seen to be spotless. lo and behold, arianna huffington said he is out of tech crunch and will no longer be paid by the site. you can invest or be involved in tech companies but both is a bad idea. the producer on this program for four years has been jeff rosetti. he has been a remarkably calm presence when chaos is interrupting. this is his last program. he is moving on the a tv station in cleveland. we will miss him. we are off next sunday when cnn will have live coverage of the 9/11 attacks. we will be back the following week with another critical look at the media." state of the union" with candy crawley begins right now. a jobless labor day for 14 million americans looking for work and a million or so more who have given up the search.

today, who or what will move the u.s. economy out of its stall? we begin with jim demint and jim hoffa. and as we near the anniversary of 9/11, mike rogers and senate homeland security chairman joe lieberman and all things political with peter baker of the "new york times" and mike duffy of "time" magazine. i'm candy crawley, and this is "state of the union." first, president obama is going to unveil his new jobs plan on thursday, and it's a critical speech with the disappointing jobs numbers we saw come out a few days ago, and we see who could benefit right away. he is not always a republican

establishment favorite but holds sway in the tea party and the tea party may hold sway in the primaries. his event will be well attend and closely watched. he is joining me from clemson, south carolina. thank you so much for taking time out. i want to start off talking about jobs. and what is in the jobs plan and what cannot be in it? >> i spent the month of august visiting businesses, manufacturing plants. i have been on shop floors. i have talked to a lot of the companies that create jobs in south carolina and across the country. what they want is less regulation. they just keep talking about the epa and fcc and all the different agencies and the national labor board that seems to be harassing companies, and they want to know what the health care cost and unemployment cost will be and they are afraid to hire people because they are afraid of what

i think what i have heard the president is going to talk about on thursday night is more of the same, exextending unemployment benefits payroll tax cuts. >> can i interrupt you quickly and ask if you are opposed to extending unemployment benefits? are you exposed to extending the payroll tax cut? are you opposed to those two things? >> >> i don't think they will create jobs. the president appears to be doing it -- frankly i am so tired of his speeches, it will be hard for me to watch. we need a plan in writing and he needs to send it to us and tell us what it will cost so congress and the american people can read it and businesses can read it, but without sending something in writing the president makes all of the grand gestures and it doesn't appear in any legislation and he will blame congress for not passing something he never sends over. it's clear what we need to do to improve our economy, and we need

to lower the risk in business and make sure there are ample reward for creating the risks. the president has it backwards. he's creating more risk and threatening to raise taxes on small businesses. this is not a good formula. in the short-term things he does, the temporary things that are designed to create more consumption by giving people more to spend will not create jobs. it cost an employer, candy, about $65,000 to create a $40,000 a year job. if he creates a $5,000 a year tax credit, people are not going to hire for that reason. they may take the $5,000 tax credit if they were going to hire anyway. this is what we're hearing from the president but i hope he will do better than that. >> let me try to zero in on a couple of things on that. i don't want to argue economics with you because there are a lot of people out there with varying ideas, but as far as extending unemployment benefits, in your

state alone, there's over a 10% unemployment rate right now. people who are hurting. so extending the long-term, and is that for 99 weeks of unemployment would no doubt help folks in your state, and there are study after studies showing that people on unemployment do spend that cash, and sometimes people who have a job and they get cash in their check will save it, but those who are unemployed spend it. spending money helps the businesses, and as the businesses earn more money they hire people. so, first of all, on a purely sort of helping people basis, isn't extending unemployment something you would support? >> we have to have unemployment. but the longer you make it the more per verse incentives you create. i have talked to a lot of businesses in south carolina who can't get employees to come back to work because they are gettingen employment and they are getting food stamps and they say call me when unemployment runs out. >> that can't be the bulk of

