adopted son by squirting hot sauce into his mouth. prosecutors claim that she videotaped her actions to get on the "dr. phil show." i talked to our legal guys yesterday about the case and they both disagreed with the verdict. >> it's outrageous that she didn't do imes. 180 days suspended? that woman should be in jail and that child should be in foster care right now. >> how do you defend a woman like this? >> i just relate to when i was a kid. i would have loved a little hot sauce instead of the belt. >> come on. >> chicken wings and hot sauce. i think avery hit it. it's the motive of the woman. that's what the real problem here is. it wasn't just to discipline the child, it was to get on the dr. fill shdr. dr. phil show. 180 day suspended sentence, three-year probation.

this poor kid is adopted from russia. it makes us look real bad over here. her lawyers did a great job for her. really. >> you can catch our legal guys every saturday at noon eastern right here in the cnn newsroom. i had, everybody, top of the hour, 5:00 p.m. on the east coast, i'm alina cho. thanks for joining us. three developing stories we're watching this hour, the ongoing onslaught from tropical storm lee. parts of the gulf coast waist high in water. we'll take you there live. and gadhafi's son speaks out from his hiding place revealing new information about cease-fire talks. it's an exclusive. we'll have to report, just secs away. nearly ten years after 9/11, new compelling video from that tragic day comes to light. that is straight ahead. this labor day weekend is a washout for millions of americans along the gulf coast.

tropical storm lee is still drenching parts of the louisiana, mississippi, alabama and florida coast this hour. but it's starting to make a move toward the tennessee valley. the storm came ashore yesterday along the louisiana coastline where some roads and low-lying areas are under water. so far, no reports of any major flooding in the region's biggest city, new orleans. we have reporters across the storm zone to bring you the latest, ed lavandera in southern louisiana, reynolds wolf on the alabama gulf coast. susan candiotti in paterson, new jersey, a city flooded by hurricane irene last weekend. president obama toured that area today. but we want to begin with ed lavandera. he's in jean lafitte, louisiana, near new orleans. set the scene for us where you are. >> reporter: good afternoon, alina. jean lafitte is south of new orleans, on its way down to the

gulf of mexico. if you look in the distance, you'll see an orange sheet on the horizon. on the other side of that, this that is the intercoastal waterway. to the left takes you down toward the gulf of mexico. to the right it winds back in towards the city of new orleans. the problem here isn't necessarily wind, which has been minimal or the rain. it's actually been tidal surge. as this storm slowly crept inland, the winds shoot out to the south. all this water is getting pushed up through here. this is already a low-lying area. the water is getting pushed out of the waterway into these neighborhoods around lafitte. mostly what we're seeing is homes where the water is threatening to go inside. and what they need here, accord together jefferson parish president, they need the winds to shift and start pointing toward the south. what you need ultimately is

you're probably tired of watching the storm sit here. >> we need the storm to move out and mother nature to change the direction of the wind. that's with we need. we can work but we node a little help from mother nature. we need a shift in the wind direction. >> reporter: it's interesting, they're kind of battling this on all fronts, all around this community. this area is surrounded by waterways, south of new orleans. that orange sheet you saw in the distance, that's actually a water-filled makeshift levee, to try to control where the water goes. they've been doing sandbags, they have trucks going around all over the place. they think in the next 12 hours or so the winds will shift towards the south and that will give them the break they need. >> let's hope that happens for the residents there. ed lavandera, thanks very much. jacqui jeras keeping a close eye on tropical storm lee. you are saying the good news is it's picked up speed. >> the bad news is it's starting to slow down once again. >> oh, boy t. could potentially

