and your history classes and now it has been ten years, so the 9/11 attack is in our history books now. reading about it and having a personal experience with it, i could relate. >> we took a trip to new york and stayed there six days, and we actually got to see the world trade center being rebuilt. that's when it became real for me. >> reporter: do you remember signing it? >> yes, i do. >> reporter: they showed me the book called "the pet goat," and each class member signed it. and looking at it now they say it begins to tell a different story for them, of how a group of second graders have a place in history. >> we're not at the point where we have all of the situation, but we're still learning. of course the "cnn newsroom"

continues. we will see t. j. holmes from new york on 9/11 as well. >> on sunday, yes. >> and you are in now for randi kaye. >> yeah, and i will see you tomorrow. what is your show called, the saturday afternoon -- >> we're just here. let's stick with the news room, how about that. you at least got the cnn part right. >> got that right, okay. i am in for randi kaye at the top of the hour here. new yorkers have been through a lot and have seen a lot. here we go. something else they have to deal with and something else they have to see. police check points set up all around the city in response in response to what is being called, a credible and specific, but not a confirmed threat. shatter among security officials talk about three individuals that might be involved. one of them a u.s. citizen.

not known if they are actually in the country yet. and also a bulletin put out said the attackers could be using a truck or carloaded with explosives. they warn small arms or poisons could be used. they are calling the threat credible. we don't know if it's real. it's not confirmed just yet, and that's what many officials are trying to stress. the targets could be washington, d.c. or new york city. joining me now, washington, d.c. mayor, vincent gray. can you tell me after you were all briefed on this potential threat, you have all had any discussions, has the possibility come up of changing or canceling some of the 9/11 public events set to take place this weekend? >> absolutely not. we have no intention of changing any of the events at this stage. we are urging everybody to go

and continue with whatever their plans were. for example, we have a college football classic that is scheduled for the city tomorrow between howard and worehouse. we are asking people to continue to come out, and at the same time be vigilant. pay attention to what is going on around them. if they see something unusual, call us at 911 or 311, and there will be an immediate response. we have all of the law enforcement officers on 12-hour shifts. we are engaging some of the other d.c. government employees as well. >> the whole country, and certainly in d.c. and new york, people have been told to be vigilant. here they are on the ten-year anniversary of 9/11 to be vigilant again. talk about what that means. you have to take each potential threat seriously, and it's hard to gauge them.

is there any reason that this one would make the hair on the back of your head stand up any more than another and therefore maybe the public should be a little more nervous this time around? >> the fact that we have, you know, this kind of information, you know, it's a credible, specific set of information, and not corroborated at this stage. i think people should have a heightened awareness, and this is the weekend. this is the 10th anniversary. we know there are threats that have been made in the past about seeking retribution on america. i think both of those things together call for us to pay more attention than we normally do. >> what have your officers there in d.c. been told to look out for? >> vehicles illegally parked, and look out for packages, and look out for things that are different than the normal patterns. and it's not just the police officers, either. it's workers with the department of public works, and our

department of transportation workers. frankly, we're asking our citizens to do the same thing. if they see anything that looks unusual, err on the side of giving us a call, 911, 311, report it and it will be investigated immediately. >> this weekend, among all weekends, you will see a huge security presence. now the 10-year anniversary, i know you stepped up security for that, and now with the threat is it possible to step up the security any more than you already had and if so how did you do that? >> first of all, we are working close closely with our counterparts, the fbi and other agencies at the federal level. i had a conversation with janet napolitano, and we're working closely with them. and our chief who is certainly and clearly one of the best chiefs in america, and has been working on a plan for eight

months. we began to execute that plan on september 1st. there was a lot of anticipation, the possibility of this. so it's not as if you can get it executed with the possibility of this happening. >> thank you for taking the time and updating our viewers and what is happening in d.c. this weekend. thank you so much and have a good weekend in d.c. we'll talk to you again. >> thank you so much. let me turn to new york city and the threat. new york is the other place right now where so much is focused. suzanne candiotti is there in new york for us. barbara starr is at the pentagon giving us the latest on the threat. barbara, i will chat with you in a second. it's hard to imagine that they could step up security anymo mo for the anniversary, but that's what they have done. >> that's right. it indeed has been ramped up.

as you go around the city today it would be hard to miss, seeing far more police officers and far moran dumb searches set up throughout the city. what goes along with that? traffic jams. you are seeing an increased police presence at bridges and tunnels, and on highways and subways and train stations, and look into bags, and looking inside trucks, this kind of thing. what are they looking for? possibly for bombs. possibly dirty bombs. and they have very interesting equipment. digital license plate readers, and they can read a license plate and look to find out whether it is stolen or has another interest to police officers and get an instant readback on it, so they know whether to pull a car over for example. and they are mounting them on police cars that can go at 60-mile-per-hour and still get a good readout. >> and everything we are seeing is because of the new threat

that we have been told about. are you hearing it's specific? yes. credible? yes. but not confirmed. >> yes, and we will explain why officials are saying that. this information has come to us in the last few minutes. a senior administration official tells us the u.s. intercepted communication as few days ago from an al qaeda operative in pakistan. in the intercepted communication they heard the man talking about plans for this type of attack. the person that they were intercepting is an al qaeda operative that in the past has been a source, when they have intercepted him of credible information. so they took it very seriously. that's where the credible comes from. it comes from a guy that they have listened into in the past. but what has happened is, they are trying to cooperate it, so

they are also going around and trying to cooperate it from all of the al qaeda cells and operatives that they regularly listen into. so far they can't cooperate it. they are not hearing any other specific chatter about this specific attack that they have heard from the first guy. so that's where it's coming up as uncorroborated. the first one they heard has been a source of credible information in the past and they are taking it seriously and trying to run it down. that gives us more light, if you will, on what the dilemma is here and why they are being so careful in how they word their assessment of the threat. >> barbara starr with the latest and new information with us, and thank you and thanks to our suzanne candiotti in new york. we will talk to you both again plenty throughout the day and this weekend. and the president promised

last night in the big speech he would take it on the road, and he didn't waste anytime, did he? he is talking about jobs again. this was at the university of richmond. this was just over an hour ago. he is out there promoting the jobs plan he outlined just last night, and just like last night he was stressing once again the plan should pass right away, and says, hey, there should be nothing in here to fight about. >> everything in the american jobs act, everything in there is the kind of proposal that has been supported in the past by both democrats and republicans. nothing radical in this bill. >> maybe not a coincidence the president was in richmond, virginia, and that's the district of house majority leader, eric cantor. majority leader cantor did tell cnn that he heard some common ground in the speech last night and he believes something can get done quickly. ten minutes past the hour.