people who are unemployed -- you can't believe the bulk of people the 14 million americans who are out of work, actually just prefer to stay on unemployment benefits. >> there are people that desperately need it and we need to make sure we have the safety net in place, and we have to realize there are a lot of people gaming the system right now and we need to do better than we have done with extending benefits, and there has to be incentives for people to get back to work and they have to phase out in a way we have not done it before. i'm looking forward to hearing what our presidential candidates say on monday, the republican candidates, on what to do with jobs and unemployment. certainly, we have to help those in need, but we have to realize every time we create a government program like this people gain the system, just like they do with food stamps and other things. we need to make sure our incentives move people back to the work force, rather than keep

them at home. >> let me move to you to a discussion on the tea party. and as you know, we often refer to you as a tea party king maker and favorite, and you are on to the -- >> don't. >> certainly people are coming to your forum, a good many of them accepted your invitation because you are seen as somewhat of a power broker. i want to show you a poll from mid august that talks about whether people have a favorable or unfavorable view of the tea party. 57% of republicans have a favorable impression of the tea party, but independents, only 26% of independents have a favorable view of the tea party. so what would you rather have in a presidential candidate? do you want somebody who adheres to tea party values or an electable person?

you can't win elections without independents. >> well, there is no "the tea party." a lot of obama and a lot of the democrats and folks in the media have tried to speak of the tea party in derogatory terms and suggest that it's a small right-wing group, but over 70% of americans think we need to balance our budget and stop adding to the debt, and that's pretty much what the tea party is. it's thousands of small groups around the country who are concerned about the spending, borrowing and the debt. and for every person that goes to a tea party rally there are hundreds of people that share those concerns. what the democrats are criticizing are legitimate, genuine citizen activism. which brought accountability to washington. that's what i want to be part of. >> why do you think 26% of independents have a favorable view of it? do you think it's just pr? >> yeah, they have been blamed for the downgrade and all of the other things and obstruction, which they have not had anything to do with. these are active citizens.

i have been to tea party rallies, candy, and they include a lot of democrats and libertarians and conservatives, and lot of independents. so it really is a case where you had the media putting down the tea party and a pollster come in and say, what do you think of them? but if you ask what do you think of citizen activism, people concerned about reducing spending, borrowing an the debt. you will find 70% of americans agree with that. it is not so much the label "tea party." it is getting citizens active. that's what i'm trying to listen to. that's the voice i'm trying to take to washington. i'm not head of the tea party. there is no head of the tea party. the good thing about the tea party, there is no head of it. there are thousands of leaders that become active as citizens. as americans understand more about that, that's something they really appreciate. >> you have kept your powder dry, as they say, when it comes

to selecting somebody that you think will be your choice for the presidential nominee from the republican party. i understand you want to hear from them and all of that, but what i want to know is when you look at the slate of republicans who are in there now, is there anyone you could not support should they win the nomination? >> well, candy, i appreciate cnn doing the forum we are doing on monday. this is a chance for the candidates to define themselves in their own terms. we picked the candidates that are over 5% of the poll so we narrowed the field a little. they all have strengths. there is no one in the group that i could not support as a nominee, and nobody that could not do a better job than the current president. i'm very open right now. i'm listening to what they say. i want to find the candidates that understand the principles of american exceptionalism and have the character, courage and competence to lead the greatest nation in the world.

>> south carolina senator, jim demint. thank you i for your time. >> thank you, candy. when we come back, what organized labor wants to hear from president obama about jobs. teamsters president, jim hoffa, is here next. ♪

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here to talk about what unions want for the economy and from president obama, jim hoffa, president of the international brotherhood of teamsters, more -- a union with 1 poen 4 million members. i think i have that right. you will see him tomorrow on the traditional labor day detroit event. what you have told him you want to see in a jobs bill? >> we want a bold plan. labor wants a bold program -- >> does that mean something expensive? usually when somebody says i want a bold plan, it's something that takes a lot of money. >> well, we're still at 9% unemployment, and it's not working. we need a bold plan. we have to look at what happened with irene and we have to

rebuild our roads, our dams, our highways. everything has to be redone. our schools, we need to start that. we need a wpa-type program. i think most of all what he has to do is challenge business. this is not something -- labor needs everybody to be in the game. what is happening, everybody is saying what is obama going to do? what obligation does american business have? they are sitting on trillions of dollars right now. and not spending money. we have lost 8 million jobs since '08, and we have to challenge them to get into the game. another faction of what he needs to be doing is put in a tax incentive to spend money and get off the sidelines and into the game and start to spend the money here in america and put america back to work.

