i've seen spaceships in the air before and i've been abducted by all yens before. i wake up the next day and remember being at the club but don't remember getting home or whatever. so obviously they're real. >> you know what i think heaven is like? i think it's like curling for eternity in a big enoughy cloud made of snooki logic. none of the other anchors have great tag lines compared to what our little katie couric has come up with. later, bitches. >> your loss, every news station in the world. your loss. you may never know the audience you could have attracted with snooki on your side but you're still getting great ratings on the ridiculist. that's it for 360. thanks for watching. "john king usa" starts now. see you tomorrow. i'm candy crowley. john king is off tonight. breaking news in the mystery of muammar gadhafi's whereabouts. two of gadhafi's sons surfaced

today with different messages. a few hours ago, alri tv broadcast a defiant audio message from saif gadhafi saying his father and closest followers are hiding in tripoli suburbs and their morale is high. listen. >> the leadership is fine. the leader is fine. and we are fighting and we are drinking tea and coffee and we are sitting with our families. >> saif gadhafi also had a message for people he calls his brethren in tripoli and alibya. >> reporter: we're saying to everyone move now. everyone has to move now to attack all these gangsters of the rats. >> the people he's calling rats are the rebels who drove the gadhafis from power. just a few hours before that fire and brim stone message, another of gadhafi's sons contacted cnn's senior international correspondent nic robertson. nic joins us now from tripoli, a city, by the way, dangerously

close to run out of water. nic, first, what was the message from the other gadhafi son? >> reporter: he was saying he is talking to the national transitional council military leaders about the possibility of a ceasefire. he says scotching rumors that he's about to surrender, he says he's not going to surrender, that this government of the national transition council has destroyed the country. but the very fact that he's saying he is talking to them and wants a ceasefire to avoid bloodshed is just such a variance with his brother. this is the first time we've heard either of them talk publicly since the fall of tripoli. and this is the first time we've seen really a division in the family. and perhaps an indication that the family really is beginning to crumble. their backs are to the wall. and of course, saif's speech

went out several hours ago despite that gunfire going on behind me which issel bra story gunfire, there has been no rising up in this city in the gadhafi loyalists. his message clearly falling at least here very, very flat, candy. >> right. and the truth is, it sounds kind of delusional what saif is saying. that they must be in a bunker somewhere and either not understand the reality or they're just whistling in the wind. >> reporter: they're whistling in the wind. they're whistling at whoever they think is still their loyalists. they are living in their own sort of deluded situation, certainly not living as anyone can see he's not living in a suburb of tripoli. he would have been picked up by now. what he's trying to do is just rally anyone else that's willing to fight for the gadhafi regime, perhaps give them cover and time to get out of the country. particularly the key towns in the south right now. sirte that rebels have

surrounded, given them a deadline until saturday to put their weapons down and another city 30 miles southeast of tripoli it's believed quite possibly that's where gadhafi could be or other members of his family could be. that town surrounded by the rebels, holding out, also on a deadline to put down his weapons until the weekend. so perhaps it's a rallying call to anyone he this can support them there. but certainly i don't think anyone rational here really believes what he's saying, that he was in the -- that he was in his father's main compound in tripoli in the last few days. i don't think anyone buys that. utterly ridiculous, candy. >> so where are we now in terms of what gadhafi could actually mount? i know it's hard to know how many soldiers would still stick with him, but here in the u.s. there's been all this talk about the mustard gas depot, about these shoulder to air missile launchers that are all over the country. does gadhafi have anything left in his arsenal not to win, not

to take back libya, but to do serious damage? or is he out of ammo as well? >> reporter: you know, it's interesting you mention water at the beginning there. and that is perhaps one of his strongest weapons to undermine the national transitional council. hundreds of miles south of here in the desert are the wells, hundreds of wells that are used to sort of feed water into this city. this city normally uses 4 1/2 million liters of water a day, a massive amount of water. and right now 60% of the city is cut off. so hey, what he is doing by cutting that water off and that's the assessment of the national transition council, the european union, is using that water as a weapon of war to undermine morale in the city and undermine the national transitional council, trying to form a government. he's said that they have 20,000 men with weapons in sirte.

