role of charity. a lot of people think we should shrink government and maybe we shouldn't help people out so much. >> we have a safety net that has been expanding through the stimulus and now through efforts to keep jobs going. the conversation in washington is about shrinking government and cutting back. so, you've got some numbers from census that highlight just how difficult this is going to be to cut deficits longer term, but also keep the money flowing near term so people aren't hurt. >> we'll keep the conversation going. facebook.com/americanmorning. thanks for your comments this morning, we sure appreciate it. let's head to atlanta and kyra phillips. >> thanks, so much. president obama is waking up with a whole new reason to worry. that is republican bob turner celebrating a huge upset in a democratic stronghold of new york city. he won the seat of anthony weiner, the disgraced lawmaker whose sexting scandal went

public. is this a referendum on the obama presidency? >> there had been polling done ahead of this election and it showed that the economic recovery was the number one theme. the fact that bob turner, who was a former cable tv executive, has never been a politician before, although he's run in some other races. the fact that he could beat a democrat in this district where the democrat was really expected to win this race easily until the past few weeks. democrats became increasingly nervous. this is a district where democrats outnumber republicans 3-1. it's not as liberal as many people might think. there are a lot of conservative democrats, that is, and the republican candidate here seized on their frustrations. >> been asked by the people of this district to send the message to washington and i hope they hear it loud and clear. we have been told this is a

referendum and we're ready to say, mr. president, we are on the wrong track. >> you know, kyra, the democrat in this race tried to make the protection of social security and medicare an issue in this race. it was one that helped a democrat win in a special election last spring and in a republican district, but he couldn't gain traction here. >> all right, mary, well, this election wasn't all about local politics, right? israel was a huge issue. >> it was really unusual in a special election that it would play such a big part and the republican here, bob turner, a roman catholic, really accused the democrat who is an orthodox jew. the question became, who is the stronger support of israel and the republican went after president obama saying he wasn't supporting his real enough and he got some help from a former new york city mayor who is a democrat. he endorsed the republican in this race over the issue of

israel and president obama's policies on it. >> we're going to talk a lot about this, of course. mary snow out of new york for us. thanks so much. turner's win in new york is not the only victory that republicans are celebrating this week. they also won a special election to win a house seat in nevada. paul steinhauser in washington. tell us about this race. >> the republicans went two for two in the special elections. the one in nevada, this seat was held by republicans for a long time in the northern central part of the state and a seat that they, once again, held on to. he won the race by more than 20 points, kyra. this is the interesting part here. listen, this is a state, nevada, where barack obama won it last time around in the presidential election in 2008, a battleground state and also a state that he wants to win again and a state where the democrats think they have a shot at maybe winning back the senate seat. a 22-point victory by the republican candidate is a little bit troubling, no doubt about it, for the democrats.

now, republican national chairman had this to say about both is the victories last night. this should be cause for concern for democrats across the country. he goes on to say, tonight's elections prove, yet again, that president obama is failing america. kyra, listen, both these elections, they were local issues. israel and also gay marriage was a big deal back in the new york '09 race and there were also issues here. republicans were trying to make both these elections a referendum on president obama and they were successful. but special elections taken with a grain of salt. democrats did very well in those special elections in 2009 and 2010 but did very poorly in the mid-term elections, kyra. >> eliz with welizabeth warren her hat in the ring this morning. >> she was the person who headed up the consumer financial protection bureau for the white house. made it official, launched her bid in massachusetts. she joins seven other democrats

there now going for the democratic nomination in the senate. who do they have their eyes on? scott brown, the republican senator there. democrats think he's vulnerable. remember he had that huge upset back in january of last year winning that seat that was once held by ted kennedy, a long-time democratic seat. stay tuned on that one, kyra. >> paul, thanks. your next political update in just about an hour. for all the latest political news, you can go always go to our website, cnn.com/politics. the siege on the u.s. embase is over and it was almost a full day of street warfare. coalition forces have killed the rest of the militants. suzanne malveaux is in kabul and you went inside the building where they were holed up. what exactly did you learn? >> kyra, we saw a number of things when we went there this morning. first what we saw is that they actually carried out one of the dead insurgents. the last that had been killed. we were not expecting that.

