polling. rick perry is in the lead with tea party supporters. if you broaden it out to the broader republican field, voters who identify with republicans, or leaning republican, well, his lead is not as great over mitt romney. but tonight is going to be a night for rick perry to see if he can keep that lead. it's all eyes on rick perry. mitt romney trying to make himself the candidate, the re-establish himself as a front-runner. michele bachmann trying to reignite her campaign. she is placing far behind the pack. and of course the other candidates trying to make a real impression on a broad swath of voters. you can see it tonight, the tea party debate, live from tampa, florida. the site of the 2012 republican national convention. wolf blitzer will moderate. on at 8:00 p.m. eastern. back to new york with carol and christine. >> ok. we didn't get back to your talk back question. but i'm really sorry, but thank you. continue the conversation. facebook.com/americanmorning. that will do it for us today. "cnn newsroom" starts right now.

thanks so much. just hours from now, eight presidential candidates will square off in tampa, florida. rick perry the front-runner and also the main target of his fellow republicans. and perry may have made the bull's-eye even bigger by attacking social security, a program considered sacred by millions of older americans. jim accosta is in tampa. and let's begin with word of a new endorsement we're hearing about this morning. >> reporter: that's right. if mitt romney was looking for a spark to help his campaign, he may have gotten it this morning. former minnesota governor tim pawlenty has announced that he is getting behind the former massachusetts governor. so that is good news for mitt romney. but this debate comes this evening, kyra, as a new cnn/orc poll shows that there is a big lead for rick perry. the race is basically boiling down to rick perry and whoever can keep up. texas governor rick perry has

ditched his cowboy boots for his running shoes, staying far ahead of the republican pack. the latest poll cnn/orc poll finds perry way in front with 30%. nearest rival mitt romney at 18%. with the rest of the field looking to play catchup, the tea party debate in florida could be crucial. >> it is a ponzi scheme to tell our kids that are 25 or 30 years old today you're paying into a program that's going to be there. >> reporter: after perry doubled down on his call for an overhaul of social security at the last debate, romney pounced. >> the governor says, look, states ought to be able to opt out of social security. our nominee has to be someone who isn't committed to abolishing social security. >> reporter: on cnn's "jk usa," michele bachmann piled on. >> what i think is america needs to keep its promise to seniors ises. i talk with them all the time. i love senior citizens.

>> you usually don't start a campaign by setting grandma's hair on fire. but that's what rick perry did when he called social security not only a ponzi scheme, but implied he might undo it if he could go back 70 years. >> reporter: that kind of clash could make the debate another road sign indicating where the gop is heading, towards more conservative tea party candidates like perry or moderate contenders like romney. the former massachusetts governor stepped up his courtship of tea partiers only after his poll numbers started sagging. >> are you a member of the tea party? >> i don't think you carry cards in the tea party. >> reporter: some republicans say there's good reason for caution. perry's doubts about climate change might appeal to tea party voters. >> just because you have a group of scientists that have stood up and said here is the fact, galileo got outvoted for a spell. >> reporter: but centrists like jon huntsman worry those views could alienate independent voters and cost republicans the white house. >> in order for the republican party to win, we can't run from science. and this debate tonight

could be tailor made for tea party candidates and favorites like rick perry and michele bachmann. that's because tea party activists will actually have the opportunity to ask questions of the candidates. but that could also mean trouble might be brewing for folks like mitt romney and jon huntsman. kyra? >> jim, thanks. our deputy political director paul simon is tracking the trends for us. paul, michele bachmann a star of the tea party, but her standing has plummeted recently. has the tea party already moved on? >> reporter: it seems that way. remember she had her biggest victory on august 13 at that straw poll in iowa. the same day that rick perry has announced for president. and he has been stealing a lot of her thunder since this. in our cnn/orc poll from this morning, we broke it down by tea party supporters and nontea party supporters in the republican party. look at that. rick perry has a huge lead among tea party supporters at 38%. romney at 16%.

palin not even in the top four. but look at the people who say they are republicans but not really tea party supporters. perry doing ok there as well. tied with romney right there when you put in the sampling error. and it is very interesting. one of the numbers i wanted to show you as well, and this is which candidate has the best chance of beating barack obama. electability. three out of four republicans say that is the most important thing, a candidate to beat barack obama. who is that person? you can see right there, our poll indicates republicans say they think rick perry has the best chance. that could hurt mitt romney. that's his argument right now. you may not love me, but i'm the guy who can beat barack obama. kyra? >> let's talk florida real quickly. the location for the debate, paul. it's definitely taking on a new level of importance. >> reporter: oh, yeah. it's always been an important state in the general election. of course remember back in 2000, the republican convention would be right here in tampa next year. but it's also an important state in the primaries. very important. all the candidates coming down

here. florida will be pretty early in the primary. it will vote pretty early right after new hampshire, iowa, and south carolina. so this state has become a real power player in the battle for the nomination. and of course, kyra, a lot of senior citizens and people nearing retirement in florida. that's why this social security fight between romney and perry last week, round two could be very important right here in florida. >> no doubt. paul, thanks. and join us tonight as cnn hosts the republican debate with the republican express and several other tea party groups at 8:00 eastern from tampa right here on cnn. next hour, president obama will step into the white house rose garden to make a pitch for his jobs plan. he's going to announce he is sending the bill to the capital tonight for the return of dock. -- return of congress. the estimated price tal, $447 billion. the plan calls for the current cut in payroll taxes to be extended, even expanded. the president also wants unemployment benefits extended for a longer length of time, and it would offer tax incentives for small businesses to hire the long-term unemployed.

we will take it live as soon as he steps up to the podium, about 10:40 eastern time. now let's head to wall street. could be another rough day. this hour, bank of america is expected to give details on possibly slashing as many as 40,000 jobs. christine romans in new york to talk more about this and how it will impact the markets in less than 20 minutes. >> a conference call going on right now. no word on just how many job cuts it will be and how many branches will be closed. but this is a question that will be going through a huge restructuring as it tries to get itself in line with new realities. remember it bought countrywide, merrill lynch. it's got a big, sprawling, huge banking business. and demand is declining. the economy has been weak. it's got a lot of mortgage problems and mortgage overhangs. so this company has really got to get its act together. the stock has fallen below $7 a share.

kyra, you probably have this in a 401(k) somewhere. it's widely held in a lot of mutual funds. if you're a customer, employee, or just a regular joe investor, this story will affect you. we don't have the official word yet on how many jobs will be cut. and real quickly here, world markets down sharply. stock futures down sharply. but it's not about bank of america, kyra. it's about the debt problem specifically in europe, concerns about greece, concerns about a new property tax in greece that will likely spark strikes and layoffs and protests and worries that this country is having trouble getting its act together. that will hurt french banks, european banks, and the rest of the eurozone. >> we saw the stocks on friday. and we watched that fear push to the sell. we'll be watching the numbers, christine. thank you so much. now just one day before 9/11, a suicide truck bomber attempts to kill as many american troops as possible. he fails. it was in the same exact province that terrorists took

down one of our own helicopters, killing 30 of our men and women, including 17 navy s.e.a.l.s. barbara, a message just one day before 9/11 possibly, the anniversary? >> well, you know, kyra, that is what u.s. military officials now believe that the timing of this attack on saturday had a lot to do with the anniversary, yesterday, sunday, of the 9/11 attacks. a truck, a large truck, carrying as much as 1,500 pounds of explosives we are told approached the gate at this compound outpost in a remote area of eastern central afghanistan. longtime stronghold of the insurgents. detonated bomb. 77 americans injured, most with concussion injuries. the majority of the blast was absorbed by protective barriers. but still 77 americans at the base, troops, suffering from concussion injuries, most expected to very quickly still return to duty. but it was a signal from the

insurgents clearly that they still want to make their mark on what is still considered flag ill progress in afghanistan. >> well, what exactly are the commanders out there in afghanistan saying about the attack? >> well, very interesting. our own susan malvo had an interview with the top commander there, and have a listen to what general allen had to say. >> this attack was a high profile attack. it was a pretty significant suicide vehicle bomb. but they have been ejected from the population in so many places around the country that their only ability to influence the battlefield in many cases, on many occasions, is simply high profile attack. >> a high profile attack. but still in a very remote area. so, you know, one of the key things that investigators are going to be looking at is were the insurgents actually maybe trying to get to kabul, to the capital, and launch an even more high profile attack, but

security there so tight they couldn't make it. so their only option was this outpost in eastern afghanistan. still a lot of questions. kyra? >> we'll stay on the story. thank you, barbara. coming up, texas governor rick perry calls himself a straight shooter. but did he shoot himself in the foot with his harsh words on social security? we'll talk about that. and world markets way down on new default fears in greece. wall street opens at the bottom of the hour. we'll take you there live. operatic aria )