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all right. 5 million people without power. flights cancelled and commuter trains stopped and gridlock on city streets and a massive power outage spreading across california and arizona and into mexico. people were thinking if it was a terror attack. cracks in an infrastructure? it's what they called a, quote,

employee generated event." please, help me understand what is an employee generated event? >> reporter: well, power officials in two states are trying to understand that question this morning. yuma, arizona, 100 or so miles east of here there was an employee who was working on a piece of equipment at a power substation. somehow that effort caused power to go out to several thousand people in the yuma, arizona, area. power officials say it should have been contained at that point, but for some reason, ten minutes later it started to spread. it spread west to san diego county, and it spread across the border into mexico and it spread north to the nuclear power facility which is the other direction that this area can get power from.

what it resulted in is the entire power grid in this area shutting down. they do not know at this point whether that employee's actions are what caused this event, and they are vers gating that, and in a major metropolitan area like san diego, and an area stretching into the state of arizona and across the border, it's vulnerable with only two sources of power coming into the area, they were completely knocked out yesterday. the good news is, overnight san diego and gas electric officials worked tirelessly to restore power. they were telling people to expect power to be out all day today and into the weekend perhaps, and now all power back to their customers. restaurants were forced to shut down. there was a big football came last night and they were counting on that to generate business.

they had to throw out thousands and thousands of food that was spoiled, and traffic is back to normal. yesterday it was an absolute nightmare. the investigation is going to continue. we may not know the answer to your initial question, t. j., for weeks and even perhaps months. >> sounds like one guy knocked out the power to some 5 million out there. there has to be a crack in the system. that should not happen. we appreciate you, as always. let's turn to the trouble for the folks on the east coast. look at that. historic flooding in the northeast. would you believe things could actually get worse? the latest. stay here. o challenge ourselves on the most demanding track in the world. with us, in spirit, was every great car that we'd ever competed with. the bmw m5. and the mercedes-benz e63. for it was their amazing abilities that pushed us to refine, improve and, ultimately, develop the world's fastest production sedan. the cts-v, from cadillac.

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more than 100,000 people forced to evacuate. at least three people dead. and they are still going through it right now in the northeast. this is all left over from tropical storm lee. what they are seeing is some of the worst flooding they have seen in decades. along the northeast and across the mid-atlantic, and president obama declared a state of michael jackson for new york as well as pennsylvania. and pennsylvania in particular, the sus skau hanna river there. look at this. >> get off the bridge, seriously. that's metal! oh, my god! oh, my god! that was a house! >> let me bring in our mary snow

who has been reporting there. i don't know if have you seen that i-report, but it's remarkable people standing on a bridge and it looks like a house is coming through and hits the bridge. how many more scenes or how much longer are people going to have to deal with the higrising wate? >> reporter: it's incredible, t. j. this happens to be the worst. there is a house behind me you can see where the water reached at one point, and the river is receding, but it's doing so very slowly. we are about 100 yards from the susquehanna, the river that crested last night. it's still 15 or 16 feet above flood stage and is expected to stay above flood stage through sunday. >> everybody get out like they

were supposed to, mary? >> reporter: for the most part, yes. officials say there were holdouts. this is an area that has been flooded many times. many old timers felt they could handle it. so far officials say they have not had reports of injuries or deaths, but they are still out assessing because you can imagine, because it's so hard to get around, it has been difficult to get a true assessment. >> mary snow for us there in pennsylvania. we appreciate you as always. we need to turn and get the perspective on what we are seeing for chad meyers. we throw in the word "historic" when we are talking about floods or storms. but this is that. >> yes, and in some spots what hurricane agnes put here before. and some areas were spared for the rain where the rain was into

the susquehanna river, and now all the water has to work its way southward and through the valley. there's a town here called forty fort. they are sending dirt in dump trucks to fill a soft spot in the hlevee. that was near the soccer fields, and they are sending the trucks, and i am watching it online from our affiliates, and this is not over yet. the water may have crested, but this is not over. there's significant flooding still possible. when you have a river that went from 13 feet to 42 feet last night in just 48 hours, that puts a tremendous strain on the levee system. the levees here -- many of the towns are protected by levees,

and the river is basically out of its banks and into the cities. the cities along wyoming avenue. i am talking about 12 feet of water in every house. so even if you put stuff on the second floor, it's wet as well. the rain is over and that's good news. no more rain coming. and there could be flooding in the d.c. area all the way from northern virginia into parts of northern, maryland, from the rain that came down in the overnight hours last night. and i have talked to friends in vermont which is close to killington, and they cannot get out of their house. there is no road in front of their home. they were there when it happened in irene, and they still can't get out. they are waiting for a plow, something to make a road for them. and these rivers are not done yet, t. j. >> chad meyers, thank you for the perspective.

we appreciate you. 23 minutes past the hour. we will check in with rudy giuliani coming up next. we talked to him today along with secretary of state, hillary clinton, and they made a stop at the new york stock exchange. ( singing along ) ( singing high note ) that should do it. enjoy your new shower. ( door opens, closes ) setting that goal to become a principal. but, i have to support my family, so how do i go back to school? university of phoenix made it doable. a lot of my instructors were principals in my district. i wouldn't be where i am without that degree.

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there was a moment of silence at the new york stock exchange this morning to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. clintons was there to ring the opening bell of today's trading, and other dignitaries were there, as well as rudy giuliani, who was there to ring the bell six days after the attacks. >> that was a very significant milestone for the country. the stock exchange is the core of the economy. it went down. couldn't function for a period of time. so they got it back, and nobody ever knew for sure -- >> our alison kosik talked to clinton and giuliani today.

i want to ask you more about your conversations with them in a moment. let's start with news on wall street today. the economic news, and we have been watching the markets and we see the dow 300 points down. what is the explanation from investors why this is happening today? >> one of the reasons, the european central bank, one of the members is stepping down and that's a big deal because the european debt issues have been weighing on the markets here in the u.s. this is like a member of the federal reserve decided to walk out. the worry is that discussions on how to get a handle on the european debt issues could be unraveling. that's unnerving to markets. and president obama's speech last night left lots of traders telling me they did not see enough specifics and it did not set the table for more economic growth, and that lack of confidence and whether the proposals could make it through congress, and that is why we're seeing the selloff today.