>> the president wants a couple of free trade deals that i know you are opposed to. what you are talking about is perhaps a tax credit for businesses, for every person they hire. i don't know if you heard what senator jim demint said, if they are going to hire someone any way, sure they will take the 5,000, but it will not induce businesses to hire because what they fear is the uncertainty of what health care will cost them. what they fear is regulation that they don't understand how much bureaucracy they have to build in to their business and how much that will cost. do you accept that as a premise or do 0 you think businesses are sitting on money waiting for what? >> i think business s are sitting on money. apple has $76 billion in their account. >> they are allowed to have. >> they are not doing anything with it. instead of investing here, everything is in china or asia. look at honor d.a. it is

building a billion dollar plant and they want to build it in mexico. >> it is cheaper there. >> we know that. don't they have an obligation to build it in america and put people to work here instead of mexico. that's what i believe. the president should challenge the patriotism of these american corporations that are sitting on the sidelines saying why do we have high unemployment but i'm not going to hire anybody? they have an obligation like the federal government and obama. we have to all get in the game but i don't see that happening. the trillions and billions of dollars on the sidelines, they have money -- pfizer and general electric have trillions of dollars overseas. let's start a program to get america going again. the problem in many america is not that we don't have enough money. we have more money than any other country in the world. the problem is american business is not spending it and not getting in the game. that's how we will get america going again. >> i'm hearing tweets across the universe here because i want to go back. are you questioning the

patriotism of apple for sitting on money? >> yes, i am. >> are you? >> yes, i am. what is it with a company that sell most of their products here in the united states. they are the biggest, apple stores everywhere, sitting on that kind of money and every time they do something they do it in china, somewhere else. there is something wrong. >> what about the high price of labor and health care and the high coast of environmental drove them out of the country. >> i don't believe that at all. we have companies here that make a lot of money like u.p.s. we have a number of great companies here that are functioning here that are union. and they are doing very well. you can do it here. the answer is you have to have the incentive. so many companies like mr. coffee and other companies that closed and moved to mexico, they are wrong. they are unpatriotic. we have to turn this around and say we are an american company and have an obligation to america and let's put america

back to 0 work. >> as you know, your afl-cio has suggested that perhaps afl-cio would not be so focused on the re-election of the president but instead a 24/7 help for its members and getting them politicized. are you happy enough with president obama, who's done a lot of things including mexican trucks in what appears to be a pilot program across the border. would you oppose he is pushing for three trade agreements of which you oppose. are you happy enough with him to fully reinvest in his election? >> we don't have to. president obama, we don't agree with all of his policies but overall he's done a good job. he took over the worst economy in 80 years. when he took over in 2009. we had the crash of 2008. we lost 8 million jobs since then. he will have a difficult time turning this around. when the alternatives are sarah

palin and michele bachmann and rick perry it makes it easy to make this decision. >> it is better than what you see coming down the pipe? >> those people are anti-union, anti-worker. they don't believe in what i believe in and i don't think we have a choice here. if you hear what they talk about, they talk about basically no taxes on business, cutting unemployment, getting rid of social security, medicare, medicaid. when you i cut through the rhetoric that's where you end up and that's not what america wants and not what the teamsters want. >> if you ask a tea party member, most of them what they stand for, they would say smaller government, lower taxes, less federal spending, less regulation. do you think there are no members of the teamsters or unions in general that believe in that? >> well -- >> is that such a horrid? >> i think when you i explain it to them.