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nobody wanted to take any chances. in both cases, passengers were acting suspiciously, but police found no real threats. and check out the wildfire devastation from the air in bastrop county, texas, near austin. more than 1,500 homes destroyed, hundreds of thousands of acres destroyed. people will be allowed back into some of their neighborhoods thankfully today. and police accuse a church of running a house of prostitution. masquerading as religion. they arrested 20 women and two men. investigators say that the church offered sexual acts in exchange for monetary donations. well, tonight, eight presidential candidates square off in florida, a key battleground state. and one filled with millions of older americans who depend on social security. so now the question is, how popular will rick perry remain after blasting it? >> it is a monstrous lie. it is a ponzi scheme.

to tell our kids that are 25 or 30 years old today, you are paying into a program that is going to be there. >> even republican strategist karl rove says those comments are out of line. >> they're toxic in a general election environment and also toxic in a republican primary. if you say social security is a failure and ought to be replaced by a state level program, then people are going to say, what do you mean by that? and make a judgment based on your answer to it. >> all right. let's kick this around with our guest. alex is one of the republican party's best-known and most successful media consultants and strategist. dana hosts her own show, "the dana show," and also a blogger for the nationwide tea party coalition. alex, i will start with you. you definitely had the quote to cracked me up. not a good idea to set grandma's hair on fire. >> no. especially, you know, not only in a state like florida, which is a key state and has a large

senior citizen population. and whether you're a republican or a democrat, you depend on that social security check. but, you know, it's also important all around the country. and if you're going to -- i think the thing that this latest cnn survey tells us is that republicans want to beat barack obama. they think that's more important than even agreeing with a republican candidate on the issues. and if republicans begin to sense that, well, maybe this candidate couldn't beat obama because he would lose seniors, it might even begin to affect his ability to get the republican nomination. >> dana, what do you think? were the remarks damaging? >> i don't think so. i don't think when you tell the truth that it's damaging. however, what i do think that perry needs to do is follow up his tough talk with his plans for how he would ensure that retirees or near retirees would continue to benefit. while at the same time explaining to the younger generation how in fact they would be able to have a choice, what they want to do with their money, whether they want to

invest it themselves or allow the government to handle it. that's something that i hope in tonight's debate, perry is going to have to answer that question. >> yeah. he did that -- >> go ahead. >> he did that today in the "usa today" editorial. you know, he's going to i think -- exactly right, dana, he's going to have to say, you know, yes it's a ponzi scheme, but i'm the guy you can trust to tell you the truth about the ponzi scheme and to fix it and make sure that social security remains viable for everybody. >> well, in light of what he said, those are strong words, a ponzi scheme, a monstrous lie. dana, do you think that perry will play it safe tonight on other topics? >> i hope not. he's going to have to be a lot stronger, especially when it comes to defense. and he seemed to -- he lost that tough talk a little bit during the last debate. and i think a lot of people have grown to expect him to be really, really aggressive, which he is going to have to be, especially if he wants to keep up the narrative that this is a

two-man race and have this work in his favor. otherwise, if he doesn't perform as well, he's not going to solidify himself as a front-runner. he has to be very aggressive and forceful and needs to continue with that language. in fact, i think he should double down on it. >> alex, final thoughts? >> triple down on it. >> i think it will be interesting to watch. to watch mitt romney tonight. because this is rick perry's crowd. this is a crowd that's very angry at washington, wants tough, straight talk. and, you know, mitt romney is the jobs candidate. but not the anger candidate. and so tonight, he's got his work cut out for him. >> all right. we'll all be watching. alex, dana, thanks, you guys. coming up, the rise of ebooks. there's talk that an ebook rental program could be coming to your kendall very soon. another good thing about geico is, they've got, like, real live people working there 24/7.

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checking your show biz headlines now. jennifer lopez and bradley cooper set the blog world afire after they were seen having dinner at a new york city restaurant. they say it was just a meeting to discuss a project. justin timberlake winning an emmy for hosting "saturday night live." that's gwyneth paltrow also winning an emmy for her three-episode stint on "glee,"

name the best guest actress in a series. the emmys show will air live on fox. and "contagion" pulling in more than $23 million at the box office. "the help" dropped down to number two. we are expecting a big bruising, you could say, at opening bell it's just a few minutes away. allison? >> oh, yeah. you said it. >> i guess we know what to expect. >> expect the bears to take center stage today, kyra. the all the major averages down more than 1.5% as far as the premarket goes. and it's following what's happening around the world. markets in london and paris and frankfurt, japan, falling anywhere from 2% to 4%. and guess what the problem is today? it's europe. these problems have not gone away, but there are new concerns that greece will actually default on its debt, possibly as early as this week. now what greece is in part trying to do as well is putting out a property tax to help plug

its budget hole. but, you know, some german politicians say that an orderly bankruptcy of greece may really be part of a solution. also another problem today, france. there are new worries that several french banks could be downgraded by moody's because of their exposure to greece's debt. it didn't help that the g 7 meeting over the weekend failed to deliver any new answers to problems that had been hanging around all summer. so we get to see probably a triple digit decline at the open today. kyra? >> we are also hearing about a possible new program that's like netflix but for books. >> yeah. this is great if you're an avid reader. just keep in mind, though, it's not a done deal yet. but it's an interesting concept. this out of the "wall street journal" saying that amazon is talking to book publishers about a netflix like program for e-books. what happens is you would pay an annual fee to have access to a big e-library. another possible revenue source for retailers, but publishers are not so keen on this.

they may not sign on right away because publishers want you to buy paper books. but the upside to this is of course it could increase our interest in reading and we'll read even more and more, just like we can't stop watching movies because of netflix. >> that's true. we were talking about what to do with our netflix account over the weekend. allison, thanks. we'll go back to you for the opening bell of course in just a few minutes. looking to be a pretty grim monday morning. also ahead, tonight's presidential debate is the first of its kind. cnn teaming up with the tea party express. we have a preview for you. it, t i mean shipping is a hassle. not with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. that is easy. best news i've heard all day! i'm soooo amped! i mean not amped. excited. well, sort of amped. really kind of in between. have you ever thought about decaf? do you think that would help? yeah.

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checking top stories now, the powerful 9/11 memorial in new york opens to the public

today. the memorial pools with all the names of those killed inscribed in bronze was first visited by victims' families at yesterday's 10th anniversary event. one of moammar gadhafi's sons has been allowed into niger on humanitarian grounds. saadi gadhafi is not considered a high profile target by interpol. and i gallon of gas, $3.67, up six cents from two weeks ago. but the survey says that rise is not a trend. signs point to a selloff with wall street just about to open for the day. about two minutes away. we have allison at the stock exchange and also christine romans in our new york bureau. two big stories going on. christine, let's start with you. those fears about the greece default definitely impacted the numbers on friday. and more than likely will impact them today as well. >> and the fears that were at work in the market on friday

kyra, only through over the weekend. the new property tax for greek citizens most likely will mean strikes and people taking to the streets. and you have the tug of war between the rich countries in europe and the countries in trouble in europe like greece, and that's really wearing at the very foundation of the european union. and that's got a lot of people very, very nervous. french bank exposure to greece's problems. and also all of this debt turmoil in europe has raised the borrowing costs for countries and for banks and the like. and all of this is just a big toxic brew that's been a problem for the banks and for these countries, and it's not going away anytime soon. the path of least resistance quite frankly is still global concern about these banks, about sovereign debt, and about a slowing economy worldwide. no reason this morning why that's any different, kyra. >> and allison, you know, any idea of when things could level off? >> oh, gosh, if i knew, i'd start selling those crystal balls. you know what's going to help things improve, i think,