but he was carried out on a stretcher to a cheering crowd outside. we went inside there to check out how all of this happened. what we have learned is that you had six who were in this vehicle. they went up to the building, five of them were wearing burqas to disguise themselves as women so they didn't have to be searched or get through the checkpoint. they then took the burqas off and then enwent inside of that building. it was the second floor, kyra. six police officers, afghan police protecting this building. it was under construction, essentially. so, they confronted the first police officer. we saw a television set. we saw bedding there to see that there was evidence that the police had been there, they were staying there for a while and they shot and killed a police officer in the second floor and threw him over the balcony and then they headed up the building. now, there are 12 floors of this building. throughout the building, we saw wires cut and huge, hundreds and hundreds of bullet holes in the walls and shell casings on the

ground and all kinds of evidence of the firefight that had ensued over the course of hours. now, kyra, what happened was at the very end it was the 12th floor. the top of this building when the huge fire fight continued and then finally ended when they killed the four remaining taliban insurgents. had a chance to actually seize some of thefdz evidence of tha. you had a shoe that had blood stains, empty water bottles, food stuff where they had been staying and where they were holed up and they even had blood on the wall and grain matter, kyra, that was on the floor from this kind of fresh fire fight that we saw. if you had a chance, if you have a chance to take a look at it, it was completely open at the top. so, you could see how it was that the embassy and the nato compound was a clear shot. just about half mile or so, but very much explains why it is and how it was that you had this very fierce fire fight going on for hours for nearly a day,

kyra. >> live in kabul, afghanistan, for us. suzanne, thanks. more confusion whether iran will release two american hikers jailed in iran. max foster is following that story for us out of london. the hikers' lawyer said bail has been set but iran's court seems to contradict that, what is going on? >> we talked yesterday about how the state department was cautious about this statement from president ahmadinejad because he he says hasn't been followed through. all about the internal politics in iran. ahmadinejad saying the two men will be released and then a statement from the courts saying no decisions have been made about bail or whether or not they will be released and any decisions about that will be the courts and nobody else's. provide news about this case, apart from the presiding judge. some confusion there. we're waiting now, really, to hear from the ultimate authority

in iran who's the supreme leader. we're waiting to hear statements from him because he's the decider, really. got the court on one side and the president on the other. >> now, we talked a little bit about this yesterday and what ahmadinejad had said about this yesterday and any more insight to that? >> well, some ideas are that a year ago sarah shourd one of the other hikers was released just before ahmadinejad appeared at the united nations and he's about to appear at the united nations, again. some suggestion that he will release the hikers before that to strengthen him. here's the view of one analyst talking about the ayatollah's view and that's the crucial one, really. >> over the last several months pretty emas cuilated and had to clear the release of these hostages to show to the world that ahmadinejad still has some

power and still has some clout because i think it's in the interest that the world continue to focus on ahmadinejad. >> so, the decider in iran is the ayatollah. will he give authorities to release these hikers and strengthen ahmadinejad ahead of the u.n. if the analyst is right, it seems more likely they will be release sooner than not. back here in the u.s., a warning about cantaloupes. the cdc says that 16 people in four states have gotten sick after eating cantaloupes contaminated with listeria. our chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta here with more. what can you tell us about the outbreak? >> they can trace this back. to figure out what people ate in different states and trying to put it all together. they think this came from the rocky ford region of colorado. these cantaloupes over there contaminated with listeria which is not something we hear about as much compared to e. coli or salmonella.

this is bad for people with weakened immune systems and pregnant women. particularly a concern to them. all the things are in place, as you might imagine. prevent those cantaloupes from getting out in the market and encouragements to people that any time they eat this sort of food, they have make sure they're washing their hands and washing their produce and taking the skin off the fruit. 16 people, as you mentioned. several different states, kyra. it looks like they'll probably get this under control. they're able to figure this one out a little more quickly than in times past. >> you're talking about another food safety issue coming out of the department of agriculture. new steps to prevent e. coli. >> we know about e. coli but several different strains of e. coli. what they're talking about now is trying to test for the other sort of minor strains and if they come back positive, keep those foods from ever getting into the food supply. in the past, it was thought, look, it's trace amounts and not going to have a significant amount, but the attitude, kyra, i think is changing.

as much as we talked about food outbreaks. starting to see things change. the fda has the authority to issue recalls. in the past they could recommend recalls and now they can enforce it. inspecting food before it gets into the food supply. this is, a lot of people say, a long-time coming but other people say, look, you inspect more food and it adds more costs and those costs passed down to the consumer and we're not sure of the health benefit we're getting. for now, you're definitely seeing a trend towards more inspections and more safety overall. >> it's not a bad thing. all right, dr. sanjay gupta, thanks. coming up, less intrusive airport screening for kids. fewer patdowns and fewer bare feet. talk about the changes with an israeli security expert. the shame of college sports. civil rights historian writes about the plantation mentality in the ncaa. he joins me live this hour. why do we have aflac...