stall before we see a more significant turn towards the northeast. that will probably happen tomorrow. so we did make a little bit of progress today. you know, anything is better than stalled. so we're moving about four miles per hour up to the north. that's down from eight that we saw last hour. okay? we're waiting for this trough to come in and pick it up to the forward speed and bring it up to the north and east. it will be lingering still for another day or so. it is over land. typically we weaken a lot when it's over land. there's still a lot of moisture. it's marshy in southern louisiana. very little change in intensification will be expected. rain continues to be one of the number one threats we're dealing with because of that slow movement. it will be moving into alabama as we head into tuesday and then open up towards tennessee we think by thursday. the rainfall totals by the way so far have been incredible. look at this out of new orleans. in audubon, 10.5 inches,

pascagoula, 10.5 as well, biloxi, nearly 9. same story for the lakefront in new orleans and baton rouge, about 7 inches as well. how much more can you expect? let's take a look. this is a computer model forecast. this is on top of what you already have. heavy downpours across central mississippi, across northern bam billion and on up to the appalachians. heavier stuff we think could reach 6 to 12. that includes jackson as well as into the greenville area. and the northeast, we're concerned about flooding here, too. that has to do with the cold front that's coming in. we might get tropical moisture trying to sneak in as well. 1 to 3 over the flood-ravaged areas. we have the threat of tornadoes, a new watch box that will extend to late tonight. we've had a couple of spin-ups here. waterspout in mobile spotted earlier today. rain will continue to be the big story. spotty power outages, too, because of some of the wind

gusts that will be reaching 40 to 60 miles per hour. >> how long is this storm going to be a problem, do you think? and what about all the people who want to be traveling back from their labor day holiday tomorrow? >> the storm will stay in the southeast for a couple of days. then it will ride up the coast a little bit. we're talking about a week before the moisture is out of here altogether. people up and down the eastern seaboard with lee and the cold front will have a lot of travel problems. >> call ahead. >> definitely. >> that's your advice to me, at least. thank you. president obama is back at camp david after visiting parts of new jersey devastated by hurricane irene. he toured wayne and paterson, the two towns hit hard by the storm's strong winds and heavy rains. the president comforted victims and vowed that the federal government will help them recover. a live report is just ahead. but first to libya and exclusive information on cnn. moammar gadhafi's wheres about still unknown. but one of his sons is talking to cnn about his father's

options. in the past few hours, our senior international correspondent nic robertson spoke by phone with saadi gadhafi who says that cease-fire negotiations with rebel fighters have broken down. the younger gadhafi thinks that rebels will soon enter one of the last factions of his father's support. a short time ago i talked with nic in london. >> reporter: i asked him specifically where his father was, his braernlg, saif was. i asked him where he was. he said he had been outside bani walid. he told me he was relatively safe but in a dangerous situation. he told me then he's been negotiating with national transitional council, rebel military commanders.

they've also confirmed it. he's been negotiating to try and get a cease-fire for the town of bani walid. however, he said, on thursday, when his brother saif gadhafi dave gave what he described as a very aggressive speech on television, urging his supporters to keep fighting, saadi gadhafi told me at that point the national transition council, the rebels essentially said the cease-fire talks are off, if your brother's going to talk like that and right now according to saadi gadhafi, he believes there's no point in negotiations, that the national transition council is amassing troops to move into bani walid. he did, however, say, and this is very significant, he clearly has differences with his father and his brother saif al islam. there's clearly divisions emerging in this family. he said he is neutral, he's neither in the rebel camp nor his father's camp and is merely trying to negotiate a cease-fire. the divisions are significant. because until now, gadhafi's

family have been the power brokers, the main people that have run the country. they've stuck together and now that cohesion is falling apart. >> nic, as you well know, the rebels have set a saturday deadline for gadhafi to surrender and now this development. how do you see things playing in and out libya over the next few days? >> reporter: they even talked about extending that cease-fire, there had been some discussion about it, certainly from political leaders. there was one senior military commander on the rebel side told me owe wasn't comfortable with that extension that the political leaders had given, this extension of another week, until next weekend. it seems that the military commanders have the initiative right now. and it does seem that they will go into bani walid and probably will seem slightly reminiscent of tripoli where the rebels will quickly take control after perhaps some small squirmishes.