>> and on to the conversations you were able to have with secretary clinton and giuliani today, and new talk about the potential threat we're seeing to the u.s. homeland? >> exactly. secretary clinton said the threat is unconfirmed but they are taking it seriously because the officials learned a lot when they went through bin laden's headquarters, and al qaeda was still wanting to attack around the anniversary dates. americans have shown a readiness to ban together and make it through is what giuliani said. list listen. >> i realized it would be difficult for me to get nominated given some of the positions i have that i am not willing to change. if i find the candidate to take this country in a different direction, if i don't find that

candidate, i won't be testimo-- >> we refused to be intimidated. part of the reason to go public is to tell people to go on with your lives and keep your eyes open and let us know if you see something suspicious. remember, the times square bomber was stopped by a food vendor. >> that incident that she is talking about shows that anybody can help. it's a mantra that we, new yorkers, we noknow well, if you see something, say something. officials said we need to go about our lives as we do. and mayor michael bloomberg took the subway as usual today. >> thank you, alison kosik. for the first time since

1997, somebody other than peyton manning will be starting quarterback for the colt this weekend. we'll tell you more about the injury that is keeping him out, how it is threatening his year and maybe even his career. stay with me. to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. from free checking to credit cards to loans, our commitment to the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. ♪ visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different. usaa. we know what it means to serve.

it's about half past the hour now. here is a look at some of the stories you may have missed. police on alert in response to the possible terror plot coinciding with the 9/11

anniversary. there is credible unconfirmed threats. it is believed to involve three people in a truck or car bomb, and the focus is in new york city or washington, d.c., but everybody around the country on alert right now. and many woke up with the power back on after a massive power outage on thursday. cities in northern mexico also affected. arizona power service described the causes a quote, employee generated event, but it was not terrorism related. the state of texas as appealed to president obama to declare a major disaster so they can get assistance for the wildfires there. the lieutenant governor of texas said we need help yesterday. the biggest fire burning near

austin tikilled two people and only partially contained. officials say another big fire north of san antonio is now more than 50% contained. did you realize it was hot this summer? the u.s. was dealing with record-setting heat, and now meteorologists are confirming this has been the hottest we have seen in 75 years, and the second hottest on record. also, nfl superstar, peyton manning will not be joining his team this sunday for the first game of the season. the indianapolis colts underwent another surgery fthis week. he holds the second longest

starting streak for the nfl, and the other being brett favre. you can hear him say it again, again, and again. >> everything in it will be paid for. >> president obama out there selling his new jobs plan. but how will it be paid for? will it get people back to work? let's break it down next.

time now for something we

call fair game around here, and we take on hot button issues and hold people in washington accountable. president obama urged congress to pass his new bill and this is why he says they should. >> the american jobs act is simple. to put more people back to work and more money in the pockets of those who are working. it will create more jobs for construction workers and more jobs for teachers and veterans and more jobs for long-term unemployed. it will provide a tax break for companies who hire new workers and it will cut payroll taxes in half for every working american and every small business. >> he also said everything in the plan will be paid for. really? and will it really get people back to work? my guest today, cnn political analysts, roland martin, and

steven moore, my friend as well. steven let me start with you. if congress does exactly what the president wants, and i know it's fantasyland to think they will pass it exactly how he sends it, but if they did will it actually work? >> i love the promise of this segment called holding washington accountable, and that's something that never happens in washington. call me a skeptic. we add a billion-dollar stimulus plan 2 1/2 years ago, and that was never paid for, and before you can pay for this stimulus bill you have to pay for the last one. there is always these promises of being fiscally chased in the few dhutur future. if you have a fat person that says i will go on a diet and first eat these hot fudge sundaes, and then go on a diet. it's skeptical.

>> roland, if it was passed the way he wanted and the money goes out into the economy with the tax breaks and infrastructure, roland, can it work? >> first of all you have to define what work means. at the previous stimulus did not, it did not work. if we did not have that, we would have higher unemployment and a tougher problem. the reality is you have to try something. there's no doubt if it is passed you will see construction jobs and benefits from it, and will it cause the unemployment rate to go from 9.5 to 8% or 7%. we don't know it. the last stimulus did work despite all of what you hear. >> we're having a little issue with the skype. we will try and make sure we get that cleaned up. steve it might mean me and you hear for a second.

the topic you drove us to was paying for it. do you think this does not have a chance of getting passed or a version of it getting passed because there won't be the will and also not the money to pay for it? >> there is skepticism on the part of republicans. after all, they were elected in 2010 with the big election gains they had on a message of stop the spending and stop the debt. that was a popular message with the voters in 2010. now there is the brand-new program to spend another half of trillion dollars. there will be resistance from the republicans, no question about it. but you know this very well, the opinion polls of republicans and democrats are at record lows right now. i think the republicans may go along with some of the proposal. they like some of the tax cut proposals. it's the spending they will be very much skeptical about. >> roland, what struck you yesterday, and dana from the "washington post" wrote about

this, and called him a relevant president, and he said some of the members of congress were reading the newspaper and talking about golf games and chuckling the whole time because they knew it was not a real effort, they considered it a political move. the president can't do anything without them. he is asking them to do something. pass this for me. do this that i am asking you to do. what struck you on the tone of the president and from the republicans sitting in the room? >> dana should be reminded the president is the executive prank and congress is legislative branch. it was his stride and tone. he was saying i am sick of the nonsense, i will take it to you. when he said i will take this to every corner of america, this is a president who clearly has been ticked off by the back and forth. i had not heard the tone from him in a long time, and frankly

it was good to hear him come that strong with the jobs plan. >> roland, it's interesting, because the president has a campaign theme that could be productive for him to say the republicans are the agents of gridlock in washington, but look back over the last two years, in the first two years the democrats controlled all the power, and president obama accomplished a lot, he got a stimulus plan through and obama care bill include, and cash for clunkers bill through, and there was no gridlock at all, and when could do whatever you wanted to do, create 3 million jobs, where are they? we are down a million jobs since the president took office. >> respond and wrap it up for me, roland. >> republicans -- >> he got a lot done. >> that's a fact. here is the point, the reality is, the stimulus bill that we had before, it provided us from

not hemorrhaging. the president himself, he cannot create jobs. it's simply not true. they can't have policies that will help the situation, but they have to have private business. we have wall street, and balance sheets have not been shored up and they are not doing their job. promoammar gadhafi forces have until tonight to surrender or face military force. we'll have a live report from libya as we go globe tracking.

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now, a midnight deadline is in place for tonight, for pro-gadhafi loyalists to surrender. ben wedeman in tripoli. are they ready to surrender? >> reporter: some of them were, but the negotiations have been difficult, long and largely unsuccessful. in fact the deadline does not seem to have held, because we are seeing from senior ntc officials that rebel troops are already entering the town, the holdout town about an hour and a half from here. we are told they are a kilometer and a half, about one mile from the center of the town. commanders in the field have jumped the gun. the deadline in a sense is history, and they have already

gone in and the battle has begun. t. j.? >> everybody is wondering exactly where is moammar gadhafi. any indications or speculation at this point? >> reporter: it's largely speculation. we heard day after day saying the latest was they know where he is, he is in a 60-kilometer area, but they would not say where it is exactly. so we don't really know where moammar gadhafi is. the state department says they don't know where he is. there's a psychological war going on where the rebels here in tripoli want to show the towns still holding out against them, that their leader is abandoning them. they put out the messages that he fled the country or cornered the country or about to surrender, and that's an attempt to undermine their morale.