i don't think anyone in their right mind believes that, either. do they have weapons like mustard gas sunny think most people think probably not. it's an open question. but they also think that he would have used them already. a lot of the key oil faciliti are on the coast here. the rebels control them already. could gadhafi's loyalists damage oil fields further south in the country? there's a possibility of that, 10 to 15% of the oil production facilities in the country already damaged according to a government minister. but i think he's probably played out the best of his weapons arsenal that he has already candy. >> thanks so much, nic. the libyan rebels delivered their own ultimatum to gadhafi's fighters even before his sons surfaced today. they have until saturday as you heard nic say to surrender. cnn's frederik pleitgen is with the rebels forces in misrata east of tripoli. fred, my first question to you is that for so many weeks you and i have talked with nic, and

we always think that it's on the edge. libya's on the edge of getting rid of the gadhafis. and it hasn't happened. but listening to nic tonight, and i want to get your take on this, do the rebels feel that they are very close to having the gadhafis or at least a going into these last bastions that are there? do they believe they strt strength and that saturday will be the end of it at least so far as territory is concerned? >> reporter: well, i'm not sure they really believe it saturday is going to be the end of it, candy. but i certainly do get the feeling they believe that they are very close to ousting completely the gadhafi forces from the town of sirte and from the town of baniwalid one of the few strongholds the gadhafi forces still hold. now, talking to the rebels on the frontline, they say they don't want to do that, go into these places, but they say they will if they have. to they certainly believe they have the forces that they need to accomplish that as well. they're moving onto sirte from two sides from the east and from

the west. they are amassing a lot of gun trucks there, rockets, also multiple rocket launchers. they have some artillery they'll be bringing to bear as well. they say they don't want to use that. they say they believe there is going to be a battle for sirte it will be more bloody than the tripoli area. it's not something they want to do but they believe they have the strength. they say if they get the order from the national transitional council they will noouch there from two sides. so it seems right now everybody is looking towards saturday, seeing whether or not a large scale assault is going to happen. it might not happen on that day but certainly could happen in the days following saturday. what we're hearing from the national transitional council, candy, is at this point in time the negotiations that they had going with the tribes in the sirte area are not getting anywhere, candy. >> and let me ask you, fred, this is about as blunt as i can put it. do the rebels want gadhafi on trial or do they want him dead? what best suits the need to move

forward? >> reporter: that's a very good question. it certainly varies depending on who you talk to among the rebels. if you talk to the guys in the frontline, which is what we did today, obviously these are fighters who have been through a lot. they've been through a lot of battle, a lot of combat. so they tell us if they find gadhafi they're flat out going to kill him. they said we're going to burn him up. they'll kill him if they find him. that's what they feel is the best thing to do. if you move along the frontline you'll see almost everywhere these gadhafi dolls hanging in a noose. and i mean, they just say they're going to flat out kill him. if you talk to politicians or people from the national transitional council, they'll tell you they'd rather have gadhafi alive. what they want to do is put him on trial here in libya. they say they might at some point hand him over to an international court, but certainly they want him and his sons tried here in libya to then have a verdict against them inside a libyan court. so it's a very different picture depending on whether you're talking to the politicians in

all this or you're talking to the frontline guys. so it's really anybody's guess what would happen if in fact you would have these guys closing in on gadhafi and there would be some sort of fire fight which way that would then in effect go, candy. >> thanks so much, fred pleitgen in misrata for us tonight. in a minute we're going to turn our attention to presidential politics. john huntsman unveiled a jobs plan this afternoon. among other things it overhauls the tax code and eliminates popular deductions, even the ones for home mortgage interest. we will talk with him next. [ male announcer ] this is lara. her morning begins with arthritis pain. that's a coffee and two pills. the afternoon tour begins with more pain and more pills. the evening guests arrive. back to sore knees. back to more pills. the day is done but hang on... her doctor recommended aleve. just 2 pills can keep arthritis pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is lara who chose 2 aleve and fewer pills for a day free of pain. and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels.