especially here in the u.s., if we see some improvement in economic data that we get. we're going to get some important reports this week. we'll get some manufacturing reports, what's called a philly fed report and empire manufacturing report. what everybody really wants to see is improvement. they want to see these numbers move higher. what's been happening is the manufacturing reports have been showing sharp contraction, and that's not a good sign. if you think about in the last recession, manufacturing was one of the bright spots. it really helped pull us out of the last recession. we saw a hiring going on in manufacturing. you saw hours increasing. and when you see construction in manufacturing sector, that is really worrisome. we are also getting a consumer sentiment report. that's going to show how you and me, how regular americans, feel about the economy moving forward. that number plunged last month. and that's not good because that's going to keep consumers from spending. and we need consumers to spend because consumer spending is really the lion's share of

economic activi activity. so really you'll see americans and wall street looking for this data and they really want to see it improve so we can feel good about our own economy. of course, we can't forget about europe. we want to see europe fix its debt problems as well. we are starting in the red right now. the opening bell just rang. the dow falling. right now 67 points and it continues to drop. >> and christine, we'll also be talking to you about the bank of america news and possibly the loss of 40,000 jobs. >> yeah. we don't know yet how many jobs are going to be lost or how many branches are going to be closed, quite frankly. but this is one time the biggest bank in the country. and it spent a decade getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and buying companies and acquiring new lines of business. and now the new ceo brian moynihan will be in the process of making it smaller and more profitable, proving that that theory the bigger we are the better is not true. this company will have to close branches, maybe hundreds of them. it's going to have to cut

workers, maybe tens of thousands of then. we don't know yet how many. there's an investor conference happening right now where the ceo, right at this minute, is speaking with top investors about what he plans to do. as soon as we know, we'll let you know. >> and of course we'll follow the seriousness of the numbers and also the bank of america story. but ladies, i don't know if you watch "entourage," one of my favorite shows. ringing the bell there. >> they all yelled usa, yes, we watched that the last installment of "entourage" last night. and also 9/11 action group was here as well. they're happy. they're excited despite the fact that we are down 131 points on the dow. who can't love "entourage" >> how can you watch tv? you have two babies, the job? my goodness. >> i tivo. >> there's always time. >> that's right. thanks, guys. thanks for weighing in. we'll be talking more. now let's get to tonight's gop presidential debate in tampa. cnn is teaming up with the tea party express to co-host.

peter is live for us in florida. and you have new poll numbers this morning showing that rick perry is widening that lead. >> exactly. we have a new poll out today. there's a lot of data in here if you're a political junkie. but the top line numbers are very good news for rick perry. after the last debate, he lead sayss the gop field at 6%. mitt romney was the front-runner a month ago, at 18%. and look at michele bachmann. granted the numbers include sarah palin who is not yet a candidate. but bachmann, who was the iowa front-runner all through the summer, is now at 4% nationally. she really has to come out tonight and mix things up if she wants to change those numbers. but there's another sign of bad news in these polls for mitt romney. if you look further down, we asked which republican candidate do you think is the strongest leader on the economy. to get the economy moving again. excuse me. and rick perry leads at 35%. while mitt romney is at 26%.

the economy is all mitt romney talks about. the economy and jobs is right in his wheelhouse. and when you see him losing to rick perry on the economy, you know that that's a problem for mitt romney. >> all right. peter hamby, we will have all eyes on that debate tonight. and thanks for watching the numbers for us. we appreciate it. coming up, tea party members will be asking some of the questions tonight in tonight's gop presidential debate. after the break, we'll ask our contributors what they want to hear. and serena williams losing her cool and then her match. we have u.s. open women's finals highlights, straight ahead. ng as about natural gas vehicles. more of the vehicles that fuel our lives use clean american natural gas today. it costs about 40 percent less than gasoline, so why aren't we using it even more? start a conversation about using more natural gas vehicles in your community.

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i have breaking news for you. we are getting word out of west palm beach the federal courthouse has been evacuated. scott chase from west palm beach police on the phone with me now. public affairs officer. scott, can you tell us what the scene is like right now and what you know? >> hi, kyra.

actually, it's jason scott. basically, we got a telephone call about 8:00 a.m. this morning of a suspicious vehicle parked in the lot adjacent to the courthouse. upon initial investigation, with one of our explosives k-9s, the dog alerted to a portion of the vehicle. a rental type truck that we're dealing with at this point. and so we immediately evacuated the courthouse and adjacent buildings, including the state health department facility, closed the post office, cordoned off an area, and have our bomb squad on scene investigating exactly what we're dealing with here. it's also in cooperation with homeland security, u.s. marshals, palm beach county sheriff, and west palm beach fire. they are all on scene to handle this. >> chase, how long has that truck been there in front of the courthouse? >> my understanding is that we know of it being here at least for one day at this point. it is a vacant rental type

vehicle. >> ok. and at this point, you -- no one has approached it, the bomb squad has not approached it or has approached it and do you have any information of -- have they been able to locate anything unusual inside the truck? >> part of the truck is open. and visually there is no issue there. but where the explosives k-9 activated, that area is -- you can't see that. so that's why they are determining the best way to approach the vehicle. it is a federal courthouse. and given the timing and the rental vehicle, we're doing this out of an abundance of caution. >> so the k-9 definitely detected something suspicious? >> the k-9 did, alert to the vehicle. that doesn't always mean there's something there, but it gives us an extra reason to be cautious in dealing with it. >> got it. chase scott, public affairs

officer there with west palm beach calling us from the scene. chase, thanks so much. we'll continue to stay in touch with you. bring us any information that develops, please. >> will do. >> ok. as we've been telling you, eight candidates are going to face off in tonight's primetime gop presidential debate. mitt romney and rick perry are getting most of the attention right now. we talked to a couple of the other candidates this morning, and they say it's still early in the race and they are sticking to their core messages. first, herman cain. >> well, the polls are fine. but, you know, like you indicated earlier, michele bachmann was the flavor of the week a few weeks ago. now rick perry is the flavor of the week. my supporters, they are consistent. and they don't defect. so we are going to continue to move up. and the more people find out about my nine-nine-nine economic growth and jobs plan, the more they are going to be attracted to what i'm talking about because that is a difference maker. and we put the same question to former utah governor jon huntsman. >> these are early days, ali. and we have been in this for

about two months. we are just beginning to introduce ourselves to the american people. and as we do, they will see that we bring together the elements of success. >> cnn is co-hosting tonight's debate with the tea party express, as you know. and our contributors are here with us. will, what do you want to hear tonight? >> kyra, i'd like to hear some element of an anti-populist backbone in some of these candidates. and what i mean is that populism is the desire to tell the common voter whatever it is they want to hear. and often there's very little connection to the truth there. it's essentially racing to the front of the pack. but i want to hear somebody who is brave enough to tell the truth. that sounds like a lot of, you know, happy touchy feeley talk. but let me give you an example. every candidate is giving lip service to tax reform, to simplifying the tax code. but very few are willing to say what that means, doing away with deductions, tax expenditures, like the very popular mortgage interest rate deduction.

i'd like to hear a candidate be very clear and up front with these issues. they win a lot of points with he for being brave. i can't say how they would do with the voters because populism, the thing about that is it's popular. >> lz? >> well, you know, i definitely agree with will. i want to hear some specifics. i want to hear some honestly. what i don't want to hear is president obama's name. the reason why i say that is because that is just a real easy out that when you get a difficult question, you flip it around and start bashing the president. i get it. you don't like the president. but what are you going to do if you get into the white house? i need to hear those type of specifics, and less about bashing president obama. >> all right. let me ask you guys about -- go ahead, will. >> i just want to say, you know, sometimes we make a mistake. i make the mistake of thinking that the presidency is a legislative position, that you're essentially the chief legislator. and it's not. it's about being prepared for what's unforeseen, for trying to be able to make calls on the fly. i also look forward to seeing what wolf does to keep the

candidates on their toes, to keep them thinking and pull them off their talking points. it's the best we can do to try to think about what they would make decisions on. >> let me ask you about michele bachmann. definitely lit up the stage in june. was the darling of the party. then she took a nose dive. can she get back in it, or has her base moved on? >> she was never in the game. and i'm glad we have finally caught onto the joke. it was great that she was able to motivate a base. she was a little popular. but no one deep within the gop really wanted to see her win that ticket because they didn't view her as electable. and now we are starting to see that. rick perry gives them somebody that they feel that they can kind of massage and make into a more appealing candidate for the middle. but michele bachmann was never that person. she was never going to win the ticket. and what you're seeing now is reality in the poll numbers. >> will? >> i think lz is right. increased exposure has not been

good for michele bachmann. the more camera time she has gotten, we have heard promises about $2 gas. she would never, ever, ever, raise the debt ceiling. these kind of things don't play well for somebody that wants to be president of the united states. i don't know if the base has moved on, but it is moving on rapidly. >> all right, guys. we'll all be watching tonight. we'll talk again. lz, will, great to see you guys. >> thanks, cair a. >> you too. on the day after the 10th anniversary of 9/11, we are looking at america's long war on terror. just when will we know it's over? we'll talk about that in just a few moments. and he won a purple heart in combat, but now he is giving his heart away. we'll show you about a surprise marriage proposal in three minutes.

