two areas on edge, the tenth anniversary of 9/11 rolling around. authorities at this hour are looking into what they're calling a credible specific threat, but it is yet unconfirmed, of a possible attack on new york and washington. they're looking at the possibility that three people may be involved. the tip originated evidently out of the tribal area along pakistan and afghanistan's border. at it this time, certainly here in new york city among washington certainly as well they are stepping up security that was already at the highest levels in anticipation of the tenth anniversary of 9/11. and so there will be more information coming out about this as the evening goes on. piers, back to you. >> susan, thank you very much. there will be much more on this breaking news story right now with anderson cooper and "ac 3 " 360." it that's all for us tonight. good evening, everyone. 10:00 on the east coast, we have breaking news on two fronts tonight, jobs and the specter of

a terror attack on the country. intelligence owe fushls saying they have credible, specific but unconfirmed information for a threat against potentially new york city and washington. moments ago michael bloomberg spoke to reporters. >> the threat at this moment has not been corroborated. it is cred arable but has not been corroborated. but we live in a world where we must take these threats seriously and we certainly will. the nypd is deploying additional resources around the city and taking other steps to keep our city safe, some of which you may notice and some of which you will not notice. >> new york's mayor mike bloomberg. a bit more on what we know. we should mention that earlier reports end up usually changing as new information comes in. we want to be careful with what we tell you tonight. a senior intelligence official tells us the plot was believed to involve three individuals, one of them an american citizen. the official saying the threat involved a vehicle bomb but going on to say the intelligence

picture is not fully formed and that not enough is known about the potential operatives and their plottings. earlier reports which actually cited some stolen vehicles have kind of been knocked down. one source telling our susan candiotti those reports were false. former white house homeland security adviser fran townsend joins us, peter bergen and also susan candiotti. peter is on the phone, author of "the longest war." fran, what's the latest you're hearing from sources on the threat? >> well, anderson, you know, it's interesting because as they begin to pull this thread, the more and more you hear is sort of words of caution. it is unconfirmed. the answer is they're looking for corroboration. they're clearly reaching out to allies around the world as well as looking inside existing databases to try and understand, is this really credible? somebody said to me, you know, it's a plausible threat but i'm not prepared yet to say, the s

source said, it's actually credible. we need to act on it. we need more information, more corroboration. >> jessica, how seriously is the white house taking the threat? i talked to jay carney earlier. >> they're taking it quite seriously, anderson. the president was briefed by john brennan, his chief counterterrorism adviser, this morning and throughout the day. he isn't in the west wing but has access anytime should he need an update. the white house has asked the intelligence community and administration we're told to remain vigilant and do whatever it takes to protect the homeland. i should also point out in anticipation of 9/11 he chaired a meeting of his team here to make sure that the team is doing everything necessary to step p up security measures around the country because they anticipated that there could be extra concerns because of the anniversary on sunday. anderson? >> peter, i want to play another piece of sound from the new york press conference.

this is the fbi new york field office assistant director in charge. >> as we know, from the intelligence gathered following the osama bin laden raid, al qaeda has shown an interest and important dates and anniversaries such as 9/11. in this instance, the instance we're all here to speak about, it's accurate that there is specific, credible but unconfirmed threat information. as we always do before important dates like the anniversary of 9/11, we will undoubtedly get more reporting in the coming days. >> peter, your sources are saying tonight that the raid on bin laden's compound has something to do with it. >> yeah. i mean, the sources that we've been talking to say the previous analysis was that, you know, al qaeda didn't really care about anniversaries. they kind of attacked when they had the plan together. bin laden had an intense