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the president's former am bass for to john huntsman rolled out a jobs plan in new hampshire. want to welcome you, governor, to the show. i want to give the audience a quick couple of bullet points from your plan. you propose creating three tax brackets from the current six. 8%, 14%, 23%. you would eliminate taxes on capital gains an dividends.

you would eliminate the alternative minimum tax. and you would reduce the corporate tax rate to 25%. >> correct. >> let me zero in on the lowering of the corporate tax rate. because here's what i think people don't understand. you would bring down the corporate tax rate by 10% and close some of the loopholes dealing with corporations. but i want to show your audience, and i'll try to describe it to you, just a grfic that shows on the left-hand seed on the screen is the growth in jobs over the last eight quarters, two years. and then you see the growth in corporate profits. and people look at this and see jobs flat lining and corporate profits up by 40% and think, seriously? we're going to lower their taxes? >> candy, first of all, thank you for having me. i would remind you that timing is everything to your earlier comment. our tax code, the individual tax code and the business tax code, they are broken. they are absolutely not 21st

century competitive. they are perpetuated by people who can afford the lobbyists and the lawyers to keep their tax breaks and loop holes and corporate welfare. all i'm saying it's time to stop. it's time to end it all. it's time to appropriate for the 21st century. we're there and we've got to recognize we're behind in the game. when it comes to the corporate tax. i'm guessing that most people aren't paying the top corporate tax rate of 35%. why? because they can afford to have people lobby on their behalf and basically find loop holes or deductions of various kinds. all i'm saying is wipe it all away. get rid of it. let's clean out the could be webs and establish a rate that's 25%.l

>> they're not doing it today because there's nod predictability or confidence in our economy and there's no ability to see around the corner long term what taxes are going to be.l >> to the question, governor, it's just that corporate profits are up 40% in two years.l and i think people look at this and think right now with the country in so much trouble we're hearing now that fema may not have enough money to help rebuild some of these devastated places after the hurricane.l >> we need jobs in this country.l we need the revenue flow that will come from jobs.l we need more taxpayers in the

system that will come from increased jobs.l we're just not going to get jobs which ultimately are going to allow states to rebound and this company to rebound until such time as we have a 21st century competitive tax code.l >> college graduates stayed.l we took unemployment down to unprecedented levels.l our revenue increased and we were able to pate bills unlike any other time.l that meant we could pay teachers what they were worth.l it meant we could expand infrastructure for roads for the fastest-growing states in america.l >> let me read you something that caught our attention.l it's from your brother peter huntsman ceo of the family business, hunts corporation.l >> that's always dangerous.l >> you know brothers in which he

said to bloom berpg, mid june, we, meaning huntsman corporation, now employ more people between china and india than we do in north america, which is really quite phenomenal when you consider that about 930% of our associates ten years ago were in north america.l in your plan, does huntsman corporation begin to lower that ratio and bring back american workers? and where is that in your plan? >> grouft to meet the needs of your customers wherever they exist around the world.l it would be great to do that

from the united states.l but many companies of course are finding that they have to be closest to wherever their customer base is.l it isn't necessarily they're manufacturing abroad and sending back here.l they're simply selling to a much larger consumer base in parts of the world that even a few short years ago didn't exist, but what this tax code begins to do is create a competitive dynamic in this country.l if we can combine that with regulatory reform which we also talked about today we can create what made in america used to mean to so many people.l we were in awe of it here.l so was everybody around the world.l nobody did it better than workers in the united states of america.l we've got to get back to those days.l