those loyal to gadhafi will run away. the national transition council, the rebels have said their key aim is to catch moammar gadhafi. it's beginning to look like had could take some time. it's beginning to look like an iraq-type scenario where the iraqis and u.s. forces were chasing saddam hussein for a long time. it hasn't quite come to that yet but the next few days in bani walid will give us an indication. is that what lies ahead in libya right now, a long chase for moammar gadhafi? we have dramatic video to show you. it's from 9/11 but it is just now surfacing nearly ten years after the fact. it was taken just minutes after united airlines flight 93 crashed into a pennsylvania field by a man who lived just a few miles away. what you're about to hear is the voice of that man calmly narrating what he saw. >> the remains of an airplane

crash over on lambertsville road. and probably a terrorist bomb on board that blew up. don't know anything more than that. that's what i heard on the scanner. i just saw the smoke come up and the explosion shook the house clear over here. and we are, what, 15 mile from lambertsville. and it shook the heck out of the house. >> the man you heard from is now deceased and his family wishes to remain anonymous. we want you to see the entire video. in the next half hour we will play it for you. we here at cnn will bring you special 9/11 coverage beginning next sunday morning at 8:30 eastern. anderson cooper and candy crowley are among the many people who will help us remember the tragic events of 9/11 and honor the lives that were lost.

dominique strauss-kahn once favored to become the next president of france. now that the u.s. rape charges have been dropped against the former imf chief, does he have a shot at a political comeback? it certainly wouldn't be the first time. we're going to take a look at that, next. if something is simply the color of gold, is it really worth more?

we don't think so. chase sapphire preferred is a card of a different color. unlike others, you get twice the points on travel, and twice the points on dining, and no foreign transaction fees. call now or apply at chasesapphire.com/preferred. good gravy, bill. our insurance company doesn't have anything like it. magnificent, isn't it? with progressive, it's easy to cover all of your favorite rides. progressive has truck insurance? number one in truck and motorcycle. is that a golf cart? yep. we also cover rvs, boats, atvs. anything else i can help you with? can i take a ride? you need a ticket -- i'm first! and that's by the water slide. okay. no running. oh, dear. save on all your rides. now, that's progressive. call or click today.

former imf chief dominique strauss-kahn is back home in his native france. he arrived this morning after charges he raped a hotel maid in new york were dismissed. i talked with cnn's jim bitterman about the big homecoming. >> reporter: strauss-kahn came in an hour and a half early, perhaps thinking he could avoid the press mob but they were there anyway.

as you can see, a big crowd gathered there around the airport and as well some well wishers. we talked to one woman who got up at 5:30 this morning in order to be out there to support strauss-kahn. he actually received a brief round of applause from some of his supporters. >> jim, i understand you have information about strauss-kahn possibly speaking out in the next 24 hours or so? >> reporter: well, in fact he said before he left the united states, he said that he wanted to speak out about the subject when he returned to france. he's now returned. his spokesman said she didn't think he was going to say anything today. perhaps by tomorrow he might be ready to say something. it's also sort of been made clear he's not going to talk about the details of the affair in the united states, because there was still this civil suit. >> don't forget, strauss-kahn was not only the head of the international monetary fund, he was a major political figure in france. a former finance minister and

until this scandal broke, an almost guaranteed candidate for president. that's what we're talking about right now as cnn international ralitsa. a lot of people thought he was a shoo-in. >> he was going to beat sarkozy. >> given the fact that the charges have now been dropped. jim bitterman talked about one woman waking up at 5:30 in the morning to be at the airport when 'riffed. you see the mob scene there. obviously a lot of it is press. does he have a shot of making a political comeback? what do you think? >> his socialist party is dumping him luke a hot potato, distancing themselves from him. because he has become extremely