i'm not going to say there aren't republicans in the teamsters. certainly there are. there are a lot of members. but when you say do you want somebody that will cut your social security. if you put it on that basis they understand those are the things i have worked for and i need and that's what i expect of america. when you do it that way and cut through the idea, the rhetoric that they have, the tea party does, then people realize what's at stake here. we see what they have done in ohio and wisconsin, once they get in, what do the do, go after collective bargaining for workers. that's the first thing they do. they have tax cuts for the corporations, both in wisconsin and ohio. that's the first thing they do. you kind of see where they are going. when you explain that to people, to say that's where they are at and where we are at, i think that's where people will go with obama . >> thank you for coming by. >> great to be here. >> appreciate it. up next t grading america's safety ten years after 9/11. [ male announcer ] for sore muscles use new bengay cold therapy.

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the heads of the 9/11 commission say the country is safer now than ten years ago before the attack, but nine of the recommendations made by the commission in 2004 remain unfulfilled leaving gaping holes in homeland security. the list includes an inability to reliably detect explosives hidden on airline passengers and the failure to implement a nationwide broadband network for emergency communication between firemen, medical and police personnel and a failure to implement federal benchmarks for birth certificates and driver's license. up next, we will talk to chairman of the senate homeland security committee, joe lieberman and chairman of the house intelligence committee, mike rogers.

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with the tenth anniversary of 9/11 one week away, we wanted to get a report card on national security. joining me is chairman joe lieberman, and house intelligence committeeman mike rogers. thank you for being here. it's a bit of a scary anniversary, but what i wanted to ask you first, we hear no specific credible threats.

do you both feel reasonably sure that we are safe on this -- particularly in new york and washington on this anniversary. >> i believe we are safer, but there are still plenty of folks that get up every single morning with the sole intention of planning, conducting and financing an operation against the united states. i do believe with all the action taken over the last ten years, we're safer. >> i agree. part of the anniversary is to look back, and i think if you look back the american people and the american government have a lot to feel proud about. we really transformed ourselves to meet the new threat of islamic terrorism. i don't think anybody on september 12, 2001, would have predicted in the following ten years there would not be another major terrorists attack on the homeland, and there has not been.

also our enemies have secured no major gains in their worldwide effort to attack us. they are still out there. we are still in a war. it will go on for a while but we are safe and stronger than ten years ago. >> having said that two chairman of the 911 commission issued a report card and said here are our recommendations we put out in 2004, and here is where we are falling short. remarkably to me one of them is there is not a reliable mechanism for detecting bombs aboard airline passengers. we had the entire discussion about how you could see everything in these new machines, and now according to the report, they are not that reliable for detecting bombs. how is that possible? >> well, i'm not exactly sure of everything they looked at. the enemy gets up every day and takes a look at our security changes and adapts, and that's what makes al qaeda dangerous.

they still recruit people in their ranks, even though we have hit them hard. they want to re-engineer ways to get bombs on aircraft. it is a dynamic process. i don't think you will see one solution at the tsa station that is going to do it. it is a combination of things that will get us to a safer place and allow you to get on the plane with a sense of relief. >> and another thing, senator, i found jaw-dropping, is ten years after 9/11, police and firemen, emergency rescue workers during an emergency cannot talk to one another because the broadband width has not been approved. it is ten years after. i was told by governor kaine, former the governor kaine that people died in katrina because we haven't the broad bandwidth they could talk to each other on, that the policemen saw the twin towers waivering, they thought it was unstable but they

couldn't tell the firemen to get out because they are not on the same wave. i think most people would find it inexcusable. >> those are realities that you have just described. the truth is, the ability of first responders to talk to each other is better than ten years ago. we have spent millions making that possible. and we want to give them the so-called d-block spectrum, so they can have the same ability to transmit, video, maps, etc. that most teenagers have on their cell phones. and until we do, we will not have learned a lesson. but i do want to say, hats off

on tom kaine who headed the 9/11 commission. congress adapted most of what they recommended. creation of the department of homeland security. we're safer because our government is better organized to meet the terrorists threat. but there is still work to be done and that's why the report this week is so important. >> were either of you disturbed when there was an earthquake in washington, d.c. and cell phone service was unreliable? it seems like every time a major happens, the first thing to go is your ability to make a phone call. >> that is always a challenge. >> should it be? >> you have to remember, the burden we put on the systems today is exponentially charger -- larger than ten years ago. we are struggling to keep up with. that it didn't go out for long, and the emergency communication network, the folks that had the absolute top priority to communicate could communicate.