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[ female announcer ] try our delicious spinach artichoke dip with warm pita. new from lean cuisine®. checking stories across the country, near bakersfield, california, a huge wildfire is 95% contained. it scorched nearly 15,000 acres, destroying homes and businesses. a plane crash that killed two people actually started that fire. >> three, two, one, zero. and liftoff of the delta 2. >> and in cape canaverel, florida, after two delays, nasa launched its newest unmanned moon mission. two satellites will orbit the moon and study how it was formed. and in indianapolis, two national guard vets taking on a

new mission, marriage. he proposed right there in front of family and friends. she said yes, by the way. the couple plans to get married within the next six months. this is the day after the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. and within that decade, osama bin laden is dead, other arab nations are protesting for change, and thank god there hasn't been another catastrophic attack on u.s. soil. but the war isn't over. so will we ever have closure? cnn.com opinion writer bob green says the war almost guarantees a succession of mornings after without end. bob is joining us live from chicago. are you saying that peace will never come? and how do you compare this thought with other wars come and gone? >> well, with world war ii, of course, as terrible and heartbreaking as it was for all of those american families, the treaty was signed on the battleship missouri in tokyo bay in september of 1945, and it was over.

yesterday as beautiful and heartbreaking and sad and inspiring as the memorial ceremonies were, we wake up today and the war still goes on. we were warned at the very beginning that in this war, the enemy flies no flag, and wears no uniform. and it's turned out of course to be true. and i found myself wondering, 100 years from now, 150 years ago, when there is no one left alive who remembers september 11, 2001, what will the legacy of the 9/11 attacks be? and essentially, will the war even be over? >> and it is a very unconventional war, as you mentioned. world war ii, we knew who the enemies were. the uniforms, the flags, the battle lines. there's none of that in this war. so is this what generations of americans will be living with from this point on?

>> well, there has been -- there have been a couple of phrases always used in wartime. one is for the duration, meaning that life was going to change for the duration of the war. but what happens when the duration is infinite? what happened when the duration -- there's no end to it? and the other thing is, we were told during wartime we're on full alert. but of course full alert is an emergency response. no body, the human body or the body politic, is prepared to remain on full alert, on emergency alert, forever. inevitably, through no one's fault, just out of pure fatigue, there is a letdown. the guard is let down. so this is so different than any other wars that you just wonder, who is there to surrender? who is there to give up? we don't know the answer. >> i think we'll be fighting terrorists for as long as we live. bob, thanks. you can read bob's piece. if you like, join the conversation. leave a comment. he loves it.

still ahead, buzz over serena williams is not about her playing but her yelling. she loses a point enthen an argument and then later the match. we'll have all the juicy details in sports in seven minutes. they're two of a kind. and, just like toddlers, puppies need food made for them.

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checking stories making news later today. president obama makes a pitch for jobs creation plan in the rose garden in a speech next hour, 10:40 eastern time. members of congress holding a remembrance ceremony for the victims of 9/11 on the capitol's east front steps. eight candidates take part in the cnn tea party debate tonight

8:00 eastern in tampa. see it live here on cnn. we're following lots of developments next hour. let's check in with jim. >> hi, kyra. as the clock ticks toward the debate, rick perry is certainly in the driver's seat. will his position on social security take his campaign over a cliff? i'll have that story coming up. >> i'm christine romans in new york following the president and his big sales job on his jobs plan. remember, the unemployment rate was 7.8% when barack obama became president. it's now above 9%. what will hedo today and this week to convince americans he's got what it takes now to make the job situation better? that's at the top of the hour. i'm barbara starr at the pentagon. a bomb blast in afghanistan over the weekend injured dozens of u.s. troops. was it a pre- 9/11 warning? i'll have details coming up. >> all right. thanks, guys. also in just a month, rick perry shot to the top of the presidential polls and widened the lead. what's behind his fast rise?

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live at the new york stock exchange. take a look at the big board. dow industrials down 58 points right now. markets dropped sharply on friday after the rumors of a possible greek default. and so, we're keeping a close eye on the numbers today. see how the markets will rule, whether or not something will happen in greece. we're still seeing the impact.

fear's driving those numbers right now. a lot of highlights from the nfl over the weekend. >> first sunday of the nfl season. glad to have the nfl back. we weren't sure it would come back so fast after the lockout. two teams with high xaekations. jets and cowboys. great opening night game. in new york, the jets down by two touchdowns with 12 minutes left. burress, welcome back to the nfl. the touchdown catch. his first game since 2008. remember, he spent time in jail on the gun charge and helps the jets win on a field goal in the final minute, 27-24 over the cowboys. speaking of rookies, top draft pick made a big splash. cam newton. >> he's got a man! >> deep to steve smith for a 77-yard carry on a panther touchdown. the panther's qb finished with 422 yards passing. that is a record for a rookie in his first opening game but the

cardinals beat carolina 28-21. u.s. open, the women's final on sunday. in new york. serena williams playing samantha stozer and yelling before she could return the shot. they said serena hindered her opponent. serena argues vehemently. listen to her. >> you're the one that screwed me over last time here? yeah. you are. you have it out for me. and i promise you. that's not cool. that's totally not tool. i truly despise you. >> she went on during the break. she called the umpire a hater saying she was unattractive on the inside which i guess, you know -- >> what does that mean? >> a polite way to be extremely rude. straight sets 6-2, 6-3. she learns today if she'll be fined for the outburst. not the rudest thing you could

have said. no cuss words. >> might have learned her lesson. if indeed she gets one. >> could be up to $85,000. it could be a suspension. i don't expect that. it was just saying she was unattractive on the inside. >> we'll follow it. thanks, jeff. just hours from now, eight presidential candidates square off in tampa, florida. rick perry, front-runner. also a main target of fellow republicans and perry may have made the bull's eye even bigger attacking social security. a program considered sacred by millions of older votes. jim, let's begin with the new of a new endorsement we have been talking about this morning. >> reporter: that's right. if mitt romney is looking for a spark for his campaign he may have gotten at least a little bit of a spark this morning in an endorsement of tim pawlenty, the former minnesota governor who dropped out of the race because the campaign wasn't going so well. mitt romney has some good news going into tonight's debate and so does rick perry looking at

the new cnn/orc poll he is in the driver's seat of this campaign right now. texas governor perry is ditched the cowboy boots for the running shoes staying far ahead of the republican pack. latest cnn/orc poll finds perry way out in front with 30%, nearest rival mitt romney at 18%. with the rest of the field looking to play catch up, the debate in florida could be a social security smackdown in a state where the program is crucial to seniors. >> it is a ponzi scheme to tell our kids 25 or 30 years old today, you're paying in to a program that's going to be there. >> reporter: after perry doubled down on the call for an overhaul of social security at the last debate, romney pounced. >> the governor says, look, states ought to be able to opt out of social security. our nominee has to be someone who isn't committed to abolishing social security. >> reporter: on cnn's jk usa michele bachmann piled on.