>> and if you can in my last 30 seconds here, we are seeing developments out of egypt today as well? >> reporter: yes, what is on going this very moment is that several thousands egyptian protesters are outside the building that houses the egyptian israelie iisraeli emb. there is a wall to protect it, but protesters are trying to knock it down. the israeli embassy is the top two floors of the building, and the rest of the build something housing egyptians. there is no indication they have entered the building that houses the israeli embassy. coming up, we will join suzanne malveaux. she is in afghanistan.

afghans, ten years after the 9/11 attacks, are they ready to take over the security of their own country.

security this week in the face of a credible 9/11 threat may be a reminder of why u.s. troops are in afghanistan. despite the death of osama bin laden, al qaeda determined to carry out attacks. the reason a strong afghan army is important. they need to take over its own security so u.s. troops can come home in 014. the u.s. and nato are sacrificing quality or quantity in their rush to build up forces some say. suzanne malveaux is in kabul. >> the mission now was for

afghans to take over their security by the end of 2014. so that u.s. and nato troops can get out. on the ground at the kabul military training center, trainers are frantically trying to get thousands of raw recruits up to speed. where these folks are standing in this training exercise is significant. six months ago, american trainers were is standing up front. they have since been moved to the back with interpreters to be on stand by in case they're needed. but up front, the afghans are training the afghans. >> most of the time we don't have to intervene. if there's something that they cannot usually associated with weapons, maybe heavy weapons, then we step in and resolve the issue sniel the race is on to train the afghans sufficiently before u.s. troops are scheduled to pull out in just over three years' time. critics charge that nato is putting quantity over quality. >> everything is a numbers game. that's essentially what we're seeing here. this is like a big machine which takes in these afghan recruits,

spits them out at the other end and it doesn't matter how good or effective they are. >> colonel mike meyer a top adviser to the kabul training mission defends the program. >> what we tried to do is build an army quickly and we're on track do that. once we have an army at a certain level, then we'll be able to sustain that and improve the quality. >> but the challenges right no are i am men. 86% of the recruits are i will literal. can't add or subtract or add write their names. they're at a kindergarten level. >> that's why the u.s. and nato mission launched an all out literacy campaign last november to make sure every recruit has at least the basics. >> he couldn't write his own name when he signed up for the afghan army. now he's proud to be reading at a second grade level while supporting his sick father on a

soldier's salary. >> before i wasn't able to read the signs. i wasn't able to write letters or sentences. now i'm able even right now if i want to go to the doctor, i can see the sign and read it. >> for mohammed ishmael it's much more personal. his older brother was killed by the taliban. >> even my parents told me that you are in the army, you will be going to the same way. i told my parents, no, i would like to serve to my country from this way. >> sergeant jesse finley a u.s. member of the training team says the afghans have a lot of heart but don't always stick around. >> getting that retainability is very difficult too. because some of them want to go back home. get a little page, go back home. >> but their home, afghanistan is at a critical turning point. future is uncertain. >> had war is not over, no. no, it's not over yet. it will be over when the afghan people decide it's over.

>> suzanne joins us from kabul. hello to you. that number is staggering. 86% illiterate. is that a big part of the mission, you have to educate as well as train? >> reporter: absolutely, t.j. it's far from certain they'll be able to be successful in the long-term. one thing that is lacking. if you don't have a lot of education, you can't really have people who specialize in things. the mechanics, the engineers and even the pilots to a certain extent need much more education. you have this issue of tribal tensions as well. some people, some critics fear that you can arm folks and train them and then perhaps u.s. and nato troops leave and turn on each other and have a civil war. that's another concern from critics. there's a cultural differences. walk away, it's seasonal fight being. they don't have the same sense that desertion is not acceptable, it's not against the law. finally, t.j., there's the issue of funding here. i talked to officials here,

military official, afghans and critics, they agree on one thing. the afghan government and people will need long-term funding, resources for a long, long time in order to sustain this beyond the immediate ear. here. they're going to need international support. >> suzanne malveaux reporting in kabul. she'll continue to report coming up on the anniversary of 9/11. let's turn to politics and policy. how do you think republican presidential candidates think about president obama's jobs plan? guess. political update is next. to develop its suspension system? or what if we told you that ferrari borrowed technology from cadillac to develop its suspension system? magnetic ride control -- pioneered by cadillac, perfected in the 556-horsepower cts-v. we don't just make luxury cars. we make cadillacs.

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hello to our deputy political director, paul steinhauser, in tampa. he has our political ticker today. hey, paul. >> hey, t.j., how are you? >> doing all right, my man. we saw the president last night. i'm sure the presidential candidates maybe had a thing or two to say about it. >> reporter: they did. this is interesting. because you know, some congressional republicans back in d.c., maybe not receptive to the president but weren't that, that critical of him. the presidential candidates, yeah. you can imagine, thumbs up, no, thumbs down. just about all of them put out statements criticizing the president and his plan. mitt romney the former massachusetts governor went a step further. look at this. this is a website he put up in his campaign called obama isn't working.com. i think you get the message there that they're not so

receptive to the president and his plans, t.j. >> all right. what about some of the other -- you talk about romney there. you say we hear from all of them. what do the other presidential candidates, who will be there on monday, by the way, what are they up to? >> reporter: let's talk about michele bachmann. she's going to iowa tomorrow. she'll be mixing politics and football. she'll be at iowa state. they're playing iowa. big big football game tomorrow. that's where she had her victory last month in the straw poll. as you said, everybody is coming here monday night. that's why we brought the bus. it's a big deal. we brought the cnn tea party republican presidential debate, 8:00 eastern time. >> we'll see you plenty. and we'll see a lot of coverage out of tampa. thank you so much. as we cross the top of the hour here, let me get you caught up on what's happening today. what's happening in new york. they've seen a lot, dealt a lot over the years. they're dealing with something else. take a look at that picture there.

this is not just your normal gridlock out there on the streets of new york with traffic. this is different because now they have police checkpoints set up. causing all kinds of traffic trouble there. in the city. this is all in response, though, to what we're now being told is a credible, specific even but not confirmed threat. this is what we know about it. the chatter that was picked up by security officials. they say it talks about three individuals who might be involved and one of them could be a u.s. citizen. a bulletin went out by the fbi and homeland security saying the attackers could use a truck or carloaded with explosives. they're calling this a credible threat. they're saying they have not confirmed this threat just yet. not sure if it's real. it's believed that the targets could be washington, d.c., or new york city. let me turn to our senior correspondent, cnn's senior correspondent alan chernoff in new york for us. they deal with a lot of security in new york. they're used to it. how are the police checkpoints

still causing fits? >> reporter: certainly used to it, t.j. here we go again. a major police presence all through manhattan. we've got checkpoints just like this in lower manhattan, midtown near times square and over here at the beginning of the upper west side as well as further uptown. what's happening here is that the police officers are not only visually scanning vehicles, but they're also pulling aside trucks and vans. let's have a look over here. you can see an officer there has just pulled over a truck. he's asking the driver to open up. he'll talk a look inside. that's been happening on and on again. one truck driver just a little while ago told me that he had taken an hour and a half to travel three miles. t.j., that means the traffic backed up and you'll see it in a moment, the traffic is basically moving at about two miles an hour. now, in addition to the visual