unpopular, even in tolerant france. and we see a front-runner in the socialist party saying he has a lot of explaining to do in his attitude towards women. >> we should mention there's still a civil case pending. >> another woman has accused him, has a complaint against him of attempted rape. >> which is a separate case. >> yes, in 2003. >> french authorities are considering whether to bring charges against him. >> you touched on this. listen, in france, political and scandals are seen differently than they are in the united states. that's for sure. given that, how do the french as a people, view him? >> well, if you look at the polls, he is extremely unpopular, even in tolerant france. something has happened here to where they are not forgiving him for what they heard about the way he's treated women, even though the charges were dropped against him. 80% of the french people who

were polled in a recent poll do not want him to run for the presidency. 61% do not want him to even have a senior government position. >> interesting. because jim bitterman touched on the fact that there is a possibility he could come back counseling a political figure, maybe in sort of another role. do you have any idea what his next act might be. >> his next act will be to explain himself. he'll have to explain things. then it's uncertain as to what awaits him. >> if he makes a comeback, as i mentioned before, it certainly would not be the first time. >> we never rule it out. >> never in politics. >> especially in france. >> and especially in politics, even here. thank you, ralitsa. president obama visits an area struggling to recover from

hurricane irene. his message to frustrated residents is next. hey can i play with the toys ? sure, but let me get a little information first. for broccoli, say one. for toys, say two. toys ! the system can't process your response at this time. what ? please call back between 8 and 5 central standard time. he's in control. goodbye. even kids know it's wrong to give someone the run around. at ally bank you never have to deal with an endless automated system. you can talk to a real person 24/7. it's just the right thing to do.

bridges out, roads closed and overwhelmed residents, that's just some of what president obama saw today when he toured areas of new jersey, hit hard by hurricane irene. cnn national correspondent susan candiotti is live for us today in paterson, new jersey.

one of the two towns the president visited, the other one being wayne. susan, what did the president say to these residents? >> reporter: well, the main message, of course, alina, is help is on the way. we're on one of the bridges that remains closed in paterson, new jersey. this is where the president spoke. it's one of two communities he visited, both wayne and paterson. there were cheers and tears and handshakes and hugs as the president played the role today of comforter in chief. as he visited with residents along the way and told them that federal disaster money is coming here. mainly people were ravaged in many parts of this area by floodwaters, not so much by wind damage. so a lot of people remain displaced. they don't have electricity yet. they are trying to get their lives back into the norm. so the president wanted to tell them that the country is behind them. >> and the last thing that

residents here in paterson or the residents of vermont or of upstate new york need is washington politics getting in the way of us making sure that we are doing what we can to help communities that have been badly affected. >> reporter: you know, alina, there's still a lot of work to be done. we talked to a lot of the residents here this day and they're happy that the president came. >> you can bet. i mean, as they rebuild, obviously what they're looking for with a visit like this is a psychological lift. i know you spoke to a lost residents, susan. what did they say to you? >> reporter: you know, for one thing we have to keep in perspective here that the president is popular, particularly in paterson. in 2008 he won paterson's vote by a 90% margin over senator mccain. he came to a spot where he's already very well liked. but there is growing frustration, especially from people who are not home yet. they want to get out of the

shelter, back into their homes. they had 900 boat rescues. we also talked with a single mother to be. she had to evacuate. she's living with her father for the time being and is happy that the president came. >> the community like this really needs to see, you know, that the president is just not in washington. he can be anywhere anytime and that he has a lot of support for everyone. >> you know, one hopeful sign that perhaps things are getting back to normal here. there's a fisherman in the passaic river. i don't know what he's catching today but the current is strong. so maybe that's a good sign when you're fishing. in any case, they're getting ready to re-open this bridge. they've got the street cleaners out, the firemen about to hose it down so they can get it open. that at least will help with the traffic flow here. >> at the very least, susan, that fisherman is an encouraging

sign that things may be inching back to normal. susan candiotti, as always, thank you very much, in paterson, new jersey. two more east coast states have been declared federal disaster areas after getting hit hard by hurricane irene. they are massachusetts and rhode island. those two states join seven others that are eligible for federal funds. one philadelphia family who made it through hurricane irene is using their baby to commemorate the storm. what are we talking about? up next in the chat room, find out what's so special about that little guy. these nasal allergies are spoiling our picnic.