interest according to the documents recovered in his compound of an attack around the tenth anniversary of 9/11. since the raid against bin laden and his killing, the white house has had meetings once every two weeks with the deputies level including one today, ten meetings since that event, to discuss basically review the vulnerabilities, aviation, service transport, and in the last four or five days something changed. there was the usual chatter but now there's something which is described as more tangible. i don't have any more details other than that. and certainly seems to be a much higher level of concern about the anniversary, potential anniversary attack. there is also some discussion in the government which i've heard from a number of people about publicly releasing some of the compound documents that were found in bin laden's compound. some of the millions of pages of arabic language documents that have been translated, amongst

which is documents that demonstrate bin laden's interest in attacking on the tenth anniversary. >> what would be the point in releasing those documents? >> you know, there is a kind of feeling that several -- first of all, it would be kind of further amplification that we did actually kill bin laden. these are his internal documents. secondly, some of the documents reveal real tensions within al qaeda, tensions between people like bin laden who wanted to continue focus on attacking the united states and others who wanted to focus on attacking, say, the egyptian government. these documents reveal that it's continued, that it was still active and the government sees some upside in, you know, making these kinds of debates public. >> susan, even before the threat out of new york was not taking this anniversary lightly at all, do we know much about additional precautions? we heard the mayor saying some you'll see, some you won't?

>> reporter: certainly they were already planning to have heightened security at so many landmarks around the city. they'd be looking into bags people were carrying into the subways and now they're talking about extra precautions not only at landmarks but, for example, at synagogues and other public buildings. and also an additional bit of information i picked up is that one thing that might make it harder for them to track down the specificity of the attack it is that according to a u.s. government official, the names of the three people that may be involved that are being talked about are rather common names according to the u.s. government official. so that's another element certainly to consider. but already this is a city that's on edge and certainly even more so. but they're taking precautions, as they should. >> fran, i interviewed congressman peter king, chairman of the house homeland security committee earlier about this threat. i want to play some of that. >> what i can tell you is that the threat is very specific, it's credible, but it's not

confirmed. >> what does that mean? >> well, it means that they have information which is specific, there's reason to believe it could be true, but we cannot confirm it's true. that's what's being done right now, attempting to find out if it is true, running down all leads and taking whatever action has to be taken. >> fran, if they know that three people are involved in this or those are just early reports, i mean, they either did fly here or they it didn't. i'm not sure -- is that aspect not confirmed or do we know the details of what's not confirmed? >> well, as susan says, if they don't have names or the names are very common, it's a very time-consuming process to go through customs and immigration records to try and identify who they are. that's going to take some time. there's no doubt there's computer power to help them with that, but it really does depend on, do they have the names? do they have the right names? or are they aliases?

are are they common? do they have any idea what port of entry they could have come through? these are a lot of details they'll try to collect and narrow the scope very quickly to try to identify them. even if you identify them from the customs forms, then you've got to find them. you know, this is where your terror finance, your ability to track money and credit cards and hotel bills and all of that will come into play. but first you need that first good lead about the names. >> peter, since bin laden's death, how many successes have there been against al qaeda, the predator drone strikes continue, so do special forces strikes. >> yeah. somebody who wasn't a household name who became the number two in al qaeda after bin laden's death, one of the ref liegs laigs laigss in the compound was this guy who is a libyan was essentially the hub of all al qaeda activity, much more important to al qaeda than ayman al zawahiri, the guy who has now

taken over al qaeda. this is the person who was communicated with al qaeda affilia affiliates, dealing with al qaeda senior leadership and was basically bin laden's conduit to the outside world. well, now, on august 22nd he was killed in a drone strike, and last friday we had a relatively senior al qaeda leader arrested in a city in pakistan, joint pakistani/u.s. operation. so these guys aren't replacement. rockman is described as somebody who's irreare placeable. he was doing so many things for the organization, somebody who had fought in iraq, who had long links with african militant groups, somebody who kind of had been basically bin laden's conduit to the outside world for many years. and there was nobody -- the bench has been decimated, anderson. at a certain point, you just can't replace these people. that's why you're hearing leon panetta and david petraeus and john brennan saying things like

