson bible. it's essentially a scrapbook of gospel excerpts in english, french, greek, and latin. thomas jefferson put it together in 1820 and, after a painstaking restoration, it is back in the museum. on the pacific coast, they are watching the whales-- or is it the other way around? that story is next. ... to a heart condition. when you see your doctor,

you don't face any medical issue alone. you do it together. at the american medical association, we're committed to preserving that essential partnership between patients and their doctors. because when it comes to your health, you need someone you trust. the ama. protecting the relationship between patients and physicians. 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. ♪ two pills can last all day. i have copd. if you have it, you know how hard it can be to breathe and what that feels like. copd includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. spiriva helps control my copd symptoms... ...by keeping my airways open... ...a full 24 hours. plus, it reduces copd flare-ups. spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that does both. and it's steroid-free. spiriva does not replace fast-acting inhalers

for sudden symptoms. tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma, trouble urinating, or an enlarged prostate. these may worsen with spiriva. discuss all medicines you take, even eye drops. stop taking spiriva and call your doctor right away if your breathing suddenly worsens,... ...your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, vision changes or eye pain,... ...or problems passing urine. other side effects include dry mouth and constipation. nothing can reverse copd. spiriva helps me breathe better. breathing with copd is no small thing. ask your doctor about spiriva. [ male announcer ] it's that time of year. time for campbell's green bean casserole. you'll find the recipe at campbellskitchen.com. ♪ campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. [ male announcer ] we're not employers or employees. not white collar or blue collar or no collars. we are business in america.

and every day we awake to the same challenges. but at prudential we're helping companies everywhere find new solutions to manage risk, capital and employee benefits, so american business can get on with business. ♪ >> pelley: there hasn't been a year like this along the pacific coast in a long time. the waters are filled with humpback whales, drawing huge crowds of tourists. but what happens when two very different species of mammals come face to face? we asked john blackstone to show us. >> reporter: watching whales off the california coast usually means head ago few miles out to

sea. there she blows! >> reporter: but not this year, says santa cruz whale watching captain ken stagnaro. >> they're usually here but not quite so close to shore. you can literally see them from the beach a lot of times. >> reporter: the humpback whales off santa cruz have been so close to shore recently surfers and kayakers have had some dangerously close encounters. at 40 feet long and more than 30 tons, the whales present a clear risk as they feed on anchovies. but so far, says stag narrow,... stagnaro, the whales seem to be watching out for people. >> maneuvering through traffic and chasing food and being conscious of people around them was amazing. >> reporter: somehow they know we couldn't take of a flip of that tail. >> they are gentle giants. how beautiful, how about that? >> reporter: for the safety of whales and humans, the marine mammal act makes it a crime to get within a hundred yards of a whale. but there's no law against

whales coming close to people says naturalist maureen gilbert. >> sometimes it seems like they are as intrigued with us as we are with them. >> reporter: that's certainly how it seemed to those on an oceanic society whale watching trip off san francisco. four humpback whales just kept circling the boat, lifting their fins so close they could be touched. we don't know, of course, what affect these close encounters have on the whales. but maureen gilbert knows for sure what they do to humans. >> it's magical, giving people a life-changing experience because you are never the same after you see a whale in the wild. >> reporter: especially you see one this close. john blackstone, cbs news, santa cruz, california. >> pelley: and that's the "cbs evening news" for tonight. for all of us at cbs news all around the world, good

losing confidence in joe paterno and grant spannier. governor corbett talking. joe paterno replaced by his defensive coordinator tom bradley. urging calm on campus after last night's riots. >> as i said then the eyes of the nation are on you. they are fixed on this campus. look around this room. look around the campus. please, please, behave and demonstrate your pride in penn