i know what works differently than many other allergy medications. omnaris. omnaris, to the nose. did you know nasal symptoms like congestion can be caused by allergic inflammation? omnaris relieves your symptoms by fighting inflammation. side effects may include headache, nose bleed, and sore throat. got allergy symptoms out of my way. now life's a picnic. [ man ] omnaris. ask your doctor. battling nasal allergy symptoms? omnaris combats the cause. get omnaris for only $11 at omnaris.com.

all right. i'm new to this but it is that time, to to enter the chat room for a look at lighter stories making news this week. >> you're a natural. >> sure, jacqui, flatter me. we have a couple of stories that we want to talk about. you have a dog. >> i do have a dog. >> astro. >> astro. >> great name. there's a story coming out about pets having plastic surgery. >> can you believe this? >> braces for dogs.

doggy botox and then another surgery that's quite popular among dogs that have been neutered, anyway. >> we'll call it implants. >> implants. what do you make of this? is this something you'd do for your dog? >> absolutely not. >> not to mention the fact that -- first of all it sounds crazy. second of all, the cost of it all. >> right. >> i'm not doing it as a human, why would i do it -- >> i could see maybe a teeth problem. if i really loved my dg and it could cause dental health issues, maybe i'd consider something like that. >> if it's a health issue, that's one thing. >> they say dogs are like their owners, right? we can probably guess who the clientele might be. >> may be very popular out in los angeles. nothing against los angeles. i love l.a. >> we love our west coast viewers. let's talk about this next story. i have to admit, i sleep with my

blackberry close. >> do you wake up in the middle of the night? yeah? >> quite frequently. >> do i wake up in the morning sometimes and i've sent e-mails quite frankly -- >> you don't remember it. >> anyway, people are sleep texting. it's very popular. >> there is a study, dr. arder from the sleep disorder center in indianapolis said it's not uncommon. >> there's the video. >> exactly. >> it's an addiction. it's like an addiction. >> it's gone viral on youtube, apparently. yes, it's happening. you know, i have to admit i've been a sleep eater in the past. >> really? >> it happened to me -- >> you go down to the fridge or the pantry? >> i wake up -- >> chocolate? nuts? >> fruit sometimes. i'm not kidding you. i woke up once and there was a bowl with a half eaten apple and almonds there. >> it could be worse. >> i think i'm food deprived in

general. >> it could have been ice cream. >> we digress. >> hurricane irene obviously now tropical storm lee we're watching. >> right. >> with the hurricane last week, we had a pennsylvania couple who took advantage of this. >> that's right. >> they named their -- we could see a shot of them. they named their son manuel hurricane cooper. apparently they're going to call him hurricane. cute little guy. >> he was born just after midnight last sunday as hurricane irene moved through pennsylvania. he was born and -- he's adorable, isn't he? >> if gweneth paltrow can name her baby apple, they can name him hurricane. >> apple hasn't exactly taken the world by storm. >> i kind of like hurricane. i'm down with it. >> you're down with it for obvious reasons.

jacqui jeras, thank you. say i had to astro for me. >> okay. we'll get an update on tropical storm lee, where it's heading and jacqui will be back. nearly ten years after september 11th, dramatic new video from pennsylvania shot on that horrific day. it's now, just now, coming out. we'll play it for you in its entirety, next. 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. oh, we call it the bundler. let's say you need home and auto insurance. you give us your information once, online... [ whirring and beeping ] [ ding! ] and we give you a discount on both. great! did i mention no hands in the bundler?

bundling and saving made easy. now, that's progressive. call or click today.

the alabama gulf coast is another area feeling the impact of tropical storm lee. meteorologist reynolds wolf live from gulf shores. reynolds we spoke to you last hour and the wind was starting to pick up. what's it like right now? >> reporter: it's still kind of an intermittent kind of thing. the one constant we've had is the wind. the wind has been fairly steady the entire time. i'd say 35 to 40, maybe an occasional gust to 45. that's about it. we've dealt with systems far worse than this. the situation, though, here, has been kind of mild. rain here and there.