>> what i think is america needs to keep the promise with senior citizens. i talk with them all the time. >> you usually don't start a campaign setting grandma's hair on fire but that's what rick perry did when he called social security a ponzi scheme and he implied he might undo it. >> reporter: that kind of clash could make the debate another road sign indicating where the gop is headed to a more conservative tea party candidate like perry or moderate like romney. the former massachusetts governor stepped up the courtship of the tea partiers after the numbers slagged. >> are you a member of the tea party? >> i don't think you carry cards in the party. >> reporter: there's reason for caution. the doubts of climate change might appeal to tea party voters. >> because you have a group of scientists say here's a fact. galley owe was outvoted for a spell. >> reporter: it could cost republicans the white house. >> in order for the republican

party to win, we can't run from science. >> reporter: the biggest shocker from that new cnn/orc poll might be michele bachmann. she won the iowa straw poll and now 4% according to the new poll and this debate tonight plays into her hands. there will be tea party act vivt activists, kyra, asking some of the questions boding not bad for he and rick perry. >> jim, thanks. our senior political editor paul steinhauser is tracking the numbers for us. michele bachmann was the star of the tea party and the standing has plunged in recent weeks. what do you think? has the tea party already moved on? >> reporter: yeah. maybe they have. maybe that's what the poll end kaits, moved on to rick perry. the biggest victory is august 13th in iowa. that was a day he announced for president, perry did and grabbed

a lot of her support it seems. go back to the cnn/orc poll. broke it down by republicans and who are tea party supporters and who are not. we knew perry would have support of the tea party activists and he does. bachmann, this is interesting, doesn't make the top four. here's the other point. look at the top of the right column, republicans saying they're not tea party activists. perry is doing pretty well among them, as well. tied with romney and palin at the top. fascinating numbers from the brand new poll. electability. go to the next screen. we know that republicans say -- three out of four say they want a nominee to beat barack obama next year, the president. who's that person? our poll indicates republicans right now say that person is rick perry, 42%. only 1 in 4 say mitt romney is the guy to beat obama in 2012. that's tough for romney because his argument, kyra, has been,

you may not love me but i'm the person who can beat president obama. kyra? >> florida, the location of this debate where you are right now, taken on a new level of importance. >> reporter: yeah. you know, florida, we know in the general election it is such an important state. we remember in 2008 decided the election and also a big deal in the primaries. florida is going to vote very early in the calendar this year and seeing the candidates down here to florida. this is the first debate in florida. another one a few weeks from now, as well. florida becoming a crucial state in the battle for the gop nomination and one other thing. you and jim were talked about social security. a lot of seniors here in florida, a lot of people nearing retirement age. very important issue for people in florida, kyra. >> all right. paul, thanks so much. join us tonight as cnn hosts the republican debate with tea party express and other tea party groups 8:00 eastern from tampa right here on cnn.

all right. later this hour, president obama will step in to the white house rose garden to make a pitch for the jobs plan. going to announce that he's sending the bill to capitol hill tonight for the return of congress and christine romans here to try to sort it out and explain a lot of economists weighing in now, christine, on the effectiveness of the jobs plan. thumbs up and down. >> that's right. well, i don't know, from small business owners saying i need demand. i don't need a tax break. i need the business to do better. the president will lay out the jobs plan again today and going to present it to congress, send it to congress and like it to be passed, of course. and what's in here? well, a lot of targeted tax breaks. many of them we have already seen. extensions and even expansions of some of the things like the payroll tax cut, working for that. current cut extended and a price tag of more than $400 billion. so you've got payroll taxes to be expanded in some cases. you have the president wanting to expand unemployment benefits

to extend those for a longer length of time and you have infrastructure spending, as well. up to 35,000 schools ailing and crumbling schools would be fixed up and then hiring incentives for small businesses to hire the long-term unemployed. that's a serious problem in the economy because a record percentage of the people out of work have been out of work for more than six months and longer out of work in this economy, the harder it is to get a job. there's also tax breaks in there to hire unemployed veterans. the president surrounded by teachers to benefit from help to states to keep teachers in the classroom and money to fix up those schools. he'll be surrounded by first responders and also veterans who the white house at least by the optics is trying to show these are the people who would be most and most quickly helped by all of this but how much will it really create jobs? you know, diane swan telling me this weekend that, quite frankly, this is a post-financial crisis problem in

the economy. and a lot of the metrics to try to decide how to create jobs based on the different measures, it's just too hard. i mean, we -- she says the best we can hope for is status quo, we're kind of running in place and hoping to keep our head above water and that's what we have to hope for. we have to continue to spend money. many people say just to keep what we have already, not necessarily to create millions and millions of jobs, kyra. >> we will be talking about pros and cons from different perspectives. we'll take the president's speech on jobs bill live at 10:40 eastern time. stay with cnn. christine, thanks. now let's head jeoverseas. prince harry taking part in charity day to honor the 658 employees of bgc partners who died in the world trade center attacks. max foster joining us live from london. max, who will benefit from this charity day? >> reporter: it's a range of different charities and one of them is prince harry's charity

so he went along today and the way this charity day works is very successful. they raise more than $10 million a year at this one charity event in london. you go along and each trade that takes place a portion of that goes to charity so prince harry went along and actually conducted what we think is one of the biggest foreign exchange deals ever. 18 billion euros worth of trade and bumped into a supermodel while he was there wandering the trade floor. very unusual day there at bgc. also taking part in the day. but everyone had lots of fun and the european markets, kyra, a terrible state right now. but still raising lots of money for charity and prince harry helps in all that. >> which is good. and you mentioned the european markets, you know. here in the states all eyes are on greece and inflation right now, you saw w457d to the numbers here on friday. we're all wondering how today's going to play out, as well. >> yeah.

just ongoing concerns about the euro zone because a lot of expectations that greece will default. that the big subject today was moody's. credit rating agency expectations that they're going to downgrade the french banks because the french banks hold lots of greek bonds and crisis to crisis here. all the main markets were down. currently down 1%, 2%, 3% here in europe. playing badly in to wall street. >> all right. max foster at lot don, thanks. a suicide truck bomber attempts to kill as many american troops as possible. he fails. it was also in the same exact place the same province where terrorists took down a helicopter killing 30 of our own, including 17 navy s.e.a.l.s. barbara starr joining us once again. a clear message just one day before the 9/11 anniversary. >> reporter: well, good morning, kyra. that is exactly what u.s. commanders think that the insurgents, the taliban were trying to send a message on the

eve of the 9/11 anniversary. saturday when that truck bomb exploded outside a u.s. combat outpost in wardak province, that's an area of eastern central afghanistan, if you will. a long time insurgent stronghold. now 77 u.s. troops were injured, mainly with concussion injuries. thankfully none of them were killed. two afghan laborers were killed. a lot of afghans also injured. u.s. officials say that initial calculation is this truck bomb might have been carrying as much as 1,500 pounds of explosives with an accelerant to cause the maximum damage but barriers at the main gate of the base absorbed most of the blast. you know, this is a typical taliban insurgent tactic that they have seen time and again but this time thankfully no americans killed. kyra? >> what else are commanders telling you about u.s. forces in afghanistan? what are they saying about this

attack? >> reporter: you know, our own suzanne malveaux interviewed general allen, the top u.s. commander in the country over the weekend. he called this a high-profile attack but said it was a demonstration that the taliban insurgents have pretty much been pushed out of main areas and are forced to conduct these. i think a lot of people would tell you still these high-profile attacks can cause an awful lot of havoc and awful lot of damage. again, this time, 77 americans injured. most of those troops are expected to very quickly return to duty, thankfully. kyra? >> barbara starr from the pentagon, thanks. and coming up, rumors have been swirling for weeks that bank of america may be preparing to cut tens of thousands of jobs. today the ceo addresses it. starting my progresso soup for lunch plan, huh. nope,

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i tell you what i can spend. i do my best to make it work. i'm back on the road safely. and i saved you money on brakes. that's personal pricing. checking stories across country now. military jets shadowed two flights yesterday on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. nobody wanted to take any chances. in both cases, passengers were acting suspiciously but police found no real threats. take a look at the wildfire devastation from the air near austin, texas. more than 1,500 homes destroyed. hundreds of acres burned. people will be back in neighborhoods today. police accuse the phoenix goddess temple running a house of prostitution.

they arrested 20 women and 2 men. investigators say it offered sexual acts in exchange for donations. well, the new york stock exchange there's talk of the biggest bank is restructuring and cutting thousands of jobs. alison, can you tell us about b of a? >> sure. these rumors circulating for weeks now. 30,000 to 40,000 jobs cut at bank of america. that many branches to close. the ceo moynihan is in new york and didn't announce closures and announced a cost-cutting goal. what they want to do is cut $5 billion in costs by 2014 and really trying to lead b of a through a long-term turnaround plan at this point. the bank's in the news every day in recent days not necessarily for good news.

shaken up the executive ranks. sold preferred stock and agreed to sell chinese assets and b of a is hit hard in the headlines and the share price. >> are job cuts and branch closures off the table then? >> oh, oh, not at all. because he didn't mention it today doesn't mean they won't happen. cost cutting is a buzz word for those actions of cutting jobs and closing branches because b of a really needs to take drastic measures. the stock price down almost 50% this year. trading at about $7 a share and the shareholders are not very happy at this point and has a bunch of lawsuits stemming from the financial crisis that are just now beginning to hit and faces billions of dollars of potential liability with those and really trying to catch a break at this point. kyra? >> wall street, how's it taking this? >> and b of a shares a bit of a break today. shares are up a bit, about half

a percent. to wall street, cost cutting is good news. overall, the market, not doing too bad considering at the open dropped 100 points and expected a selloff this morning with the european debt fears. looks like though cooler heads prevail and not everybody ran to the exits at once. kyra? >> thanks. well, the white house rose garden in just about 20 minutes, president obama's going to be talking about his big jobs plan there. when he steps up to the mike, we'll take you there for live coverage. when an investment lacks discipline, it's never this obvious. introducing investment discipline etfs from russell. visit russelletfs.com r a prospectus, containing the investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and other information. read and consider it carefully before investing.