>> i don't know if that's pre-secession texas or post-says section texas.l >> we have no good ideas that are being circulated or talked about that will allow this country to get back on its feet economically.l >> the democrat national committee is responsible for the content of this advertising.l >> governor, the dnc quoting you.l that's all of you talking about your opponents.l it says at the end don't take it from us but from one of their own.l you have gone from the candidate who was going to be positive and who wasn't going to go on the attack to the candidate that's now being quoted by the dnc.l what is your tactic here? is it to try to get out of that 1%? i'm assuming yes.l but it doesn't seem to -- it attracts the-nc.l does it attract republicans? >> listen, nobody worries about the numbers at this point in the game.l because if we used a similar barometer in '08 and '04 you would have had a much different outcome.l numbers are meaningly at this

point in the game.l this is a point in the campaign where you begin to draw out differences in the various candidates.l so when asked a question, i'm a straight up, common sense, practical person.l i'm going to give a straight up answer.l >> so you don't feel you broke your i'm going to have positive campaign with all these comments? >> there's nobody more positive than me.l i'm a blue sky optomist.l but when you're asked to compare and contrast your differences you're going to have differences with your opponents.l and that's okay.l i believe that a sense of respect can coexist with the facts.l and that's the way it's always going to be with me.l you just rely on the facts and somebody's record when asked a question.l you answer in an honest and straight up fashion.l that's what campaigns are all about.l but ultimately they forgot to play the part about my comments regarding the president much he's had 2 1/2 years to do what the american people felt so strongly he needed to do on day one.l and that is to expand this economy, create jobs and get us prepared for the 21st century.l we are behind in the game, candy.l and we've got to get going

again.l >> somehow i don't think going to put that in one of their commercials but thank you so much for the time tonight, republican presidential candidate jon huntsman, we appreciate it.l in flood-drenched new jersey tonight, thousands of people still can't go home.l major roads remain closed.l the governor says we're not out of the woods yet.l we'll take you there next.l ♪ okay, so who ordered the cereal that can help lower cholesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. that's yours. lower cholesterol. lower cholesterol. i'm yummy. lower cholesterol. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste? honey nut cheerios. want whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. it's a win win. good? [ crunching, sipping ] be happy. be healthy. can i try yours?

president obama travels to new jersey this sunday to look over damage caused by hurricane irene.l

there is plenty to see.l tonight at least 18,000 people can't go home, mostly because of flooding.l 147,000 utility customers don't have power more than 3 days after the storm made landfall.l governor chris christie showed federal officials around some of the hardest-hit areas today.l >> the rivers in new jersey have crested and are beginning to recede.l the passaic river at pine brook and at little falls may remain above major flood stage until friday morning, though, so we're clearly not out of the woods yet.l >> cnn national correspondent susan candiotti joins us now from little falls, new jersey, susan, just start with what you have seen today.l >> reporter: well, we've seen a lot of flooding in a lot of areas.l

you mentioned the number 18,000 as the governor did.l 3,500 of those people live in this little falls, in this particular passaic county area.l i'm coming to you from the middle of a parking lot.l a parking lot for a car wash.l so, i guess you could argue that if you want on get your car washed, you wouldn't have to pull it through the scrubbers, you could just pull it right through here, because the current here, candy, is very strong.l you get a sense of how deep it is.l i'm five feet tall, and if you look over that way just a little bit, you can see a car, the water comes halfway up the waterline there, so you have a parking lot, a lot of businesses here are flooded out.l but i spent a large part of the day also looking at a lot of homes.l flood stage here earlier today was 14 feet above the flood stage, so it's more than twice what it should be.l and we went down that street down there, where a lot of people live as well.l so, it covers a lot of different areas.l people who got out and who are paying attention did pay attention to those evacuation orders back on friday.l but we also ran across a lot of people who chose to stay inside their homes, refusing to leave.l these are people who have gone through many floods before, and all of them say this is the worst one they've been through in many, many years.l a lot of people have flood insurance.l some homeowners also told us they had given up on it.l given up on it because they're tired of paying the premiums and