al qaeda is facing strategic defeat because at a certain point you just cannot get the people he with twith the experi knowledge to kind of step up to what is now -- which has long been the world's most dangerous job, being number two and three in al qaeda. there are just fewer and fewer takers or people able to fill the positions. >> what about al qaeda in the rainian peninsula based in yemen and led by this american cleric? p of the american cleric is not the leader. he's the most well-known person in the english speaking world because he speaks english, is the public face. but it's still led arabs. another revelation from the papers from the compound. bin laden mix 96ed the proposal saying, i'm used to the people in charge. i don't want this american cleric to be in charge of al qaeda in yes, ma'am aren.

certainly for u.s. counterterrorism officials are that al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, the other thing they're concerned about are lone wolves with no connection to any network who may take the 9/11 anniversary as an opportunity to make a statement, these are people without e-mail trails or cell phone trails, very hard to de detect. >> peter bergen, appreciate the reporting, fran townsend as well, jessica yellin, susan candiotti. we'll be following this throughout the hour and the night. follow me on twitter or join me on facebook. our political panel joins us after the break. we'll look at the president's jobs speech to congress and the country, laying out his job creation plan. also breaking news out west. a huge mess, traffic lights out, flights delayed after a massive power outage. if you're in southern california and you can see this picture right now, consider yourself lucky.

our other breaking news tonight, the president's jobs speech. millions are without a job, the economy at best is stuck in neutral. tonight the president laid out proposals that he says will get it moving again. everything to the run-up of this

moment has been contentious, right down to the scheduling of it. everything in the aftermath will be just as loaded with conflict and partisanship. that part of point scoring and game playing is what the president called on for both sides to set aside. tonight we'll look at whether the president's hope is realistic and what is in his plan and promises up to this point, keeping him honest. first, the president himself. >> i am sending this congress a plan that you should pass right away. it's called the american jobs act. there should be nothing controversial about this piece of legislation. everything in here is the kind of proposal that's been supported by both democrats and republic republicans, including many who sit here tonight. and everything in this bill will be paid for. everything. the american jobs act will not add it to the deficit. it will be paid for. and here's how. [ applause ]

the agreement we passed in july will cut government spending by about $1 trillion over the next ten years. it also charges this congress to come up with an additional 1.5 trillion in savings by christmas. tonight i am asking you to increase that amount so that it covers the full cost of the american jobs act and a week from monday i'll be releasing a more ambitious deficit plan, a plan that will not only cover the cost of this jobs bill but stabilize our debt in the long run. here's the truth -- millions of americans rely on medicare in their reatiremenret. and millions more will do so in the future. they paid for this benefit during their working years. they earn it. but we are spending too fast to sustain the program. i don't pretend this plan will solve all our problems. it should not be, nor will it be, the last plan of action we propose.

what's guided us from the start of this crisis? it hasn't been the search for a silver bullet. it's been a commitment to stay at it, to be persistent, to keep trying every new idea that work s and listen to every good proposal no matter which party comes up with it. regardless of the arguments we've had in the past, regardless of the arguments we will have in the future, this plan is the right thing to do right now. you should pass it. and i intend to take that message to every corner of this country. >> let's bring in our political panel, john king, aaron burnett, democratic strategist paul begala, gloriaberger, erica ericson, and cornell belcher and david frum, speech writer for george w. bush. i noticed a tweet, eric, instead of yelling you lie at him. i wish they'd loudly laugh at this farce.