and that's the most important sector where you ought to focus and then you try to get the civilian side up to date so when this happens if it is a hurricane, natural disaster or man-made event you don't have long-term service that goes out. >> i will put the two of you on pause so we can take a break. but next we will turn to the situation in syria and libya and the stakes if the u.s. cops are cracking down on drinking and riding. drive sober, or get pulled over. on our car insurance. great! at progressive, you can compare rates side by side, so you get the same coverage, often for less. wow! that is huge! [ disco playing ] and this is to remind you that you could save hundreds! yeah, that'll certainly stick with me. we'll take it. go, big money! i mean, go. it's your break, honey. same coverage, more savings.

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we're back with our guests. let me ask one final wrap-up 9/11 question, and that is al qaeda, we spent ten years diminishing their capabilities. are they now less of a threat than the lone wolf than somebody that shares the ideology but hard to track because he's a crazy person on his own? >> it's a combination of both. they are down. we have hurt them. with the number two just taken out recently. it had a tremendous impact on our organization, such as an operational guy. they are down but not out. it is a combination of both. those lone wolves are part of their strategy to recruit in western europe and the united states.

even though they may act independent of a structured operation, they are still part of al qaeda's mission statements and organizational operation if that makes sense. >> i agree with mike. we definitely weakened al qaeda. they have not achieved any of their major goals and bin laden has been killed. i think it is very important for us to understand that the enemy that we face in this war on terrorism is not a particular group, al qaeda. it is an ideology, a violent ideology of what i call islamist extremism. it is not islam. it is a small group who perverted religion. it appears in a lot of different names and asometimes in the united states. that's why this unconventional war is going on. >> let's go to libya. gadhafi is gone but still there. he's not in power but someplace in libya, everybody believes. let me ask you, what is best for the libyan people as honestly as you can answer this, would it be

better if he was captured and tried or better if he just ran in to some people who killed him? >> that's clearly up to the libyan people. the most important phase of this, i believe, is now is the where is the waldo event of trying to find moammar gadhafi. they will succeed in that eventually. the next two, three, four weeks is important for their establishment of govern nances and trying to avoid an insurgency and it has a lot of components to it. the weapons system, the weapons cache. their ability to get resources in the short term, their own resources, engage in government development so show the rebels they can gov earn. and the work to not make the mistakes made in iraq about dismissing all of their military and intelligence apparatus. they need to co-op some of that in the next few weeks.

if a combination of those things happen, then it is probably of little consequence which things happens to moammar gadhafi. >> let me ask you a question. i talked to a former top initial the intelligence community who said i'm not that worried about the mustard gas because there's not any sign at all that he could deliver anything with mustard gas. what worried this official were the shoulder-launched missiles. he said one terrorist gets one of those he can bring down a plane. end of story, and there are hundreds of them. what do you know about the whereabouts -- are we trying to track that? >> we are tracking it carefully and working with the new government of libya which is, i would say western oriented. they are nationalistic but of course grateful to alternate because they know without alternate including the u.s. they would not have overthrown

gadhafi. we were allies and supporters. and we are working with them to secure the mustard gas and the munitions that i worry would fall otherwise in to the hand of enemies of the u.s., including terrorists. it is important to see here one of the bonuses of the iraq war was that gadhafi got scared he would be next. he came in from the cold, as it were and agreed to get rid of a highly enriched uranium and other weapons of mass destruction that he had. there's less for us to protect than there would have been. >> again, my concern has been -- again that's why the next few weeks is important. what are we doing to secure the weapon systems? >> what are we doing? >> we have a unique capable in the united states and we have to shake ourselves out of the notion that that alternate is going to do it all. >> we are not as involved.