they're tired of losing so much because it only covers so much.l and, candy, if you move over here a little bit, we can tell you that the water has been receding ever so slowly.l you see the cars over here? the roads over here, rather? and you've got people who are out for a walk just to see how bad things are.l >> susan candiotti in little falls, new jersey, just about 20 miles west of new york city, they look pretty bad.l thanks, susan.l in vermont today, water, food, medicine, diapers, formula and other necessities are being delivered by air and ground to communities cut off by hurricane irene's flooding.l state emergency officials say between four and eight more aircraft will join the resupply effort tonight and the national guard will start helping with road repairs.l senator bernie sanders drove through a pair of badly damaged towns today after getting an aerial tour of the flooding yesterday.l senator, let me just start and have you tell me, you went to the hardest-hit areas, what did you see?

>> well, we saw a lot of destruction and a lot of human despair.l yesterday i was in ludlow, vermont, that's a small town, central part of the state.l five bridges in that one small town are out.l today i was in waitesfield, vermont, and a lot of home were severely damaged and town offices were severely damaged.l nearby there's a trailer park where 80 trailers were severely damaged.l so, we're seeing a lot of pain in the state, and, in fact, what we understand the case to be is this is the worst natural disaster in the history of the state of vermont.l roads out, bridges out, many, many homes damaged.l so, there is some serious problems in our state today.l >> the pictures are awesome in the bad sense, senator.l what is the latest information you have about the number of people you might have in vermont

that are isolated, that are cut off from any kind of supplies? >> well, i think we're making progress, candy, and breaking through that isolation.l and my understanding is that by the end of today, we should have it broken through and people will be able to get in and out.l in virtually every one of those towns.l >> what's the most urgent need you have? >> well, obviously we have to make sure that people have access to homes that are safe.l one of the things that i worry about is the people are going back to their homes, there are a whole lot of fuel on the carpets.l they may not be safe.l we want to make sure everybody in the state has access to food.l we want to make sure that those people who need medicine who are sick are also getting the care that they need.l >> and what is your level of confidence? and i ask this because the fema director today said sort of flatly, we don't have the money to rebuild.l right now they've got the money to, you know, meet some of these

urgent needs.l but i wonder looking forward, senator, how confident you are that there will be the money there from the state or from the federal government to help right what is just had been such tremendous destruction in your state? >> well, candy, it's not just my state.l we heard about what's going on in new jersey and other states.l candy, we are the united states of america.l we are one nation.l and as everybody knows, when a disaster strikes one part of the country, whether it is katrina in louisiana, whether it is the terrible tornado in missouri, whether it is earthquakes in california, what being a nation is about is that we say when communities have been devastated, we all come together.l that's what being an american is about.l so, it is very hard for me to imagine that anyone in congress would turn their backs on the pain that we're experiencing in vermont, what's going on in new jersey or in other states.l that's not what america is supposed to be about.l so, if you're asking me do i think we will get the resources that we need, that historically have been provided to

communities in trouble, i certainly do.l we are a great nation, and we're not going to turn our back on brothers and sisters and neighbors who are hurting.l >> senator bernie sanders from vermont, thank you so much tonight.l hope we'll be able to check in with you in the future to see how things are coming.l >> thank you.l the gulf coast did manage to dodge hurricane irene, but tonight trouble's brewing down in the gulf of mexico.l further out in the atlantic, a tropical storm is about to become a hurricane.l cnn meteorologist jacqui jeras, is it going to be wet on labor day? i guess that's the thing everybody is worried about is more rain.l >> yeah, we're going to see a lot more rain, actually.l the gulf coast could potentially have a washout of a weekend from this thing, candy.l we just don't know who's exactly going to get the worst of it just yet.l this big blob, if you will, or these big clusters of thunderstorms have yet to organize, so they're in their infancy stages but most computers models are developing this into at least a tropical storm if not a hurricane within the next two days.l