definitely situations been far more dire in louisiana and mississippi and alabama in terms of flooding. here they've had about 7 inches of rainfall over the last 30, 36 hours and certainly there may be more on the way. we spoke with the mayor, robert kraft. actually a few hours ago. he told us his concern, as mayor of gulf shores, has been the heavy surf and the temptation of people to get out in the water. und undertow and rip currents has been a concern. >> the flooding in the low-lying areas is a real problem. we've had quite a bit of rain over the last couple of days. we expect more to come. the drinage systems can't handle but so much water. we designed for a certain amount of rain. when it rains more than that it overflows the system and we've had that. >> reporter: you know what's

interesting about this entire tropical system? if it stayed out in the gulf a bit longer it would have had the opportunity to intensify, perhaps take in more of the warm gulf water. but it did come onshore. it's not incredibly strong. the problem is there's still a tremendous danger that we really need to pay attention to, that will be the potential of further flooding, perhaps interacting with higher elevations with the appalachians that could enhance the rainfall. >> seem to be lucky where you are, live for us along the gulf coast in alabama. jacqui jeras is tracking the storm. you saw that windy scene there. the real problem with this storm, jacqui, is the flooding, it's the rain. >> absolutely. there's a lot more rain to be had with the storm, alina. a lot of it has to do with how slow moving it is. parts of the southeast need rainfall. we just don't want too much at once.

unfortunately that will be happening. we've had as much as a foot of rain in parts of louisiana and mississippi and this is going to spread across alabama, into georgia and throughout the appalachians. as reynolds mentioned, as it gets into the higher elevation we do worry about mudslides as well as that flood threat. we'll continue to track lee. something else we're dealing with is the threat of tornados with this storm as we often get in the right quadrant. the threat of tornadoes will be ongoing from new orleans stretching through the panhandle past apalachicola into the state of florida. a cool satellite picture here. this one from noaa. this shows you lee over the united states. check this out here over. this is katja. tomorrow's labor day forecast, very wet for everybody up and down the seaboard. it will be a rough day of travel, unfortunately, for so many. much cooler behind the front. we'll try to end with a little optimism there.

>> that's the silver lining there. thank you, jacqui jeras, very much. we want to take a few minutes to show you more of a dramatic video we played earlier this hour. it's from 9/11. but it's just now surfacing. it was taken just minutes after united airlines flight 93 crashed into a pennsylvania field, by a man who lived just a couple of miles away. what you're about to hear is the voice of that man. calmly narrating what he saw. >> the remains of an airplane crash over on lambertsville road, probably had a terrorist bomb on board, that blew up. don't know anything more than that. that's what i heard on the scanner. i just saw the smoke come up and the explosion shook the house clear over here. and we are, what, 15 miles from

lambertsville. and it shook the heck out of the house. i don't know what else is happening. they ran one into the pentagon and into the world trade center. and we're watching it on tv. and this one happened. a great big black cloud just mushroomed right up into the air and it shook the house, shook everybody's houses. i wonder if there's anything left of lambertsville? >> incredible to hear. the man you heard from is now deceased. his family wishes to remain anonymo anonymous. this is believed to be the first known video that shows the smoke

cloud from the flight 93 crash. here at cnn we'll bring you special 9/11 coverage beginning next sunday morning at 8:30 a.m. eastern. anderson cooper and candy crowley are among the many who will help us remember the tragic events of september 11th, 2001 and honor the lives lost in 9/11, ten years later. coming up, south carolina republican kingmaker jim demint hosts a presidential forum in his own state. we take a welcome ahead this week in politics. and thousands of die-hard science fiction fans have descended upon atlanta. i'm finally figuring out why i've seen so many people in costume. we'll show you the famous dra n dragoncon parade, next.

