Eva Nordstrom
AC360° Senior Producer

All Big Three CEO’s are cruising into the nation’s capital this morning in high-mileage hybrids. GM’s Rick Wagoner has traded in his corporate jet for a test version of the Chevy Volt, an electric car scheduled to be in dealerships by 2010. Will the Volt help GM get the $18 billion the automaker is asking for when it hits up lawmakers today and tomorrow? What about the rest of the $34 billion the Big Three automakers are asking for? Should they get it?

Meanwhile, gas prices are down AGAIN. The average price of a gallon of gas is $1.79…wow. Remember when it was more than four bucks just this past July?? I don’t know about you, but I’ve curbed my driving quite a bit since then, and I don’t care how cheap it gets…I am going to keep cutting back when I can. What about you? Have you changed your driving habits for good?

Stay tuned to CNN later today. New polls are coming out on how Americans feel about the economy. The numbers are pretty grim.

Are you wondering when American’s are going to reap some rewards from the billions of bailout money going around? Perhaps sooner than you think. There are some reports that the Treasury Department is considering a plan that would push interest rates down on home loans. Mortgages as low as 4.5% could be coming soon to a bank near you.

OK…enough talk about money…Secretary Rice today assured the world that Pakistan knows it has to move “urgently and transparently” against extremists after last week’s terrorist attacks in India. There is a lot of pressure on Pakistan to take action against extremists on its own soil.

And if tension between two nuclear-armed nations isn’t enough…one Israeli paper is reporting that Israel is “drawing up options for a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities that do not include coordination with the United States.” (Emphasis is mine) Why is Israel doing this? Read more from the Jerusalem Post here:

In Crime and Punishment, there is word that OJ Simpson –convicted of armed robbery and kidnapping – could get 6 years, 18 years – or even life in prison when he is sentenced tomorrow. CNN has just learned that Kim and Fred Goldman may be in the courtroom. We will keep you posted.

AC360 will be pre-empted by a two hour special “Scream Bloody Murder”. CNN’s Christiane Amanpour traveled to the killing fields of Europe, Africa and Asia to trace the personal accounts of those who tried to stop the world’s most heinous crime: genocide.

Look for AC360 at 11pm ET tonight…

With an economic crisis not seen since the Great Depression, two wars, the global fight on terrorism and emboldened rivals like Iran and Russia … the challenges facing President-Elect Obama are vast. Anderson Cooper sits down with a team of CNN reporters and contributors to break down the issues and offer advice to America’s 44th President. Join Anderson, Christiane Amanpour, Michael Ware, David Gergen, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Ali Velshi and others for this 360 special …EXTREME CHALLENGES: PRESIDENT OBAMA.

See you soon.