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rick perry shot to the top of the polls since joining the white house race less than a month ago and that initial surge is no surprise to people that

know texas politics. cnn's ed lacvandera looks at th phenomenon. >> reporter: wearing chaps and riding a horse. this was rick perry's first statewide political ad back in 1990. >> i'll tell you a great story. >> reporter: texas political consultant bill miller remembers women posting pictures of perry in chaps in offices all over austin. he knew then rick perry had the "it" factor. >> he's a good-looking guy. when you meet him, you get a vitality and energy off of him that you'll feel and surprise you. >> reporter: miller isn't surprised to see perry rocket to the top of the polls for the republican presidential nomination. he credits perry's risk taking like joining the tea party movement early. >> we didn't know where it was going. the bets he makes paid off well for him politically. >> reporter: harold cook is a consultant in austin, too.

he knows about crafting political messages saying perry didn't lock up the nomination yet. >> if you hope to knock perry down as a republican opponent you have to get in the middle of the narratives. the notches are there to knock. they haven't tried yet. >> reporter: cook is a democratic and would n't let an opportunity slip by without trying to burst the rick perry phenomenon bubble. >> as easy as perry is to underestimate, it is easy to overestimate perry. he is not some magic monolith of a campaign here. since 1994, the only thing you've had to do as a republican in texas to win your election is to avoid being the democrat. >> reporter: pick perry used to being the front-runner. always held the lead and comfortable in front of crowds. he was a yell leader like a male cheerleader. >> all that, in a weird kind of way helps him and makes him a better politician, a better

campaigning and certainly by all accounts he is as good as anyone's seen here in our lifetime. >> reporter: there's still months left in the race. rick perry can't ride off in to the sunset as the republican nominee just yet. ed lavandera, cnn, austin, texas. political buzz, the rapid fire look at the best 2topics o the day. playing today, maria cardona. john avalon and dana loesh. rick perry and social security. take a listen. >> it is a monstrous lie. it is a ponzi scheme to tell our kids that are 25 or 30 years old today, you're paying in to a program that's going to be there. >> bomb thrower or truth teller, maria? >> definitely bomb thrower, kyra. it is the bomb to come back and

land right on him. you can't call something that millions of americans depend on today as a criminal enter prize without paying a political price for it. you have republican seniors saying they're not going to vote for him afraid if he gets the hands on their social security. it's also not the way to really start the conversation about how you do fix this in the long run so i think it is going to come back to haunt him. his peers and the republican primary use it against him and democrats if he's the nominee. >> dana? >> well, i think that just because a lot of people depend on it doesn't mean still it isn't a ponzi scheme and i think it's worse than a ponzi scheme because it's mandatory. unlike a ponzi scheme where you can volunteer to put your money and your effort into it. but social security is seriously broken and needs to be fixed and i think perry has gone a long way with an op-ed in "usa today" and tonight's debate he needs to explain how to make sure that e

retirees keep the benefits and have a choice of how to invest their money. >> john? >> well, look, dana's framed it as a mandatory ponzi scheme and an addition to the debate. it's a conversation we need to have an as a country. here's the line that rick perry needs to walk, though. he needs to make a case that social security isn't a bad idea. it's a broken idea. that's an important distinction and it's with a way of moving this conversation forward. we need to deal with the deficit and the debt. >> it was just weeks ago, every newscast leading with michele bachmann. since then she's taken a dive in the polls so what does she need to do to get back in the game? dana? >> she needs to be very, very aggressive at tonight's debate and needs to go after romney. i think if she goes after perry it splits the supporters and give romney an easier shot but she has to go after romney and be very aggressive and she has

to perform as well as she did at the first debate. the last debate knocked her out and again some of the questions structured to aid with that. she needs to be aggressive. >> maria? >> i don't think there's anything she can do to get in the game. i don't think she was really in the game. might have been the talk of this town but never the talk of towns across america looking for a real, serious mainstream leader to solve our problems even within the republican party. so if you're talking about golf or tennis, she's got a better chance of winning the u.s. open or masters than winning the gop primary and less chance of winning the general election. >> john? >> she was never a serious first tier candidate but she is someone able to appeal to conservative populous. rick perry sucked up her oxygen. she's painted herself in a corner. can't be more responsible and hope to get support of the mitt romney vote so she has to be

aggressive but rick perry absorbed her logic. when you e place ed rollins with the advance man, you have a problem. this is a campaign with a lot of problems. >> all right, guys. final question. 20 seconds on this one. 10:40 eastern time we'll take the president live as he moves in to the rose garden, giving this speech on his jobs bill. what do you think? will it pass? maria? >> i think it depends on whether republicans are ready to put politics aside and do what middle class families need and what small businesses need. there's nothing in here that republicans have not supported in the past. it is all paid for. it's the urgency of the moment. we need to work together. can republicans do it? i hope they can. for all of our sakes. >> dana? >> see, republicans did support it in the past, twice already with the first stimulus and the education jobs bill, $24 billion. neither of those worked. unemployment at 9.1%. why would we do a failed plan

again that's half the cost of what the original failed plan was? it makes zero sense. >> john? >> that's just unfortunately simply wrong. here's what's wrong about it. we need to do something. not doing anything is not an option. and these are bipartisan plans and parts of this bill do deserve to pass. republicans should support -- continue supporting closing loopholes and the free trade agreements and a bipartisan public/private infrastructure bank. >> all right. guys, appreciate it. thanks for weighing in. well, the white house rose garden, we told you about that. in just about ten minutes the president's going to talk about the big jobs plan as our political buzz panel just weighed in. we'll take you there for live coverage.

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people want to live and work in. somewhere in america, we've already answered some of the nation's toughest questions. and the over sixty thousand people of siemens are ready to do it again. siemens. answers. all right. just minutes from now, president obama will use the white house rose garden as a bully pulpit.

he's sending the new jobs plan to capitol hill later today and calling on congress to get on board and pass it. let's turn to the best political team in television. john king among our players, amassed in tampa for tonight's gop debate. the other big story we're talking about, john. so let's go ahead and start here with -- well, how much bipartisan cooperation can the president honestly expect on capitol hill getting ready for the speech about eight minutes away? >> reporter: it's a fascinating question, kyra, because there's a split in the republican party on this question now. at least early on, the key immediate players coming to the debate in washington said, let's talk, mr. president. we like some of what you've proposed. about $450 billion plan. much of it is tax cuts. some new infrastructure spending. the leadership in part because they agree with some of the proposals and in part because they've had a rough summer

politically. they think they need to get something done. they have said we'll work with the president. i'm in tampa tonight for the republican presidential debate. when you listen to the candidates, they say this is stimulus deja vu. the same old failed obama policy in their view. not all that surprising getting to this point in a campaign this point in a campaign at some point at some point you get a break between the presidential candidates and the legislative wing of the party so, kyra, the president's big challenge now is seeing him with teachers, firefighters, first responders. yes, a statement in washington but the challenge to try get the country behind him to put pressure on the republican leadership and the big question is, can he create the urgency of now to do something about jobs and aly velshi is with me today and we have the competing pressures if you will, often conflicting pressures in the politics. deficit reduction is priority one for republicans creating jobs is priority one for the president and requires spending