(announcer) everything you need to stretch out on long trips. residence inn. no, it's just for new people. hey ! chocolate, vanilla or strawberry ? chocolate ! chocolate it is ! yeah, but i'm new, too. umm... he's new... er... than you.

even kids know it's wrong to treat new friends better than old friends. at ally bank, we treat all our customers fairly, with no teaser rates and no minimum deposit to open. it's just the right thing to do. ♪ guitars are one of the most loved instruments in modern music unless, of course, they're out of tune. >> and music the tuning is very important. anybody can tune a guitar but keeping it in tune is the problem. ♪ all of a sudden you're dancing in front of the audience, hey, how's everybody doing? i'm tuning. how's the world? it's a process that can take away from the rhythm of the show. >> reporter: that led to evertune, a device that will keep your guitar in tune forever. >> in some ways it's a simple design. >> it's very simple. it's all mechanical, based on a

spring technology and constant tension. that's the beauty of evertune. we're not adding bells and whistles and blinking lights to a guitar. >> reporter: the evertune is now being used by some of the biggest names on stage. and it's just the beginning. we're talking pianos, violins, bass, everything? >> any string strung between two points works on the same principles. if there's a string, we can keep it in tune. >> reporter: which means now you've run out of excuses for why you're off key. reynolds wolfing with cnn, hollywood, california. ♪ [ artis brown ] america is facing some tough challenges right now. two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. at our kearl project in canada, we'll be able to produce these oil sands

with the same emissions as many other oils and that's a huge breakthrough. that's good for our country's energy security and our economy. it's pro-cool technology releases armies of snowmen masseuse, who cuddle up with your soreness and give out polar bear hugs. technology. [ male announcer ] new bengay cold therapy. the same technology used by physical therapists. go to bengay.com for a 5-dollar coupon. as president obama prepares for his big jobs speech this thursday, his supporters and his detractors today talked about what they're looking for in that

speech. republican senator jim demint told cnn's candy crowley he's tired of talk. he wants something in writing. >> we need a plan in writing. he needs to send it to us and tell us what it's going to cost so not only congress but the american people can read it, businesses can read it, but without sending something in writing, the president makes all of these grand gestures and then it doesn't appear in any legislation. he'll blame congress for not passing something he never sends over. so it's pretty clear what we need to do to improve our economy. we need to lower the risk of being in business. we need to make sure there's ample reward for creating those risks. the president has it backwards. >> the shortage of jobs prompted teamsters president jim hoffa to call for something bold from the president. >> so far what we've done hasn't worked. we're still at 9%. it's not working. we need a bold plan. we have to look at what happened with irene. we have to rebuild our roads.

basically our dams, our highways, everything has to be redone. our schools. we have to start that. we need a wpa-type program. most of all, what i think he has to do is challenge business. >> well, in that state of the union interview, hoffa said he thinks u.s. companies that are sitting on piles of money and not hiring american workers are unpatriotic. mitt romney is speaking at a tea party rally in new hampshire today. tomorrow he'll head to columbia, south carolina. he's certainly on the move. after all he is the candidate for president. we are going to talk now with cnn deputy political director paul steinhauser who is in new hampshire right now. paul, sarah palin spoke yesterday, romney today. are we getting a sense of what he might say? >> yes. this is interesting, alina. it's a whole different strategy it seems, for mitt romney who hasn't gone to many, if any, tea party events since he's been running for president this second time.

about an hour from now in concord, new hampshire -- i believe we have live pictures of that -- he'll be speaking at a rally put on the tea party express. and then tomorrow, romney's coming right here to south carolina where i am, columbia, south carolina and he'll be speaking at a presidential forum put on by senator jim demint. demint, a two-term republican senator here in south carolina and a favorite, influential among tea party types and grass roots conservatives. we're seeing a different strategy by romney, maybe because he's not the front-runner in the national polls any more. some people in the tea party not happy with this. this there say counterprotest tonight, while romney speaks in new hampshire. some are not happy romney was invited. >> alina, my apologies. there are about a dozen states between new hampshire and south carolina.