there's a ton of potential for flooding and that's going to be one of the big concerns for this thing.l one computer model solution here putting as much as 6 to 12 inches of rain on the gulf coast by saturday morning.l now, this is just one possibility.l if we took all of this rain and pushed it over towards the west, as some of the models are prix dicting, that could actually end up being really good news for texas with the wildfires that continue to burn and all of the drought that is ongoing.l so, we could get a sit-and-stall situation, we could get a wet, we could get an east.l we'll have to wait to see what happens, but for sure we'll get a lot of changes.l we've got tropical storm katia which is forecast to become a hurricane later, but right now we're not expecting it impact land at least not for a good week.l candy? >> cnn meteorologist, jacqui jeras, you can't say you don't have enough to do at work.l >> thank you.l texas and oklahoma could use some rain tonight.l next, wildfires burning through homes, barns, and thousands of acres.l hey can i play with the toys ?

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a devastating new report from amnesty international documents the horrific beating and torture suffered by syrian detainees including burns, blunt force injuries, whipping marks

and slashes.l a non-profit panel says the u.s.l is losing $1 million a day to war time contracts in iraq and afghanistan fraud.l a total bean 31 and $60 billion.l the national park service says rain from hurricane irene caused more cracks in the washington monument.l while floods are a problem in the east, drought and wildfires playing the west, these pictures are from about an hour ago in oklahoma city where flames destroyed a barn, the family got out okay.l in texas, a large wildfire about 50 miles west of dallas has destroyed at least two dozen homes and forced the evacuation of more than 125 homeowners.l cnn's jim spellman is covering that fire and had to move in a hurry when the fire came too close for comfort.l jim, have they made any progress trying to contain this blaze?

>> reporter: it's just that this drought, it's epic.l 90% of texas is under severe drought conditions right now.l and everywhere you go, it's this kind of dried-out grass everywhere.l the slightest spark sets it going.l you add wind to that, and it just takes off.l and with this fire, the real problem is it's not a huge fire at this point, but it's right in a heavily populated area around a resort lake, so you have the wind, the drought in a populated area is the wrong combination to try to save homes and to try to get this under control, candy.l >> all right, jim spellman, tonight, just west of dallas, we everywhere you go it's this kind of dried-out grass everywhere.l the slightest spark sets it going.l you add wind to that and it just takes off.l with this fire the real problem is, it's not a huge fire at this point but it's right in a heavily-populated area around a resort lake.l

so you have the wind, the drought in a populated area is the wrong combination to try to save homes and to try to get this under control, candy.l >> jim spellman tonight just west of dallas.l we appreciate it next up, the return of gridlock.l tonight, congress and the president can't even agree on a date for president obama's big speech about jobs.l [ doorbell rings ] hello there. i'm here to pick up helen. ah. mom? he's here. nice wheels. oh, thanks. keeps me young. hello there, handsome.

your dinner's in the microwave, dear. ♪ where do you want to go? just drive. [ engine revs, tires screech ] mom? ♪ or creates another laptop bag or hires another employee, it's not just good for business -- it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact that local businesses have on communities, so we're helping them with advice from local business experts and extending $18 billion in credit last year. that's how we're helping set opportunity in motion.