this speech is a rehash joke. harsh words. >> i heard it in it january of 2011, february of 2009. we wouldn't have had that speech tonight if the last three speeches had done anything, particularly the first two when the democrats controlled congress and the white house. >> cornell, is this a joke? >> no. but that sort of partisan talk is part of the reason why we're in this problem. look, you know, i'll go back with you on this, eric, the action the president took when we were in a nosedive and losing jobs each month pulled us out of a nosedive. clearly now we need something, a little boost here. what he's asking for is, look, most of these plans, a balance approach to this, and most of the stuff quite frank itly should have bipartisan support for because a lot of this stuff republicans have supported in the past. there's nothing insane or crazy

about the idea we have to build our roads, improve our infrastructure and put our teachers back to work at the same time that china and india are hiring more teachers, we're laying off teachers. there's nothing crazy about that as an ideal. it's a solid idea. >> david, what about that, though? for a lot of republicans when they hear about investment or infrastructure, they think that's basically using other terms for stimulus. >> look, this speech was very effective and we can already see it beginning to have its effect. eric cantor and john boehner were saying for reporters with politico they will pass some of the elements the president is proposing. whether that ultimately happens we don't know. but they have been put into a situation where they understand they can't afford to look at uncooperative as they did during the debt ceiling battle. so the president has achieved something there. the republicans will resent that even more. of course the speech is political. the president is framing an argument. but it is a political maneuver that is working. it will produce a countereffect

because republicans will resent it. it could also have some beneficial effect on the economy, and that really is the most important thing of all. that payroll tax cut is a good idea, it should have been bigger, done earlier. and infrastructure spending, it works. that's what the economists tell us. >> aaron, how do you think the business world will look at this? >> they'll like the payroll tax cut. eric cantoror said he'd voest for it again. it it's really well structured, not going to big companies but small companies. that would seem that's something a lot can agree on. obviously the extending the unemployment benefits is where it there will be debate. medicare, medicaid, you can see the problems. payroll tax, yesment i think john mccain had it right, housing is the root of the problems here. we don't have the solution to that. this could be a band-aid. >> there have been some republicans that say, we don't want too be used as a backdrop. was this it a political speech? >> hugely, but a relatively

modest proposal. i'm going to say this, the president said early on the bridges we need to rebuild is ohio and kentucky, speaker boehner, leader mcconnell, the president was saying, this is a political speech. however, some of these proposals the republicans don't like they've been clear about. david frum just made an important point. the statement from speaker banor and eric cantoror said, we can do a lot of this. a lot of republicans are saying, stimulus two, same old failed policies. the leaders who matter most say, we'll do some of this. why? because the president repackaged a lot of thing. we don't pass on a bottle of wine just because it's old. we want to know if it's any good. some of these proposals republicans like. they will get some of them. the bigger question is, what will the president have to give to get some of this from the republicans? how will they pay for this? the republicans won't agree for how the president wants to pay for it. the bigger question is, will it have an impact on the economy in those 14 months as the president noted between now and the next

election? most republicans anderson believe they can agree with the president on much, if not most, of this because, a, fill sof fully they do agree with it and, b, politically they don't think it will have such a big job creation um of that it helps the president in the reelection campaign. >> gloria, i want to play a little bit more of the president's speech. >> regardless of the arguments we've had in the past, regardless of the argue thes we'll have in the future, this plan is the right thing to do right now. you should pass it. and i intend to take that message to every corner of this country. [ applause ] and i ask, i ask every american who agrees to lift your voice. tell the people who are gathered here tonight that you want action now. >> gloria, the president clearly appealing to the public. i'm getting tweets from

democrats saying they haven't seen the president this fired up in a while. >> right. fired up and ready to go. remember that? this is game on, anderson. what the president tonight was really trying to appeal -- not to eric ericson, you know. he's trie aetrying to appeal to independent voters and trying to come across as the reasonable leader. and don't forget, his leadership numbers have suffered lately, particularly after the debt ceiling. and one way he can do that is to challenge republicans, lay down a very clear plan and say, you should pass it, you should pass it, this makes a lot of sense to me. and hope that it makes a lot of sense to the independent voters out there who will then put pressure aon republicans in congress. the missing part here, which i want to see, is when the president is going to talk on september 19 about how he intends to pay for it and what he's going to say to that joint committee and how he's going to pay for this $450 billion or