some money. >> yeah. the issue has become so urgent that while some feel that the deficit reduction is number one, its not how the country polls and ultimately with a reduction in the unemployment rate and a consistent creation of jobs maybe that would seem true. at this point, i think most economists and most americans realize creating jobs is number one priority. getting the deficit under control is secondary so what the president has to do, he's got to create the urgency of now around this and anything that waters this down too much is going to detract from that urgency. bottom line is it does have very interesting provisions. cutting the payroll taxes both from the contributor and worker from 6.2%, reduced to 4.2% and extending it. same thing for employers and giving employers a payroll tax break. those are actually things that probably will have some net effect and republicans if they counter it with something else

are going to have to say what -- how that's going to benefit or detract from actual job creation. >> i want to get more to the politics in a minute but to the economics of this, talking for months now, months and years since the beginning of the obama administration, the business, the market wants certainty of washington. is this plan, $450 billion, is this something the marketless say, that's the brick, a foundation we have been looking for so have more confidence going forward or view it as tinkering around the margins? >> there's some folks tell me that they need this, quite frankly, to keep the status quo so things don't get worse so you don't have a tax increase when that payroll tax expires so that you don't have a million or so people on unemployment ben filths not spending them in the economy and not really moving the ball forward but not moving backwards. others say you can see 1.9 million jobs created if it's all

enacted in the entirety but no one i talked to thinks it will be. look. it's a very difficult economy right here. and what i hear from small business owners, medium-sized business owners, people and big companies, there's no demand. people aren't looking out six months and certainty about what's going to happen next and they don't think this helps make certainty six months down the road. it prevents things from slipping back and that's what they tell me. >> so let's dissect the politics of this a bit. john avalon with me and dana. john, he does that, sure, he thinks there's now political pressure on the republicans to do something after a tough summer but he is speaking as somebody just looking at the public opinion poll, the overall approval rating is down. the ratings on the economy is down. does he have the standing on the issue now to swing the political tide? >> well, you know, john, everything in politics is compared to what proposition and

as bad as the poll numbers, the republicans in congress poll numbers are worse. i think people feel the you are sen ji on the economy. swing and independent voters in particular. when the president put forth a plan that's bipartisan policy proposals he was speaking to them. it's tough to write it off as stimulus, too. they want to see washington take action and means putting the partisanship aside. how cynical does it look for republicans to oppose tax cuts simply because they come from president obama? i think there's an obligation to act. >> and help us out on that, dana, in the sense i was talking to michele bachmann late last week and proposed extending the tax cut, the same plan of the president, different looking at the fine print but the social security payroll tax cut, give it to employees, employers. as ali noted. are you against it now because just he's for it? what are the politics in terms of the jobs climate and the

pressures here at a tea party event, the grass roots pressures on them as speaker boehner says some of this we can work with? >> right. i understand that and think grass roots -- they have seen it happen before. we saw it with the first stimulus and promised to get unemployment below 8%, see unemployment in 7%. didn't happen that way. we have the $24 billion education jobs bill which was going to restore teachers' jobs, going to help build up education. it didn't happen that way. so we have already had two fa failed plans proposed what this third second stimulus is going to propose and so i -- we don't see the connect. we don't see how this one's going to work when it's half the cost and it's exactly the same process. now, the difference is, of course, this payroll tax but it's really when you look at it, it's a game of mathematical cups. it changed when they pay it. how much they're going to get back when and ultimately when

you consider that credit, that tax cut in terms of taking on the cost of hiring someone else and creating jobs, it doesn't even out so there's difficulty there to overcome. >> just one second. you see a live picture of the rose garden. the president will be there momentarily and send a proposal, often the president outlines ideas and says congress to do the writing but the administration tonight sending a proposal up to capitol hill, $450 billion. the president calls it the americans jobs program. ali velshi, it's interesting the conversation. dana makes the point that republicans think the ideas they supported in the past haven't worked. >> right. >> is there anything -- we're having a debate where the democrats have proposals and if obama says we'll spend, it's stimulus and say it's discredited. the republicans saying we supported payroll tax cuts in the past. we're not sure they're going to work. is there something outside of the politics? >> so we have to bring in what those -- what those economist views of christine was talking

about and dana saying and that is a tax cut in and of itself is only relevant for one reason and that's if it triggers demand, if it makes individuals buy things to drcreate jobs or make businesses hire people. they're supposed to do something. dana's right. this is some direct -- some distance in the direction of getting people to hire other people. at the same time, if you have a salary of, you know, $50,000, $60,000, seeing a little bit of reduction in taxes and gas prices and things like that, that might be enough to buy a dishwasher, a new car and then starting to stimulate demand and will happen around the margins. you do have to stimulate it. if there's a silver bullet as a number of economists said, it would have been fired by now and it hasn't been. we're tinkering around the edges by definition. >> christine, can the president, can washington at large, meaning the president, working with democrats and republicans,

change the psychology in the country? i think it was the nbc/"wall street journal" poll thinking that 8 in 10 americans think the economy will stay the same or get worse in the next year. so if you cut their taxes, they're not spending it. this ire not spending it because they're afraid and saving it which is essentially taking the stimulus out of the program. how do you change the psychology of the american consumer? >> so it's confidence, john. i mean, we have got to get confidence restored to the system and to the economy. people have to feel like america's moving in the right direction again and comes from leadership. leadership from this president and leadership from congress. there are a lot of people in polls that reflect it, that quite frankly, people think that congress is hurting the economy and america, too. and so, this sort of partisan -- i don't know, frenzy about how to get out of the mess is making the mess even worse. i mean, you know, s&p commented on this. many other said it. private economists, adds well. it's confidence. we don't know what triggers the confidence. the president and the white

house, they hope it's at least another few months of unemployment benefits, keeping the few dollars in the paycheck that you need and keeping the safl on the wound is going to help this economy spontaneously begin to do better again. i mean, we recall not sinking. the economy is growing. it's just not growing very much and still feels like a recession. too many people are out of work. more than 40% of the people unemployed have been for 6 months or longer and that's a structural unemployment problem that's dangerous, quite frankly, for people and for the economy and for our ability to innovate. so we got some big questions here. the thing is we want to tread water and keep our head above water for the economy to get better again. >> just moments away from the president of the united states, barack obama, coming in to the rose garden. a sunny day in washington. he will urge the congress to pass the jobs plan outlined in the big speech to the congress last week and send the details of the proposal up to capitol hill later today. we'll take a quick break. the president of the united states talking jobs when we come back.

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we're waiting for the president of the united states. waiting for the president of the united states to come in to the rose garden there. he is going to present a political argument for the jobs solution and then send the details up to the congress later today. about $450 billion, tax cuts, extending some like a payroll

tax cut, social security tax cut in place for sometime. the president says that should not be taken away. infrastructure spending. aid to states for teachers and firefighters. i'm sure you have seen it in your state. state budgets are under duress. one of the constants in these debates over deficit spending, job creation in washington has been financial market volatility. alison kosik is standing by at new york stock exchange as we wait for the president of the united states. we were talking about this. is there anything the president can say or the congress can do that will take the jitters out of those traders? >> oh, gosh. you know, traders tell me they want to hear specifics on how this jobs plan will be paid for. and that's something they didn't hear in the president's speech last week. they also want to hear more specifics on his idea on how to close the tax loopholes. they want to see the tax structure. here in the u.s., more competitive with the tax structure overseas.