you are in columbia, south carolina. i want to talk about an article i read "new york times" in the today about how this is a pivotal moment for gop candidates that their strategy is shifting from simply going on the attack against president obama and now going after each other. rick perry is a big target. >> oh, yeah, rick perry, a big target. he jumped in the race less than a month ago, the texas governor and now he's the front-runner in most of the national polls. he's been coming under attack by some of the other candidates, including mitt romney. romney who up until now has been kind of running a general election campaign in this primary, caucus calendar season. now he's going after rick perry talking about how he's -- we are seeing romney shift strategy and the other candidates. so much can happen in the next five weeks. we have five presidential debates. it is going to get extremely busy on the race to the white

house. >> goodness, gracious, makes your head spin. thank goodness, we have you, paul, to watch it for us. thank you very much. good to see you. the republican candidates will soon face off here on cnn, by the way. they will take the stage at the cnn tea party republican debate co-hosted by the tea party expre express. catch it monday, september 12th. what is dragon con? >> it is the super bowl, the most fun on earth to have all year. >> it is happening here in atlanta. we will explore the sites and sounds of dragon con next. fibe. uh, forgot jack's cereal. [ jack ] what's for breakfast? um... try the number one! [ jack ] yeah, this is pretty good. [ male announcer ] half a day's worth of fiber. fiber one. my son and i never missed opening day.

but with copd making it hard to breathe, i thought those days might be over. so my doctor prescribed symbicort. it helps significantly improve my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. with symbicort, today i'm breathing better, and that means... game on! symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. [ whistle ] with copd, i thought i might miss out on my favorite tradition. now symbicort significantly improves my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. and that makes a difference in my breathing. today i'm back with my favorite team. ask your doctor about symbicort. i got my first prescription free. call or click to learn more. [ male announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help.

welcome back. you know when i arrived in atlanta this weekend, i noticed a lot of people in costume and i wondered what is going on here? well, it is dragon con, the largest multimedia pop culture convention in the world. look at these pictures. takes place each year labor day weekend in atlanta, who knew. now one of the most anticipated events is the dragon con parade. watch!

>> hey, i'm on camera! >> dragon con is the nerd super bowl, and it is the most fun on earth to have all year. >> what's so special about dragon con is that it is the largest fan based run, science fiction multimedia convention in the world. >> stand back. we need to make sure you're safe. >> comic-con is bigger, but it is all corporate. this is fan based run, so you have a lot more interaction with the fans.

>> this is my first dragon con. >> this is my eighth year. >> i have been coming four years. >> this is my first time at dragon con. >> one weekend where you just be what you want to be, do what you want to do, not have to worry about anybody. >> if you're into any of this at all, no matter what genre, you have to make the mecca of dragon con. new york fashion week starts this thursday, a mega collection of top collections for spring, 2012. a few days ago i got an exclusive look with one of the fashion superstars, mark jacobs. the man time magazine named one of the most influential people tells me that's not how he would describe himself. >> i don't know that i am --off the awareness, i go somewhere, people ask for a picture or

autograph or something, and it is not that i am unaware or naive, but i'm busy. i do my thing. i carry on. and yes, i have some nice things and i collect art and all that kind of stuff, but i'm not a different person. >> i also interviewed another top personality in fashion, rachel zoe. i was surprised to hear after dressing major stars like anne hathaway for the oscar's, she's more anxious about designing her own collection. >> 100% is the scariest thing i've ever done. >> what about it is so scary? >> it's not a one time thing. this isn't something where i'm dressing someone and it's the oscar's and i really hope they look amazing and i work really hard at it, they are on the red carpet, you hope it is incredible, and if not, you move on to the next thing, this is a very constant, constant process.

>> we'll have many more inside looks at the runway shows, designers, fashions, trends you won't see anywhere else on my special fashion week back stage pass september 17th. i will see you back here tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. eastern. cnn newsroom continues at the top of the hour.