>> we are not as involved. i'm not talking about boots on the ground but special capabilities that only the united states has to account for those weapons and render them safe and we need to do it now. i will tell you al qaeda and other terrorist organizations are interested in getting those hands on those missile systems, other weapons and chemical stockpile precursors. all of that we know is happening. the race is gone. this is a race we should win. we shouldn't debate if we need to have special capabilities on the ground to take care of that particular problem. >> the fact is, it is chaotic and inside of chaos you can grab a lot. >> in the black market. you worry about that stuff getting legs. >> that's always the danger. i'd say the new libyan government is moving to create stability. important for us to help them get gadhafi and then to encourage them ito create a

government that doesn't punish everyone. there are tough days ahead but what they have done is a tremendous victory in getting rid of gadhafi and it is important throughout the world. >> thank you for being here. happy labor day. >> thank you. up next, sarah palin sounded like a candidate in iowa yesterday. she is in or out? we asked two veteran reporters next. woman: hit it, mr. butters. ♪ ♪ take on me... ♪ ....take on me ♪ take me on... anncr: there's an easier way to save. get online. go to geico.com get a quote. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. but sometimes i wonder... what's left behind? [ female announcer ] new purifying facial cleanser from neutrogena naturals. removes 99% of dirt and toxins without dyes, parabens, or harsh sulfates. so skin feels pure and healthy. [ female announcer ] new from neutrogena naturals.

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we are joined by peter baker, white house correspondent for the new york tienls mike duffy, new york bureau chief for "time." thank you both. i want to talk about the president's unveil on thursday, the big jobs program. i want to ask, is this going to be politics or bipartisanship? >> well, is there a difference? i think the idea is to look bipartisan while playing politics. this is t not the first time we have had a big job reboot by the president. he will have to make it sell better this time. >> that's a big old forum to go up and not say much. >> picking up a big hammer in the presidential arsenal. >> i think there is a short-term speech this week are he will talk about extending tax cuts, unemployment insurance and infrastructure stuff and come

back in a week or so and do the long-term deficit reduction proposal, which they were working on last summer . the president is quite devoted to. i think they want it to be seen on thursday as the first of two kicks of the can, both long and short. >> so he wants to get ahead of the super committee and say here's how i would like -- the people that come up with the deficit reduction by the end of the year, the 12 senators in congress. >> they are going to put the proposals on thursday in to a bill and send the bill to congress, which i think demint earlier on the show said they are never 0 going to do but they will do. they say it will be paid for. and i think a week later they will give the super committee a similar set of specific proposals. they are trying to look serious. >> something that dan pfeiffer, white house communications said it was a quote in the "new york times" where he said the president wants to work with republicans and democrats to create jobs and grow the economy. if nothing happens, it will be because republicans in congress

made a conscious sdegs to do nothing. that struck me as setting the political plate here. >> there is, in fact, a desire here not just for a substantive proposal which he will along the lines that mike said in terms of the payroll tax credit and infrastructure thing but to frame the debate. it is the only way he can explain to the public going in to next year that unemployment is still 9%. that's what the review predicted the other day because the other side won't do something about it. they are responsible for hamstringing our ability to get out of these economic doldrums. >> it escapes the the idea it will be paid for. yes, we will have a new stimulus plan, they won't call it stimulus plan, but spend more money to prime the pump and try to get jobs out there but pay with it with the following cuts and it seems the republicans say

can do the cuts and not do the spending. >> that is the question of september. the republicans have their own jobs plan they would like to put forward. the president will be specific in his. both are trying to get past this public frustration, the perception that washington is really, really good at bickering and fighting at silly stuff and not good at getting anything done. we will find out whether september is where both parties turn the corner on this pb lick frustration or keep doing what they have spent the summer doing. >> let me turn to the campaign trail for a second. sarah palin was in iowa yesterday. imagine that. >> just a little coincidence and she didn't say whether or not she was going to run. here's the gist of what she was talking babbitt about. >> the challenge is not to simply replace obama in 212 but