whatever it turns out to be. that's something the american people need to hear also. but for tonight he was very concise, very clear, told them he's going to send up legislation, which is something we also haven't seen from this president, and say, here's what i want. now you go do it. so game on. >> paul, what did you think of the speech? do you think it's something that the american people or at least his base will rally behind him on? >> oh, i think definitely. and in fact, as you know i advise a liberal pac that's pro-obama. we're independent but our pac did focus groups in richmond, virginia, tonight, with swing voters, not with the president's base. people were disaefkted who have fallen out of favor with president obama, they don't like him noior more. our pollster just e-mailed said it went over well, he snow showed a lot of strength, they liked him personally. what they liked on the issue

front, what they especially liked, is when with he paired up ending tax breaks for the wealthiest with funding education. now, it always hurts democrats when with republicans say we're big spenders. it's true. but it always hurts republicans when we say to them they coddle the rich. so the president i think linked the twof two up in an effective way. at least from the swing voters my group tested, they loved it. >> we'll come back to you throughout the evening. p up next, a payroll tax holiday, unemployment benefits, is the white house proposing just more of the same as some republicans are saying? why should americans believe it will make a difference this time around? white house press are secretary jay carney joins me, talking about the terror threat as well. michele bachmann had to share the stage last night at the republican debate. what she said tonight, plus our panel weighing in.

the jobs plan president obama proposed is expected to cost $450 billion, the 2009 stimulus package cost 7$789 billion, when he signed that bill he promised it would save or create as many as 4 million jobs and said he'd hold himself accountable if it didn't. >> the single most important part of this economic recovery and reinvestment plan is the fact that it will save or create up to 4 million jobs. it's a plan that will save or create 3 million to 4 million jobs. we've already begun to implement the american recovery and

reinvestment act, a plan that will save and create over 3.5 million jobs over the next two years. the goal here is that we're going to create or save 600,000 jobs over the next 100 days. we have made steady progress on these fronts, but we're not making progress fast enough. what i continue to believe is that ultimately the buck stops with me. i'm going to be accountable. if i don't have this done in three years, then there's going to be a one-term proposition. >> now, according to some estimates, the white house may have actually come close to creating or saving 4 million jobs as promised but here's the problem. as it turned out, the economy lost more than 8 million jobs during the recession, more than anyone predicted, by that measure, the fist stimulus plan tern r turn ud out to be a band-a band-aid, not a cure. white house press secretary jay carney joins me. payroll tax holiday, infrastructure pending, unemployment extension, it's all familiar. is there a danger that this comes across as just more of the

same, it's basically stimulus spending in other words? >> well, two things, anderson. first of all, what the president said tonight and what he will deliver to congress early next week is the american jobs act. as you said, that is a series of proposals that we absolutely believe will create jobs, spark the economy, get the private sector hiring again, and don't just take our word for it because we're confident that outside economic analysts will make that judgment, too. there is simply -- the way the economists look at this, when you cut the payroll tax in half, and you also extend it to employers, you have a very positive and direct impact on the economy. it causes the economy to expand and it causes the private sector to begin hiring more. that's certainly true when you get to infrastructure spending. you have a very positive effect. when you put construction workers back to work, they spend that money that they're earning, that helps other businesses, and you have what is a virtuous

cycle. >> is there a -- some republicans are saying there's a ban of the use of the word "stimulus" from this white house. is that true? >> look, whatever you want to call this, two things are important. it is designed and will be junled by outside economists to grow the economy and to help create jobs. no doubt about it. secondly, it will be paid for, as the president said tonight. he will put forward in this legislation mechanisms to pay for it and so not that one dime is added to the deficit or the debt. that's important to him. it should be important to congress and it's important to the american people. we need to do things right now to get the economy growing faster and to get the economy creating jobs faster. i think that anybody who was out there listening understands that out in the real world, if you wi will. what americans are really tired of are the kind of circus they witnessed in washington this summer. you know, americans are generally used to gridlock and obstructionism in washington, maybe someposturing.