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this morning president obama asked a hold a rare joint session of congress next wednesday for his long-awaited speech on jobs.l this afternoon house speaker john boehner said do it on thursday.l which leads us to believe washington can't agree on anything.l we want to reach consensus with john brown stein and white house reporter julie mason.l before we get to the bickering, why a joint session of congress? this president can pick any venue he wants.l so what's in it for him here? >> that's the biggest megaphone there is and he has shown he likes this venue as a chance to restart.l there's a kind of pattern with obama whereas candidate and president he has rough summers and tries to hit reset in september.l this is almost exactly the model he used in 2009 after the brutal town hall meetings on healthcare where he reframed and started the debate.l >> you'll remember it wasn't that successful.l >> right.l >> he did drive it through.l

>> eventually.l >> they did have the momentum to get it through the house and the senate by december.l >> people hate it when we talk about oh, here's how it looks and here's what the message is.l but optics matter in politics.l what are the optics? to me it's like this is the president way up on the podium and he's saying to congress the american people need to us come together.l they're hurting.l we all need.l and he looks so reasonable.l and we're going to look like little people out there who are like not willing to go along.l >> that's the thing.l the white house want this venue.l they wanted those theatrics.l they want him up there on the dias maybe even wagging a fing where a much stronger message saying you need to do this.l this is what the american people want and doing it in their own house, calling them out on the carpet on it.l it would have been great for the white house.l >> let me now move john boehner.l ? >> huh? >> let's see.l all indications are we are looking at another difficult job report at the end of this week and we are in the period of the longest sustained period of unemployment since the depression.l this is the first decade since

the depression, since 1929-1939 where there are fewer people employed on september 2011 than there were in september 2001.l that hasn't happened in the 20th century except for enormous fall in consumer confidence.l we have real problems.l this is kind of why washington is struggling so much at this point with incredibly low ratings for both parties, for the president, for congress, for every institution that's involved in making national policy.l >> doesn't it make people -- look, john boehner, the speaker says there are various reasons why this isn't going to work.l we don't have the parliamentary things in place, et cetera, et cetera.l it just seems to me that it might be an argument that gets lost on people out there.l >> that's true.l apparently the white house didn't do their back channelling.l usually these things are agreed upon in advance.l and then it's up to the speaker to invite the president to come speak.l the president doesn't summon congress to a joint session and then arrive and speak.l so according to the speaker's office this was handled badly.l so this is the pushback we're seeing.l it's fascinating because you see these two guys, president obama and speaker boehner they're so

much alike.l who's going to back down? who's going to be the one to sort of look weak in the swaying? >> not that long ago they were playing golf together.l >> i guess that didn't work.l >> it's kind of a trivial argument in the end it won't matter very much.l the bigger issue is can obama regain the country's attention with this plan? i mean, in september.l he is looking at the lowest ratings of his presidency.l today he's looking at poor ratings.l possibly landslide defeat when you're at 39% as he is today.l he has to kind of regain the country's attention and convince them he has a plan to kind of move us forward.l this is an important moment for him.l maybe not the last moment.l but this is clearly they feel the need for a reset.l so once we get past the bickering, this is a moment when the country is expected him to step up.l if he doesn't it could be a very important lost opportunity on the road to next november.l >> want to switch gears a little bit.l tomorrow the administration has to issue this report that

predicts the growth of the economy, which they haven't done all that well since the beginning, really.l so how big a deal is this? >> it's a very big deal.l because their projections have been so rosy up until now.l and they have a tough choice.l they can either continue to predict very high growth, 3 to 4%, and continue to be wrong, or scale it way back admit their policies have failed.l i'll be fascinate today see where they fall.l >> reality counts.l >> it's about the future.l >> this is a government document.l reality doesn't count.l >> no, you can say whatever you want but ultimately what washington is being judged on, what the president is being judged on is the reality that the americans feel in their lives.l he needs either to see some material improvement in that.l or failing that, and all the projections from cbo and others, very high unemployment through 2012, he needs to give people a sense that he has a plan to at least make it better.l