the challenge is who will we replace him with? it is not enough -- >> run sara run for those, we don't have lips to read but that is what it was about. i like at the polling and i don't see first of all turf for her that isn't already occupied and a big ground swell of come on in, sara. >> she said on friday night there is room. there is room in the spectrum for her to get in she thinks. she is teasing it until the end of september. whether she is going to run or attempting to get astengs tension and a role in this is hard to say. i think her novelty seems to be wearing off. that's something that goes against the mitt romney side of

the republican house. she is making a case if she runs. you can see her adopting her old alaska anti--establishment kind of demeanor, persona. >> i thought it was an interesting speech. carefully constructed. a presidential kind of speech. if this leads her not to run it will be interesting that she took the last fan dance. she said that, you know, polls, which you mentioned don't encourage her to not run is from stripper and cross country skiers. so if she doesn't run we will miss that kind of color. >> but we have rick perry who is no slouch in the color department. i want to put up the latest cnn poll on republicans choice. this is of republicans. rick perry 32%. mitt romney 18%. michele bachmann, yesterday's news apparently at 12%. at the same time, on down the line, everybody gets in to

single digits after that. there was an ad put out by a group that's supporting michele bachmann but is not affiliated with her campaign. she was not behind this ad. i want to play a little bit of the ad. >> rick perry's spending more money than the state takes in, covering his deficit with the record borrowing and he's supposed to be the tea party guy? there's an honest conservative and she's not rick perry. >> not a bad ad. >> always a bigger fish. bachmann knocks out tim pawlenty and now rick perry comes along and is pushing her to the side and smoking out romney as well. already the race is still three or four months before it gets going, having a huge affect on the field and perry in plafr overhauled the thing in a month. >> it will be interesting in september, three debates

starting this week on wednesday. perry has been allowing everybody to sit back and squabble while he sat on the field of endorsements and money and suddenly no longer the front runner and has to make his case and perry being the unknown figure except to excite conservatives will have to defend his record. he said i can take a punch and deliver one. this will be his first test. >> he will probably take few punches. there is zippo honeymoon from fellow republicans. what i wonder, does rick perry just push bachmann to the sidelines or is there a route for her. >> if she keeps running ads like this she may make a dment his progress but he is sidelined by his progress at the moment. he has a lot of money, a ferocious campaigner, not afraid of saying things that are designed to delight the base. and it is interesting a group of old 0 line evangelical leaders

met with him in texas under a innoce tent in the hill country. and there are a lot of forces gathering for perry we will see if he can take the heat. >> he's a good campaigner. all of this talk is it going to be fred thompson. she a far better campaigner than fred thompson ever was. when you look at the polling here, it shows everybody competitive with the president at this point. how does the white house react to this? or are they quite happy to let this go on and see gives big speeches. >> it is a moment of peril for the white house. they have to be feeling nervous about where they are at. put aside who will win the republicandom nomination. you have an incumbent going in to an election year with 9%

unemployment. their own report says it is not going to be better next year, absent some great movement on the part of congress or something we don't kpnt and that is a debill dating position for a president to be in. how quick it changes, though. four months ago we were talking about bin laden being killed and that lasted two news cycles. it is a long time between now and then. and the best thing that he can hope for is someone that isn't too radical, too much for a lot of independent voters to stomach. >> even if they aren't, he will present them as that. >> exactly. if the economy doesn't come back, the republicans will be the target in the race for the president. >> to be continued. >> thank you both so much. >> thank you. up next, a check on the top stories and then a look at what women in the developing world need most. that's at the top of the hour. 

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president obama arrived in new jersey to survey the damage from hurricane irene. the state's governor, chris christie will join the president on a tour of the flood-stricken