they find it annoying. this summer, they found out it was dangerous and harmful. the circus that we witnessed where one faction of congress decided that in the name of ideological purity they would hold the american economy hostage, maybe the global economy hostage, that had a direct negative impact on the american economy and american worker. we didn't let that happen. the congress was sent to washington to work for their constituents. >> eric cantor tweeted that the president just outlined, quote, some goals we can work with him on and that congress, quote, should work quickly to pass the areas where we agree. it did seem tonight like the president was challenging republicans almost daring them to appear partisan, but their leaders are sounding, at least for now, some of them, kind of a cooperative tone. are you encouraged? >> well, we are, and we welcome the tone and we look forward to working with members of congress of both parties to pass these very common sense, very

bipartisan proposals. as the president mentioned, the payroll tax cut extend to the employees and employers is a proposal that was included and sponsored by 50 of the most conservative house republicans just last year. >> when do the details come out next week? the devil's in the details. when do the details really come out? >> we will put forward legislative language, a bill, in writing, to congress early next week. it will include everything about the american jobs act, all the provisions within it and the specifics how the president proposes paying for it. hen then a week from monday, as he said tonight, put forward a comprehensive, detailed set of propose as for long-term deficit and debt reduction. you know he's committed to that. he worked awfully hard this summer hoping for something sweeping and substantial, a balanced package to deal with the deficits and debt with the speaker of the house. that didn't happen. that was unfortunate. we saw the impact of the fact that didn't happen. he's committed to trying again, and he will show we can do this in a balanced way that doesn't ask too much of any segment of

society in america and we can get this done and put our economy on the right footing. >> on this terror threat, another subject, so far what kind of meetings has the president had? what he's done about it? >> well, anderson, the president chaired a meeting just two days ago of his senior homeland security team, reviewing the precautions and all the steps being taken for our homeland security around the ten-year anniversary of 9/11. ever since the raid in abbottabad that eliminated osama bin laden, brought him to justice, we have known that al qaeda, not surprisingly, is interested in significant dates, 9/11 anniversary is obviously one of those. as for today's reporting i can tell you that the president has been briefed regularly by his homeland security team and that overall his team is taking all the necessary precautions that you would expect in a situation like this. >> jay carney, appreciate your time. thanks. republican presidential candidate michele bachmann comes out swinging tonight.

back now with our members of the political panel, paul begala, erin burnett and more. they say the stimulus didn't work the first time around, how can this succeed? what's your response? >> liberals say it did, conservatives say it didn't. go to the neutral observer, the

congressal budget office. they're smart people, they looked at this. just in the last few weeks they released a report and said, in fact, the dreaded stimulus bill produced within 1 million and 2.9 million jobs and it increased gdp, the cbo said, by 0.8% and 2.5 full points. so it worked but didn't work well enough because it was an $8 million plug it a $2 trillion hole. it was much bigger than we realized at the time. it's unfair to say it didn't work because the propeller heads at the congressional budget office say it did, it just didn't do enough. that's why tess sensible to do more. >> david, did it work? you said it's short term solutions don't fix long term problems. >> i don't think it worked at all. if you look at the numbers, let's put it in perspective. over the last three years anderson we have borrowed $4 trillion. that is more money over three years than at any time since world war ii.