that's why i think this speech, the fact asking for a joint session of congress is a reflection of how important they recognize this to be.l >> let me ask you a quick question if there is such a thing about the census data which shows that increasingly urban areas are becoming majority minority which is to say that whites in the cities are now outnumbered by minorities of all sorts.l politically does this mean anything? because urban areas are largely democratic and minorities are largely democratic voters.l so does it matter? >> sure, every vote counts.l so what really matters is the changing demography of the country.l bill clinton was elected president in '92, 12% of the total vote was non-white.l when barack obama was elected 26% was non-white.l he's the first president to lose white voters by double digits and win.l he won the biggest victory of democrats since 1964.l this does matter.l an even more interesting harbinger, this year is probably the first year in american history where a majority of newborns are non-white.l

now, there's a long lag time for this translating into political influence.l but the kind of long term trajectory is we are becoming a more diverse countries.l not only the metro areas but it is disperring through the country.l a majority of congressional districts are now non-white.l >> a republican running in a state with a lot of cities is going to have a really hard time because those cities are major markets for advertising.l it's where you have to spend a lot of money.l you can't just count on the vote in the outlying counties and rrl areas.l it's going to be tough to run state-wide.l governors are going to have to be dealing with this.l >> come back ahead like a billion other questions.l thank you so much, julie mason, white house reporter, ron brawn stein, cnn contributor up next, a look beyond the human toll of war.l

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war coverage is often harrowing which makes something our arwa damon saw today so amazing.l in tripoli today people had

something to celebrate.l >> reporter: it's the celebration of independence.l these girls sing at the top of their lungs.l they say they never used to sing anything in the streets.l ever, we ask, incredulous? we had no freedom, they say, shaking their heads.l no.l there may be no gfrts or new clothes to celebrate their holiday this year, but nobody seems to care.l as we walk to one of the girl's homes, they chatter about the battles that raged around them.l there were no hospitals.l they had to treat the wounded in homes.l 13-year-old hawatha terms us.l that horror has end the.l but families are still having to deal with a severe lack of water and other basic needs.l the opposition says gadhafi loyalists sabotaged some of the main water lines to the

capital.l the u.n.l estimates that around 60% of the city is without water and sanitation, and warns of a potential health crisis.l inside 11-year-old samia's house, her mother says they have not had running water in ten days.l >> war correspondents see everything, the good and the bad.l we often focus as we should on the human toll.l but war affects all creatures grace and small.l our senior international correspondent nic robertson was at the zoo and was especially struck by what he found at tripoli zoo.l take a look.l >> reporter: we've jut come into tripoli's main zoo.l the gates were locked.l we were told that it had been under renovation for the last three years, that there weren't any animals here.l we're just getting a look around.l i can see a big vulture up there, certainly a huge bird of prey.l as i'm looking at it we hear a lion roaring.l it's an eerie feeling walking around here.l

you don't know what you're going to bump into.l gunfire still going on.l most of the cages seem empty.l we're just trying to follow sound of that roaring.l there he is.l there he is.l a tiger.l southeast seen us.l just looking at him you can see how thin he is and the way that he's walk.l those back thighs are so skinny against his back.l it looks like he's going in there to get some shade.l then we see the lions.l the male particularly skinny.l with a deep scar on his head.l there's no one here to tell us how often they're being fed, how much they're getting fed.l we don't even know if there's a vet here to look after them.l all we've seen so far is that food left by the giant tortoises.l these lions look like they're just not getting enough to eat.l suddenly, we get some answers.l the zookeeper's just arrived so i'm going to ask him about the animals.l

how are you? >> fine.l >> fine.l what about the animals? are they getting enough food? the lions? the tigers? >> he tells me for seven days the animals got nothing.l now ten of the 200 staff have returned.l they're trying to feed all the animals.l the big cats get only half the food they need.l but their biggest problem is water.l he takes us to see the hippos.l of all the animals, they seem the most for lorn.l the keeper tells us that he tried to get some more water in here.l he even laid this plastic pipe on the floor right into the tank here with the hippos.l but it didn't work.l and they just left with that rank water.l even they don't seem to want to go into.l they're struggling to keep up.l so many animals to feed.l hyenas, bears, monkeys, deer, emus.l but it's the big cats, the meat