aflac... and major medical? major medical, boyyyy! [ beatboxing ] ♪ i help pay the doctor ♪ ain't that enough for you? ♪ there are things major medical doesn't do. aflac! pays cash so we don't have to fret. [ together ] ♪ something families should get ♪ ♪ like a safety net ♪ even helps pay deductibles, so cover your back, get... ♪ a-a-a-a-a-a-a-aflac! [ male announcer ] help protect your family at aflac.com. [ beatboxing ]

her morning begins with arthritis pain. that's a coffee and two pills. the afternoon tour begins with more pain and more pills. the evening guests arrive. back to sore knees. back to more pills. the day is done but hang on... her doctor recommended aleve. just 2 pills can keep arthritis pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is lara who chose 2 aleve and fewer pills for a day free of pain. and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels. 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.

checking stories across country. a fast-moving wildfire in minnesota has gotten so big, the smoke is impacting neighboring states. in wisconsin, the milwaukee brewers baseball team even closed the roof on its stadium and air quality warnings were issued in illinois. the ntsb is urging that

commercial truck drivers ban from using mobile phones behind the wheel. a truck driver last year crossed the medium, smash under to a van and killed 11 people. lexy peters of suburban buffalo will appear in an nhl '12 video game. an icon is the likeness of her after she complained about the guys only virtual player choices. all right. alison kosik at the new york stock ecchange where she's watching microsoft roll out its next big thing. windows 8. >> you said it, kyra. could be window's biggest overhaul that microsoft has put out in decades. we haven't heard about microsoft since apple has been the focus. it's not just a new look with this operating system. it feels different, too. it is designed to be a touch

operating system. it is designed for tablets but works with a mouse and pc. the focus is on touchscreens and tablets because they're all the rage and those traditional pc sales are really weak. this is an attempt to try to grab some of that market share aware from apple. but microsoft unveiled windows 8 at a conference in california yesterday. hasn't put out an official launch date just jet but microsoft is hinting it could roll out next year. kyra? >> well, stocks made it 2 for 2 on tuesday. i guess you could say 2 for 2 tuesday and hopefully we'll see a third straight day of gains, right? >> we could go three for three, especially what's showing now continues. we do look like we'll have a positive start in about 15 minutes when the opening bell rings. this is after european markets are rallying because there is some talk that europe may issue common bonds for the euro zone. each country issues its own bonds and a common euro bond would consolidate all of that debt and analysts say essentially what this would do

is help the weaker countries like greece, spain and italy because it would all be rolled together. the market here on wall street is always happy to hear something positive come out of europe. opening bell, again, in a little over ten minutes. kyra? >> alison, thanks. space junk in the forecast for the western hemisphere. where it will fall, no one really knows. what nasa is saying as to where it may land. little lamborghini, huge price tag. this little car costs 12 times more than the real ride. ♪ [ male announcer ] each of these photos was taken by someone on the first morning of their retirement. it's the first of more than 6,000 sunrises the average retiree will see. ♪ as we're living longer than ever before, prudential's challenge is to help everyone have the retirement income they'll need

to enjoy every one of their days. ♪ prudential. bring your challenges.

all right, let's get to your "showbiz headlines." two years after his death, michael jackson still taking care of his family. the executors of his estate are setting aside $30 million for a

trust fund for his mom and three kids. grossed more than $3 million with a huge chunk of that going to pay down the singer's debt. paul mccartney is about to get hitched. he is going to marry his fiancee at his english farmhouse. they have been together since 2007. a sneak peek at edward and bella's wedding. the vampires start their new life and new movie in twilight saga "breaking dawn." what better way to blow a few million dollars that you can't drive or sit in. i'm talking about the most expensive model car in the world. max foster, of course, men love cars. that's just bottom line. he's got all the details. >> lamborghini is a great, great car, you can't disagree, can you? it needs to work, like you say. this is just a bit strange.

anyways. one-eighth the size of the or original. you can take it away, kyra, today from frankfurt for $6 million otherwise go on auction starting at $5 million later in the year. this is why it's expensive. it's truly crafted. diamonds inserted into the seats, headlights and steering wheel. the rims, solid gold. this is interesting, kyra, a selling point is the doors open and close and the wheels turn. not quite enough for most people. >> that would be one expensive gift for a youngin'. has anyone shown interest in there? >> i don't know. i don't know. and dubai and london is where it's going on sale. that might give a clue to who they think will buy it. >> yes. >> the material value is $2 million. some people suggesting that it's an investment.