so we've thrown every kind of keynesian demand side government program at this recession that liberals could possibly think of, and the idea that somehow a $400 billion more borrowing will repair this it economy, it just makes me scratch my head and wonder, wait a minute, what kind of theory says that more debt and borrowing and leverage is going to repair an economy, by the way, that almost all economists agree right now the number one problem with this economy is that there's so much debt out there. adding $400 billion of debt i don't think is going to solve the problems. >> what do you think, erin. >> steve, gosh, you and i have talked about this for years, right? >> sure. >> he's going to say, right, it's not going to be borrowing, that he's going to make up through increasing taxes on people like warren buffett. he'll make a case combination of tax increases and spending cuts he won't have to borrow money. >> but, erin, this is the biggest problem i have of all of the problem. on the one hand the president is saying, we're going to provide all of these tax cuts for businesses. on the other hand, he's telling

businesses -- let's face it, the people in the highest income tax bracket, erin, those are small business owners and operators. you're telling them, we're going to raise your taxes in 2013. businesses don't make decisions on the basis of one year. they make decisions on the basis of three years, five years, tern years. the idea of a big tax increase in 2013 i think is bearish for the markets and bearish for the economy. >> anderson, i wonder, he's trying to get someone to agree on the payroll tax cut. maybe he doesn't get the increases on the wealthy but maybe some corporate loopholes taken away. you're actually opening the door here for compromise on things where there hasn't been compromise in a long time. >> david frum, where do you see the opportunities for compromise? possibly? >> the united states can borrow for two years basically for free. it can borrow for ten years for under 2%. the markets are not so worried about america's debt. if someone were offering to blend me money for free, i'd probably take it. i think i could find things to

do with it. right now the biggest problem is jobs. it is an urgent crisis and has to be addressed. here's what i think went wrong most of all in 2009. president obama and the democrats produced an extremely sloppy fiscal stimulus bill, they larded it up with only one in 8 dollars went to infrastructure, the thing that economists tell you deliver the most bang. they put in a one-time tax giveaway that people used to pay down debt, which is a rational act for those individuals, simply moves the debt from one column to another, has no economic effect. that was done to keep an obsolete campaign promise left over from 2008. increases in pell grants, helping states' medicaid bills, not completely crazy or worth lts but not stimulus. this new project sounds more rational, targeted. that's the benefit of having not one party control of congress. the president this time is not abdicating to congress like he

did last time. there's possibility to borrow money cheaply to solve the jobs problem. >> i just did analysis for the while street journal all we have done is building infrastructure. we have doubled public woshs spending, all you have to do is travel around the streets of new york city or washington, d.c., where are i live and you sigh all the streets are being torn up and rebuilt. i mean, we are doing infrastructure already. that's what the whole idea of shovel-ready projects has been all about. >> have you been to new york/i drive down the street and i get a flat tire. >> we've got to leave it there. appreciate you guys sticking with us. coming you, michele bachmann just wrapped up a news conference on capitol hill had, reacting to the president's address. also, breaking news, a massive power outage in southern california stretching to arizona and mexico, more than 1 million people without power right now. we'll have the latest on why.

republican presidential candidate michele bachmann just wrapped up a news conference reacting to the president's speech. bachmann has obviously been outspoken in her credit sichbl of president obama. here's some of what she said from capitol hill a short time ago. >> i stand here tonight to say to the president, not only should congress not pass his plan, i say, mr. president, stop. your last plan hasn't worked, and it's hurting the american economy. instead of temporary fixes, do what has worked in the past,

permanent, pro-growth policies that are driven by the free market. >> bachmann's reaction echoed the sentiments from last night's presidential debate. she and others hit the president hard on economy to health care to the military. take a look. >> devastating as our economy is, with the policies of barack obama, i think that he is actually weakened us militarily and with the united states' presence globally. >> this is a president so committed to class warfare and bureaucratic socialism that he can't possibly be effective in jobs. >> on day one, as the president of the united states, that executive order will be signed and obama care will be wiped out as much as it can be. >> on day one, if i'm elected president, is direct my secretary of health and human services to put out an executive order grant being a waiver from obama care to all 50 states. it is bad law. it will not work. >> once obama care is repealed -- and it will be -- the question will then be, what do we do now? >> obama care is killing jobs. >> this country has a bright