scans, the officers are also wearing radiation detectors. they're a little bit larger than my audio box here. they don't emit a beep, of course, because it's real noisy here. they've got them on vibrate. no probable almost with that so far. but the point is, they're searching for potential dirty bombs. the police say they are aggressively towing illegally parked cars. although, t.j., right here, we've got an illegally parked car. in fact, the ticket is over here, hasn't been towed just yet. the cops are working on that and be aggressive on it. in addition, they're sweeping garages, parking garages throughout manhattan searching for bombs. so t.j., this is being taken extremely seriously and the nypd says these sorts of checkpoints will be in effect through monday, the day after 9/11. t.j.? >> allan chernoff for us in new

york city. thank you. i want to turn to washington, d.c., and to the pentagon specifically where we're getting more about this potential threat. our correspondent barbara starr is here with me. you were giving me new information last hour. we're calling this a credible threat, i a specific even threat but not confirmed. but you're getting more specifics about how it came about. >> reporter: we are indeed, t.j. a u.s. official is explaining in detail why it is that the administration is saying credible threat, but not corroborated. here's our understanding of what has taken place. the u.s. intelligence community a few days ago intercepted communications from an al qaeda operative in pakistan and in that intercept, they heard discussion of this type of planned attack against new york or washington. a proposed attack, if you will. the al qaeda operative that they intercepted is someone that is known to them, that has been a source of credible information

from secret intercepts in the past. they took it very seriously. now, what they've been trying do is corroborate it. they've been looking at the intelligence they have from other al qaeda cells, other al qaeda terrorist operatives, other intercepts. the challenge, they tell us right now is that they cannot yet corroborate what the intercept told them about this attack. they don't have the corroborating chatter if you will. a second source telling them about the attack. that's why they're taking so seriously. yet, they say they can't corroborate it. very complex intelligence analysis under way. but it gives us a better idea of why we're seeing those scenes on the streets of new york, t.j. >> barbara, we don't know the three individuals we hear about in the bulletin, we don't know where they might be, in this country on the way to the country. >> that's the thing. all of the sources we're talking to right now tell us that,

indeed, their working assumption is that these three individuals, one possibly a u.s. citizen, are likely already in the united states. they don't have eyeballs on them. you know, they can't absolutely say that. they can't confirm that. but they say that that has to be their working assumption. that these people are in the united states. whether they carry out a planned attack or not, remains to be seen, of course. but if the initial chatter, the initial intercept is true, they have to work on the belief that these men are already here. t.j.? >> barbara starr, with the very latest. thank you as always. we want to turn now to other news that we're following about the electricity. the power. it's back on in southern california. what about five million in california, arizona and even parts of mexico were without power because of what's being called a "employee generated event." don't exactly know ha that means. but somebody may have just screwed up royally and that shut down the power grid. this happened at a substation in

yuma, arizona. the cause -- look at this. you know it caused a traffic mess. but it caused the cancellation of flights, commuter trains and the traffic was a mess. from what we're being told, everything is good right now. power has been restored. don't know when we'll find out exactly what happened. flooding from tropical storm lee breaking records in pennsylvania and new york. thousands of people had to grab what they could and hightail it out of there. at least three people are dead, those deaths blamed on the floods. president obama declared the region a federal disaster area. also in texas, state there has appealed the president to declare a major disaster there. they're trying to get federal assistance for the wildfires. the lieutenant governor says we need help yesterday. the biggest fire which is burning near austin killed at least two people, destroyed nearly 1400 homes. it's partially contained. firefighters have stopped the forward progress, however.

officials say another big fire north of san antonio has more than 50% contained. president obama, he promised he would get out in the road and he's already on the road. this is him speaking at the university of richmond in just -- earlier this morning, a few hours ago. he's out on the road promoting the jobs plan that he outlined to congress last night. just like last night in his speech today, he stressed that the plan should pass right away and says, hey, there's nothing controversial in here. >> everything in the american jobs act, everything in there is the kind of proposal that's been supported in the past by both democrats and republicans. nothing radical in this bill. >> they will tell you no coincidence that he went to richmond today. that is the district of house majority leader eric cantor. cantore told cnn that he heard common ground in the president's speech last night. he believes that something can get done quickly. something that happened quickly

today, right after the opening bell, the dow took a dive. has been down 300 points now for quite some time. some people, including alison kosik, investors telling her they didn't hear what they needed to hear last night. that's why you're seeing a bit of a selloff on wall street. we're keeping an eye on that. the tea party coe hosts monday's debate in tampa. which candidates do they want to hear from? >> you know, my favorite is my role model, sarah. i would love to see sarah do that. >> sarah palin? >> i'll take a bullet for her. whoa. we'll head live to tampa next. stay with me. i know you're gonna love. [ barks ] yes, it's new beneful healthy fiesta. made with wholesome grains, real chicken, even accents of tomato and avocado. yeah! come on! [ barking ] gotta love the protein for muscles-- whoo-hoo! and omega-rich nutrition for that shiny coat.

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c . monday night, tampa, florida, be there. that is where we're going to be having the cnn tea party republican debate. tea party express bus is on the way to tampa. the cnn express bus already there. and so is don lemon. don? good afternoon to you kind sir. >> i drove it here. i drove it here. i know that you drove the bus once they told me. i'm not sure where. somewhere in the midwest. >> they will not let you drive that bus. [ laughter ] >> reporter: listen, it's going to be interesting. it's the first ever tea party debate and cnn, has the pleasure or we're doing the honors of hosting this first debate. when it comes to the tea party, they like, they move by the beat of their own drummer. so i asked them if there was anyone else they'd like to see up there on the stage. because right now, we've got perry, bachmann, romney, paul,

gingrich, santorum, huntsman. not all of them are affiliated with the tea party. some are plain old republican conservatives. who else would you like to see i asked. take a listen to what they said. >> who would you like to see on that stage or toss their hat into the ring? >> oh, well, you know, my favorite is my role model, sar ah. i would love to see sarah do that. >> sarah palin? >> i'll take a bullet for her. >> wow. >> i think she's wonderful. i mean that. because i need a job. [ laughter ] >> why haven't you decided? why haven't you declared? >> i think that i'm not the only one who has not decided yet. and not ready to announce one way or the other yet. there's still -- there's till a lot of contemplation that needs to go into such a earth shattering, life decision for a family. >> o no one person you'd like to see, no sarah palin. >> i like sarah palin, but i'm happy there's enough people in the race now that i haven't seen enough of them. so i'm still giving it a look

at. >> and me as well. >> but everyone is saying, it's going to be a two-person race. it's going to be romney or it's going to be perry. if it's those two? >> i like pizza. >> i'm sure herman cain would like that. >> i'm not sure it will be those two. but we need to hear more of him. >> reporter: so they want to take their time. they want to absorb t.j., what the candidates are going to say on that stage on monday night before they really make a decision. but as i told them, most people have been saying, and you've heard it, it's going to be romney and perry. those are the two who are going to lead the thing. they're not so convinced about that. >> greater anticipation for this debate giving what we saw in the last one? we're looking for romney/perry round two. seeing michele bachmann can get back into the mix. just because of that last