also, the talk about repay tri yags of those earnings of overseas and see if the tax -- if these companies can be taxed less because what essentially happens is companies, let's say, for instance, like cisco systems, they're taxed overseas in the country where they are and bring the earnings back to the u.s., they're taxed again and another point. but i think if you want to look overall what traders overall want to see, they want to see specifics, how will the plan be paid for, john? >> how's the plan going to be paid for. the president will say it's all paid. ali velshi, we're told he'll be there about four minutes from now. a policy standpoint. millions of you are hurting and want help. also an important statement, the president gearing up to run for re-election. no president in our history re-elected with unemployment this high. as christine romans described it, it is almost a keep the

patient on life support piece of legislation. in the sense, is this in part -- are we asking too much? we have divided government in washington. some of the questions will not be settled. people say it's just politics. the republicans have a very different view from the president. >> right. >> we're not going to settle this perhaps until the next election and maybe not then. >> even if you did settle it, john, this is an interesting point, this recession we came out of in theory in the middle of 2009 was so deep and so immense and so global that you are not going to see a response from it. there are some people who have come to accept the fact that this was long, it was deep and going to take a long time to recover. the federal reserve had predicted and the white house -- the white house predicted that we'd get back to prerecession unemployment levels by 2013. hearing that, we thought, really? 2013. now 2017 they're talking about. the fact is we are going to have to find something else and it's

not just politics, but real policy. given how influential the tea party has been in this discussion, push the idea of comprehensive tax reform. what doesn't go over well is paying less in taxes by companies. but in truth, many companies pay a lot in taxes and in particular small businesses. if we figured out how to have everybody pay a lower percentage of taxes but we collected more money from everybody that could be helpful but we have to find solutions all around and you're right. profound policy differences. >> dana, is there any prospect for that? people talked in the super committee work, the business of tax reform. earlier in the summer in would we have a big commission to do tax reform? you will have a field of eight candidates tonight in tampa. is there the impetus, say, let's cut the deal with this president now or litigate it and deal with

it some 2013? >> i think it's the latter. let's litigate this and deal with it in the election. for them to sign off on a plan again that's -- it's a rehash plan. that's going to burn the base. and you will see -- not writing literally but writing at the ballot box. you will. >> burning, riots. john, i had a conversation with vice president biden over the weekend. he says he thinks that speaker boehner, leader cantor have been chastened by the politics of the debt ceiling debate, the reaction of the american people over the polls and not sure if they have the license from their conservative base to cut another deal with the president. you just heard dana's perspective. what happens here? >> i mean, that -- the problem is that. is that there are policy areas of agreement and many of them in this proposal. when republicans start opposing lowering the corporate tax rate or an infrastructure bank they've supported in the past, folks would rather drag it out.

we don't have that luxury. so, i think there's a deeper ideological division in the republican party and some folks would -- they're so skeptical they'd rather do nothing. that's the preferred plan. that is a political problem as well as a policy problem. >> well, one of the things some republicans would say particularly on the one point of free trade, why doesn't the president send the plans up? calling on congress to pass them and the white house not sent proposals up and some republicans see a little bit of she begnanigans of the white ho there. we'll have a debate tonight in which you'll hear republican candidates i'm near certain say the president has it wrong. how much does it influence, a ceo to hire 50 or 100 workers or a trader on the floor of the markets looking at a long-term perspective when they see this volatility in the politics, does that not translate into volatility in the markets? >> one of the first things i learned covering business and

markets, john, gridlock is good meaning businesses don't worry about washington and grow the businesses. don't have to worry about the bozos in d.c. this time it means that nothing is getting done and the issues aren't addressed. you have this very careful two-way conversation about cutting our long-term deaf zits and doing it quickly and right and keeping the oxygen flowing in the economy and not pulling back too abruptly in the wrong places and starving the economy. you need some really good bipartisan and very smart decision making and also some sacrifices from everybody to do it just right and guess what? no one believes that anybody who's talking about this now can do it just right. so you don't have confidence in any of the prospesz, quite frankly. you see that in the markets and the businesses holding on to the money. i'm talking to small business owners never expand right now. they just wouldn't because they don't want to deal with the

uncertainty of worse demand down the road. it's a tough cycle and takes something, john, something to break out of it and we have 14 months until the next election. can something happen? we hope so, right? >> well, we'll see what happens between now and those 14 months to the next election. this is a live picture of the rose garden at the white house. one of the favorite stages of the president looking to influence public opinion, looking to get the american people to help him pressure the congress to get something done on this day it will be the president of the united states urging the congress particularly the republican house of representatives to pass his $450 billion jobs plan. dana, back to the politics of the moment. you said rioting at the polls. that's a hyperbole to a degree. to the sense that speaker boehner and leader cantor said, all right, mr. president, we can work with you here. we don't like all of this here. if they go in to the room, a narrative in washington is a tight leash. they don't have the room to operate. cutting a deal with the

president they will be undermined by the conservative base. can they cut a deal with the president on the parameters of the president proposed? cutting taxes, the question for me is will they give him the infrastructure spending and the stimulus money for the teachers and firefighters on the payroll? he won't give up on health care or dodd/frank. what's the president got to get for spending? >> i don't think that they would compromise on that. because they're too concerned about their re-election campaigns. i think that's what it would cost them because, again, this is -- we have stimulus money earmarked for education from the first stimulus that's not been spent yet and yet after that we passed the $46 billion education bill. and now we're earmarking $100 something billion from this package for education again. it seems redundant and wasteful. and we haven't addressed the problems that the first stimulus didn't address. so i think that -- there's no room for republicans to really even negotiate on that.

we hear constantly from this administration, leave your ultimatums at the door but the administration said these are my ultimat ultimatums. i'm not compromising on these. there's not a lot of room for negotiation. >> john, let's say the republicans say, mr. president, you come with $450 billion. we'll agree on the tax cuts and tinker and essentially your package there. but we're not going to give you the infrastructure bank. that's debatable. i think some republicans -- what if we get a package around $300 billion without the spending? the stimulus, the direct aid to the states, the construction money the president wants? should he then draw the line saying, no, i will veto that or too risky for a president on weak standing with the economy? >> the problem in our politics is that kind of all or nothing attitude and i think that's why the president put forward a bipartisan plan. dana described the problem in the politics believing there's no room for compromise but that's the problem. we have seen it from s&p, ben bernanke. the political crisis created a

fiscal crisis. if you set out the common ground and then build on it, that's the framing of this plan. so i think that the -- the core elements to be able to agree on. cutting corporate tax rate to close loopholes, infrastructure bank. it won't all get through. a bottom line for democrats is extending unemployment insurance but it's not going to all get through and the president understands that. >> one of the issues, ali, republicans say is, okay, even if we were going to figure this out for a compromise, we have an urgent burden of finding $1.5 trillion and watching -- i think we'll get the president of the united states now. the president has teachers we are told first responders, police and firefighters, we're watching people come out in to the rose garden now. as they flow out, we have about two minutes until the president speaks. a challenge is if you pass this plan, let's say it's, you know, $450 billion, essentially, what you're adding is $1.5 trillion

is the floor for the super committee and saying $2 trillion to do this. >> here's the problem. we are treating this and to some degree we have to hold the tea party responsible for this treating it like a zero sum game. the economy is not a balance sheet but dynamic and if more people are working and paying taxes and demand is created, did deficits reduce much more quickly than a stagnant economy. while we talk about cuts offsetting spending, that makes sense nor most people and your household budget. this is why this isn't a household budget. if you can do something, invest, spend, whatever you want to do, to get people to do more work, bring the deficit down faster than just with math. >> see the backdrop for the president, police, firefighters, construction workers, teachers. you say you have to hold the tea party responsible for this. the american people collectively are responsible for this and elected a left of center president believing the government should be pulling

levers to help with this and not everyone at home, people voted democratic saying this is not my fault and collectively the country did something different in 2010 with a conservative republican congress and these tea party members who, sure, responsible now. doing what they campaigned on. in a sense, you can't blame them. why didn't the politicians keep their promises? >> it wasn't a coupe. but we did -- you're right. americans have to be responsible for the fact they have fallen for this line that the only way to reduce deficits is to cut spending. in fact, the best way to reduce deficits is to grow the economy. >> and the result of that is a compromise consensus is a dirty word. >> i think it comes down to ultimately disagreements of how to increase revenue. grass roots believe you increase the tax base. you don't just shift money. >> conservatives say it's not a revenue but a spending problem. by definition, it is a problem. >> government has to stop spending and we have to increase

that tax base. look at the past six decades of tax receipts. it is proven. >> so christine, you're listening to this political conversation. in the short term, in the short term, what is your prognosis on something they could do that would at least be a down payment so that ceos, markets say, all right, here's where i am through the next election, at least i know that much? >> you know, i'm not sure. i have talked to economists saying -- over at harvard writing the book "this time is different." studied 800 years of crisis and says this is a long, painful slog and no matter the next president, they can say things got better because things will get better. depends on who gets the credit for it. >> the president of the united states, the vice president of the united states. that is beautiful setting. a beautiful day. a backdrop of people he says needs help. let's listen to the president.

>> on a beautiful morning. it's wonderful to see all of you here. on thursday, i told congress this i'll be sending them a bill called the american jobs act. well, here it is. this is -- this is a bill that will put people back to work all across the country. this is the bill that will help our economy in a moment of national crisis. this is a bill that is based on ideas from both democrats and republicans. and this is the bill that congress needs to pass. no games. no politics. no delays. i'm sending this bill to congress today. and they ought to pass it immediately.