future. our president doesn't understand how the economy works. >> don't forget, the day that president obama took office gasoline was $1.79 a gallon. >> john king, gloria borger, paul begala and eric ericson, john. we heard bachmann, her response to the president. she said she wasn't there to answer question bz the campaign, that she was there as a member of congress. do you buy that? >> sure. i buy it serves her purposes tonight. she doesn't want to answer question bz a staff shake-up, answer questions about whether she was overshadowed in the debate last night. she wants to take direct aim at the president of the united states and hopes she gets some attention for that. the fact we're talking about it maybe says she succeeded. what is most interesting about it is one would expect the candidates running against president obama to draw sharp contrast on just about everything. but michele bachmann who is often out of step with her own republican leadership, listen to what she said. she said, not only should we not act on it all of the president's

policies are awful. at the same time the republican majority leader and speaker are saying there's a lot in the president's plan we like and had some of it we can probably pass. let's try to work with the president before we say dead on arrival. that to me is quite striking. she is ruffining for president, the majority leader and speaker realize they need to defend the majority. >> the payroll tax holiday, which i think they'll probably be able to come up in the unemployment extension, i think michele bachmann has voted for this payroll tax cut in the past. >> that's right. >> is she saying she's not going to vote for it in the future as well? >> cornell? >> look, she's in a republican primary now. >> trying to understand at some point she's got to pivot and get in front or at least catch up to the people who have now passed her. everyone on the stage is attacking president obama. it makes -- i completely understand it politically, but at some point she has to say, why me, tea party, as opposed to perry? and she's not doing that right

now. she's flailing. i was initially bullish on her because i thought she would speak to the tea party. but she's clearly had a rough couple of weeks. she's no longer the darling of the tea party are. rick perry has moved into that space. as a strategist, at some point her campaign has to pivot and say, why me and not rick perry? and less about president obama right now because we get it. she doesn't like president obama. >> it's interesting to me because i think president obama is the one who actually pivoted tonight. the language that we heard from barack obama, the direct kind of speech, the common sense, pass this bill, we want people in south korea to be driving chevys, i want to give the economy a jolt, you people have voted for this before, we need to do what the public wants us to do. it was barack obama, although he was addressing a joint session of congress, the candidate i think that we heard tonight talking to independent voters, putting republicans on notice

that he's going to go to the country are and run against some, as harry truman, ran against the do-nothing congress. and by comparison tonight, michele bachmann seemed a little kind of sticking to her talking points as a republican presidential candidate who has to win a republican primary. >> got to jump in. we've got to go to break. thank you all. a late update, more information coming up, a potential threat of a terror attack. also, a massive power outage in southern california, arizona and new mexico. millions in the dark. we'll have the latest. more than 70,000 forced to evacuate because of flooding, remnants of tropical storm lee are being blamed. [ male announcer ] what if we told you that cadillac

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i'm susan hendrix. breaking news tonight. u.s. officials say there is information about a possible threat against the united states coinciding with the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. the threat is being described as specific and credible but unconfirmed, possibly involving three people and a vehicle with explosives. new york and washington are being cited as possible targets. tonight, new york city mayor michael bloomberg said additional police are being deployed and precautions being taken but there's no reason for people to change their daily routines. that is the advice. just a short time ago, washington, d.c., mayor vincent gray had this to say.

>> i want to urge all of our citizens -- and i can't say this strongly enough -- to remain calm and let our law enforcement professionals do their job. at the same time, we ask people to remain vigilant. if essence, we've said it so many times, if you see something, say something. if something looks questionable, call 311. also, more breaking news. a huge plaqueout is causing gridlock on the streets of southern california. mover than a million people are without power. the blackout stretches into arizona, also mexico. a spokeswoman for the san diego police department said a power line break in arizona caused the outage. the police department is working on generator power. tropical storm lee has left at least three people dead in pennsylvania and caused near-historic flooding in the northeastern part of the state. tens of thousands of people have evacuated their homes near the susquehanna