debate, maybe more eyeballs and more anticipation for this one? >> reporter: oh, yeah. i would say so. just for the fact that it's a first tea party debate, to be held ever, i think, of course, there's anticipation for it. and then you have to admit, most people will say february, around 2008, february 2008-2009 i think is when the tea party first started gearing up and started to organize. and just within the past two years or so, they've really gained some momentum. usually takes decades, at least traditional parties to gain that influence and the tea party has done that in a short amount of time. if you're not a member of the tea party, a member of the other party, you'll be interested to see how these people are going to take questions and really how they're -- what they're going to say to the people who are voting for tea party member. >> inadvertently, our viewers got a sneak peek. you were talking about driving the bus, dale who drives the bus, i saw him walk through your

shot. he's to your right on the cell phone. he's back there. he tried to run out of the way. but that was the bus driver. >> come here. >> he doesn't want to do it. you don't have to say anything. stand behind me. >> dale -- >> he already made the cameo. it's fine. >> he said hey there. do you want to come in? no. >> that's all right. >> he says hello to you. it's a great group, t.j., you know that. >> they're a good crew, tell them i said hello. we'll be talking to you throughout the weekend. don lemon in tampa. see you. >> see you. 8:00 eastern time on monday night. the cnn tea party republican debate. coming up, we'll have a sneak peek at the new national memorial for the 9/11 victims of flight 93. we'll take you live to shanksville, pennsylvania. stay here. making it hard to bre, 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

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♪ the tenth anniversary of 9/11 approaches, there's a lot of focus on what happened in new york. also, d.c. understandably so. we're going to take a moment and focus on shanksville, pennsylvania. that, of course, where united flight 93 crashed into pay field after its passengers and crew members overtook the hijackers who were likely trying to steer the plane into the nation's capitol. for the past ten years, a makeshift memorial has marked the site. but tomorrow, a dedication ceremony will be held for the new official national flight 93 memorial. former presidents, georgew bush and bill clinton expected to be

there and vice president joe biden. as well as secretary of interior, ken salazar. secretary salazar joins me now from shanksville. mr. secretary, thank you being here. explain to our viewers first, what will they see tomorrow? what will be n veiled this weekend? >> tomorrow we will be dedicating. the vice president will be dedicating. the 2200-acre park. it becomes part of the national park system that will tell the story of 9/11 and the story of the 40 people who gave their lives at shanksville to defend the nation's capitol. >> even though it will be dedicated officially tomorrow, it doesn't mean all the work will be done or any time soon? >> you know, we have actually raised $42 million for the memorial. it is about 80, 85% done. we need another 15% to go. we need to raise $10 million to

get the visitors center and education center. hopefully with donations throughout the country, we'll be able to get that done. we've already received donations from 75,000 people around the country. our hope is to get this done because it's fitting and proper that as we look at 9/11, this will be the only national park that will tell the story of 9/11. it's in a very rural part of pennsylvania here in shanksville. it is a wonderful and beautiful solemn place where the remains of the 40 people who were on flight 93 will be permanently en tomorrowed. >> there has been a lot talked about that the money is still about $10 million short as you mentioned there. some people are scratching their heads that ten years later that money was being raised. of course, in new york and d.c., the memorials there certainly got their funding earlier. so would you describe it there as being a difficulty in raising funds or how would you describe it? why are you still $10 million

short? >> you know, it's difficult to raise money. this is a private/public sector partnership working closely with the families of flight 93 to get this done. the community and this area here in eastern -- in western pennsylvania is a very poor area. we are outside of a town of shanksville, which has only about 200 people, only one small little store. so when you're trying to raise money in a place like this, it's difficult. that's why we've reached out across the country and that's why we have 75,000 donors already. that's why we have a system set up honor flight 93.org to reach out to the rest of the country. as part of the spirit of remembering this day that changed the history of the united states of america and the world, we're able to honor it through this story that we will tell here to those heroes that were on flight 93. >> sir, i guess you don't have a deadline, but you're hopeful to have the money by the end of the year? >> you know, very hopeful.

we have hints that lots of people are tuning in. everybody wants to make sure that this story is told. the story really for all of us and america and all over the world is flight 93 and the events of 9/11 really changed so much of our world and it's important that we at interior and through the united states, we tell that story to the world. so we'll have millions and millions of visitors who come here from throughout the world and throughout the united states that will learn the story of 9/11 and we want to tell it in the same way we did through the medication of the mlk memorial a few weeks ago. we'll have the formal deadation in a few weeks. we had to postpone that. we do it all over the country. 9/11 is a day that will have a profound impact on the future of our nation forever. we need to make sure to tell that story right. >> well, it's good to talk to you. i'm glad we could focus on shanksville, pennsylvania. flight 93.

i assure you, we're about to remind viewers how to donate. secretary salazar, thank you so much for your time. >> thank you very much, t.j. our viewers, you want to donate to the flight 93 memorial, you heard him talking about it there. couple things you can do. you can go to the national parks website at national parks.org or you can go to the memorial site, that's honor flight 93.org. also coming up, the unconventional ways three students saved themselves thousands of dollars and a lifetime of debt. but first, a new yorker who is determined to build a positive legacy out of the aftermath of 9/11. september 11th was a very tough time for the fire department. i lost some friends, guys i went to the academy with. day afterwards, people came from everywhere to help us out. it was incredible. you knew you weren't alone. new yorker to see the outpouring of kindness and generosity is

more powerful than the terror that happened it really changed me. i'm jeff parness. i want to show the world that new yorkers will never forget what people did for us following 9/11. every year on the 9/11 anniversary, we take volunteers from new york and send them to some part of the country where they had a disaster and help folks rebuild. >> nice to meet you. >> the tallest thing is the grain -- it's culture shock. >> rebuilding homes or barns or churches. it's our way to say thank you. now, more than half our volunteers are not from new york. people from all the small towns we've helped, they help the next community. they're from louisiana, california, indiana, illinois. every year you keep seeing more t-shirts from more locations. >> we'll pitch in as much as we can. >> katrina, we jumped on his bandwagon. this is contagious. >> it's like a big dysfunctional family reunion of all these disaster survivors who get

together to do a barn raising. >> pounding nails, it helps you heal. >> it's about using the 9/11 anniversary to celebrate that volunteer spirit. >> we'll see you all next year. >> people say thank you for doing this. i said you want to thank me, show up on the next one. ♪ my subaru saved my life. i won't ever forget that.

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close to the bottom of the hour. college is important, yeah. expensive? very expensive? sometimes. three students saved themselves tens of thousands of dollars and a lifetime of debt by pursuing less conventional, ash we say, approaches to college. that is today's taking the lead. the cost of attending some top foreign schools can be as little as half of out of state public universities or private colleges in the u.s. so to save some money amanda headed to canada. she saved about 50 grand versus going to the university of oregon. also, not everybody can do this here, but at the age of 19, matthew traded 10% of his growing web design firm, which specializes in site for small

businesses, to clarkston so in exchange he got a full tuition scholarship. he spends about six hours a day working on the firm on top of his classes. but he plans to save about 150 grand. finally, not everybody knows this, a growing number of community colleges offers direct pipelines to elite public and private schools as long as students take prescribed course loads and maintain good dprads. ebony enrolled at local piedmont, virginia, community college, then transferred to the university of virginia, saved her about 100 grand. for more tips and tricks how to save money on college, go to cnn money.com. we'll turn back to new york in a moment. extra security on top of security. checkpoints set up in new york, causing, you guessed it, a traffic nightmare. ♪ [ country ] [ man ] ♪ gone, like my last paycheck

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just past the bottom of the hour. let's look at stories making headlines. police on alert in response to a possible terror plot coinciding with the 9/11 anniversary. officials say they have received specific credible, but unconfirmed information. senior administration officials telling cnn that the origin of the intelligence is what's causing the most concern. it's believed to involve three people in a possible car or truck bomb and the focus seems to be on new york and washington, d.c. law enforcement around the country, though, on alert. due to the threats in new york city, they have now set up checkpoints throughout the city.

new york city police are checking bags at train stations and cars around town. you can see what's happening here. this is causing a mess in new york as well as new jersey. the pictures you're seeing here, they have police checkpoints set up there as well. also, millions of people in southwestern united states woke up with the power back on this morning after a massive power outage on thursday. the blackout across arizona and southern california brought traffic to a halt, stopped trains, even closed the san diego international airport. even cities in northern mexico were affected. the arizona power service described the cause of all this as a "employee-generated event." not exactly sure what that means. they say this is not related to terrorism. in the northeast, more than 100,000 people have been evacuated in and at least three people dead due to flooding from tropical storm lee. in some parts of pennsylvania, the water is so high officials can't get in to assess the

damage. president obama declared a state of emergency for new york and pennsylvania. and it was hot this summer. but you knew that. but it was record setting hot. meteorologists confirming that this summer was in fact the hottest summer in 75 years. it was the second hottest on record. consistently high temperatures combined with below average rainfall, they caused texas to suffer their driest summer ever. that's why they're having a tough time with the wildfires in texas right now as well. the terror threat currently under investigation in the u.s. may have originated in pakistan. we'll take you there as we go globe trekking next.

we've been telling you about the investigation of some credible, but unconfirmed reports of possible plan for an al qaeda plot in the u.s. marking the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. as we go globe trekking this hour, we're going to pakistan where the plot may have originated? nick peat walsh is with us from islamabad. what are they trying? are they trying to get information and trace this thing back to pakistan? >> reporter: well, as you heard earlier, cnn administration officials telling us that in the u.s., they believe it originates from a phone intercept from an al qaeda operative. a senior intelligence official here is saying that they have

been passing information from the interrogation of the senior al qaeda person they arrested ten days ago. they've been passing information from that interrogation to the u.s. let's be clear here. he did not specify that that information is linked to the threats in new york and d.c. but just points it out the timing and also suggested that given this man is considered the external operations manager of al qaeda. he may perhaps have had his own plans for 9/11 anniversary. >> do we have any idea the cooperation between the u.s. and pakistani officials? >> reporter: well, it's been in pieces since the raid that killed osama bin laden. great animosity between the cia and the pakistani counterparts, the isi. earlier on this week, they appear to have made up, frankly. they arrested this al qaeda operative sparking a few certain complimentary statements from both islamabad and washington

which we hadn't heard for months frankly. we do hear from officials here that the americans have their own unilateral intelligence capability here. that will involve high tech observation of some description. but they're able to grn garner the evidence they need for the tribal areas on their own. that could be where some of the information we're hearing about from pakistan originated. >> thank you as always. we'll give you a look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world. egyptian -- in cairo today, trying to destroy a wall protecting the wall of the embassy. no attempt to enter the building. the it's on the 12th floor of the building. the police don't believe any personnel were there. many egyptian wanted in to diplomatic relations with israel initiated by hosni mubarak. also fighting reported around bani walid libya.

one says anti-gadhafi troops are two miles from the city. supporters in that town and sirte has been given until midnight libyan time to surrender or face military action. that med night is now three and a half hours away. nato officials in afghanistan have conclude thad an american soldier was responsible for the death of a reporter. he died -- insurgents -- nato says they mistook the journalists for a suicide bomber. officials have apologized to the jurnltist's family. considering the chaoticness, it was -- they've been identified as a 24-year-old german of lebanese descent and a 28-year-old man from gaza. berlin police tried to obtain chemicals that can be used to make a bomb.

they don't believe the suspects have links to international terror organizes. with the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks coming on sunday, we're asking people around the world how their lives have changed. >> people now are more like scared about what happened in general. not even americans only. everywhere now, even like the arabs are kind of scared from the terrorists. >> you definitely more cautious when i board an airplane. i'm more suspicious ofsh surroundings. >> i realize, if something like this could happen to america, we got to take it seriously. make the most of everything that you do. make sure you live your every day to the fullest. you never know what might happen. >> next, we're going to turn to crime and consequence. his case has gotten the attention of former president carter, archbishop tutu, even the pope. but that might not be enough to

save death row inmate troy davis. we're talking to his sister about what is coming. his execution is set for a little later this month. does that in one daily dose.pt new citracal slow release... continuously releases calcium plus d for the efficient absorption my body needs. citracal. yep. the longer you stay with us, the more you save. and when you switch from another company to us, we even reward you for the time you spent there. genius. yeah, genius. you guys must have your own loyalty program, right? well, we have something. show her, tom. huh? you should see november! oh, yeah? giving you more. now that's progressive. call or click today.

we want to revisit a case that could mean the death of troy davis. he's now 11 days away from being executed. he was convicted of killing mark mcfail en, an off duty police officer some 22 years ago. but there have been a number of questions raised over whether davis is really guilty. this has been the center of a long, long legal battle. since his conviction, seven of nine witnesses have recanted their testimony. others have also come forward who identified the triggerman as somebody else. in the meantime, davis has actually been served his final meal before, said his goodbyes before. because his execution was postponed at least three separate times. but in march, the supreme court rejected davis' request to delay

his execution for a fourth time. now davis is running out of time and running out of options. troy davis' sister, kimberly davis, joins me now. ms. davis, thank you for spending some time with us. ma'am, can you help us understand how in the world do you deal with this psychological strain of going through another, yet another date for execution when you've been down this road three times already. >> caller: yes, sir. thank you for having me. my family, we're still standing on our faith because we know that to the end, god has stood on our side and god is still in control. a lot of people ask us, well, how are you dealing with this? and we're dealing with this by just standing on the word of god. god said he would never leave us nor for sake us. we're standing on his word. >> ms. davis, when was the last time you talked to your brother, troy? >> i talked to troy this morning. >> this morning? how is he doing?

>> he's doing fine. he was still asking about, questions about my nephew. he was talking to him about work and school, talking about my niece keers ten, the different daily activities. the regular phone calls that we've had. he's just concerned about us and asking us, you know, how are we doing? and just different things. but he's still strong. >> ma'am, it sounds like he's talking to you about day-to-day stuff when an execution date has been set for him that's just about a week and a half away. does he still hold out hope or is he holding on to that faith like you say? does he think someone will step in? it's going to have to be the parole board at this point it appears. does he still have faith, hope that someone will step in? >> yes, sir. he is still holding on to his faith. got a letter from him earlier this week. we often just swap scriptures.

he was sending me scriptures about faith. he told me, we industrial have to stand o on that faith. my last letter earlier this week, it was talking about faith, talking about the miracles of god and he said that he knows that god is going to bring us through this. >> ma'am, i mentioned the georgia board of pardons and paroles. they'll be taking up a clemency hearing, it looks like for the five members, it might be up to them, unless the governor possibly steps in. but you also mentioned that this fight that you all have been going through the past couple of decades is not about your brother troy anymore. what do you mean by that? >> it's not ohm about our brother troy. we're fighting for all the men and women who have been wrongly accused on death row. you know, we just want justice to be fair. and we're just praying we have some relief with the parole board. we're praying that they grant

him clemency. >> i mentioned desmond tutu, former president carter, amnesty international, naacp have been fighting on your brother's behalf. the family of the officer killed and a lot of officers with that police department have stood by it and said we believe that troy davis is the person who killed this officer, but ma'am, i guess what do you say to those folks? no doubt in your mind, that your brother is innocent. a lot of people still want this day to come, your brother's execution day. >> yes, sir. like i said, we believe in my brother's innocence. thousands and thousands of people all over the world. the case of troy anthony davis has brought people together of different ethnicities. he has brought people together all over the world. different people fighting for his innocence, different people

that believe in him. we've had people that have said that they didn't think that there was a god. but after his first, second, third execution, they said god must be on your side. it's just thousands and thousands of people all over the world that have joined together in this fight. it is not just about a fight for troy davis. it's a fight for justice for all. >> ms. davis, thank you for taking the time. i know it's tough time for you and your family. the family of the slain officer as well. all sides. we shall see what happens a week and a half the execution date set. ms. davis, thank you so much. >> thank you. all right. as we get close to the top of the hour now, we're going to switch gears and we're going to talk about a medical issue. a medical issue that will have you seeing something on sunday that you haven't seen since 1997. that is a different quarterback starting for the indianapolis colts. the good doctor sanjay gupta is

in the room. he'll explain the prognosis for the superstar quarterback. beat" i was put on an aspirin, and it's part of my regimen now. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. go see your doctor now.

joined by the good doctor, dr. sanjay gupta. big football weekend. but he'll we'll be missing a piece to the nfl. payton manning. people are talking about this injury as something that could not change his year but his career going forward. >> it's tough to say. no quarterback at least in our digging, our reporting, we have found undergone the operation that he just had. quarterback obviously different muscle groups, everything you need for your throwing arm. what we know is this, over the last 18 months or so, he's had three operations on his neck. two from the back. making the incision on the back and taking out bone to try and

take some pressure off nerves that were giving him trouble. obviously, they both worked for a period of time. but then he needed an operation from the front. i don't know how well you can see this. this is a disk in between two bones. the sixth bone and seventh poen of your neck. this disk, they decided to take out. replace it with another substance and put a titanium plate across the front of that. it's a commonly done operation. but not, again, in quarterbacks. one thing i'll point out quickly, that particular nerve controls your triceps muscle. think about that as a quarterback. your triceps, you really need that. you have to make sure it doesn't get weak. >> what's a reasonable recovery time for this? i guess it's different. most folks have it are not out there trying to play professional football. >> they expect, and i think it's reasonable to expect this, that eight to 12 weeks before he can get back to playing. that's a long time. five to seven days before he's back in the gym doing all the exercises that he can do.

focusing on this muscle group, make sure it's rehabbed. >> once he's back on the field, is the danger that repetitive motion that a quarterback has to go through, or is it going to be taking a hit and getting his -- >> it's a great question. i can tell you that there's corner backs and you know football, corner backs probably take more hits than a quarterback does. there are some who have done well. the blows and the physicality of the game is not as big a deal. in reality, one level he's having like this shouldn't affect his range of motion. you think about a quarterback trying to swivel and all that. he obviously needs that type of motion. once he's healed, i think, it should be fine. that's about eight to 12-week process. after that, he shouldn't really notice any changes in his mobility or, again, in the strength of his arm. >> i know you're not in that room, but still, is this something you would tell him, just take your time. take this year. don't try to rush yourself back.

>> a talked to a neurosurgeon who operates on them, including some of the colts, you get people back to their way of life. a lot of times they'll heal on their own. the reason you do surgery is he can actually recover more quickly and get pack to his -- i might say that. i think that will fall on deaf ears as most professional athletes. if he goats rehab and the neck fuse properly, he should be okay. >> i'm always amazed to talk to you. >> keeping their fingers crossed. >> the super bowl is going to be there. they were hoping to have -- >> he's the highest paid nfl player. >> he and tom brady. he said he didn't need to be the highest. just have me tie tom brady. the problems they have. >> a lot invested. good to see you. >> we got to do live tv. come in on saturday morning. >> would you invite me. saturday, sunday, you name it, i'll be here for you t.j. >> we're close to the top of the hour. quick break here and we'll be right back.

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com time for the political ticker. paul steinhauser standing by in tampa. >> t.j., we're here with the cnn express. we have a big debate on monday night. first, let's talk about hillary clinton, the secretary of state. it was just about a week ago that former vice president dick cheney really seemed he was kind of trying to needle democrats. cheney is a republican. when he hinted that maybe hillary clinton should primary

challenge president obama next year for the democratic nomination. well, our alison kosik, spoke to hillary clinton this morning. asked her about that. take a listen to what the secretary of state said. oh, yeah. one of the great things about being secretary of state is i am out of politics. i am not interested in being drawn back into it by anybody. i have a big job to do. i'm honored to do it every day. representing our country. >> you remember back in 2007 and '08, hillary clinton, and barack obama went at it. that was a historic battle. clinton bowed out after a huge long battle. since then the rumors keep coming up and hillary clinton keeps saying no, no, no, no. there you go. let talk about the presidential candidates, the actual ones running. those are the republican and t.j., as we talked about a while ago, they're coming here. we're at the state fairgrounds outside tampa, florida, the florida state fairgrounds. we'll have monday night, 8:00 eastern,