>> an investment. all right. we will track it. thanks, max. well, what goes up, must come down. where nasa's sat lisle will actually land, it has some people on a couple cont nents looking to the sky. meteorologist jacqui jeras live in the cnn weather center. did you find the picture? i was hearing a little panic. >> it's kind of cool to look at. little big. doesn't make you feel better thinking to yourself no one knows where or when this thing will hit the earth. kind of scary to think about, but not as bad as you think, according to scientists. this is a big satellite and weighs about 6 tons and about the size of a school bus. to put that in perspective for you. the upper atmosphere research satellite that has been up in space since 1991 and been decommissioned since december of 2005. this thing is slowly making its way down towards the earth and they say a lot of this will actually burn up into the atmosphere, but, about 26 large

pieces of space chunk are basically expected to fall down to the earth. and the largest of those pieces could weigh as much as 300 pounds. so, if that lands where somebody lives or somebody happens to be standing, yeah, you could imagine that would certainly be a very large problem. where and when is this going to hit? they don't know exactly. scientists think it will happen towards the end of the month. where will it fall? somewhere between northern canada and the southern part of south america. it is more likely it will land over the ocean and the debris stretch will be about 500 miles long. we can track this thing, believe it or not. this is kind of cool. this is google earth and it shows you exactly where that satellite is right now just north of indonesia and move through the area right now and it's common. a lot of space junk out there. on average, 400 pieces of satellite pieces or maybe old space debris make their way to the earth's atmosphere every

year. nobody has been hit up to that point. that's good. so much space junk out there now that scientists think we need to start cleaning it up. they are trying to des have a way to be able to do this. we will be able to track the situation and we have a couple weeks to go, kyra. the chances are like 1 in 3,200 that a person would actually get hit by this. when you think about winning the lottery and getting struck by lightning. >> all the other odds out there. i know people that try to find this space junk. you probably have talk to these space junkies, shall we say. >> they can track it. even like a four inch piece. you can also get updates on the web, by the way. i'll have it on facebook and on twitter, if you want it be a little paranoid and get more updates as we go along. president obama hits the road, his poll numbers hit rock bottom. we'll tell about his effort to sell his jobs plan and sell himself. also ahead, less intrusive airport screening for kids. fewer pat downs and fewer bare feet. we'll talk about the changes

with an israeli security expe p expertp.

checking top stories. an iranian court is considering bail for imprisoned american hikers josh fattal and shane bauer that contradicts their attorney who says bail was set at $500,000 each. a house seat now belong to republicans. bob turner won yesterday's special election in new york. he replaces anthony weiner who

resigned over a sexting scandal. the cdc says 16 people from four states have been infected with listeria after eating cantaloupes. cantaloupe s grown in the rocky ford region of colorado. just minutes from now, president obama goes wack back e road to sell his jobs plan. here is the reception he received at a rally yesterday in ohio. the white house aides says the president is trying to stir up support and turn up public pressure on congress. before that, he's hopscotching by plane. this afternoon he makes a couple stops in north carolina. yesterday he visited the capital of ohio. now, president obama is choosing states where he needs to get the most political bang for his buck. new polling results show just how skeptual the public has become. paul steinhauser joining us with

more on the numbers. good morning, paul. >> it's location, location, location. virginia last week, all three battleground states the president won last time around, but could be tough this time. as for our polls, check this out. brand-new numbers. what do americans think? is president obama doing a good job in the white house? 43% giving him a thumbs up in our brnd nand-new numbers. this was over the weekend. look at that 55% number. that disapproval number now an all-time high in cnn/orc polling. do americans think president obama is strong and decisive? now 48% saying that back in may that number was a little bit higher. a lot higher, actually. 57%. what about the president's economic numbers? is he doing a good job or are his economic policies working? americans seem split. who do they trust more in the economy? the republicans or presidecongr?

15% say they don't trust anyone right now when it comes to jobs and the economy. now scheduled for 12:55 eastern time from north carolina state university. we'll take it. new guidelines on the tsa of how your kids will be screened at the airport. it comes after outrage from videos like this. this was in new orleans airport in april. remember how this child was padded down? coming soon for travelers 12 and under, shoes will stay on and if a kid is flagged by the metal detector or scanner, they can go through a few more times. if officers still can't solve the issue, they can swab their hands for explosive residue all before resorting to physical pattown. first of all, should we be maki making changes like this in our security public? >> well, yes. i think that the -- it's a good idea to show the public that tsa responds to criticism in a

positive way. and it recognizes the different needs of different groups in the population. but i think that we still have a way to go before we fully adopt what we call a risk-based approach. which would resolve this issue in a much more fundamental way. >> if you were in charge, what would you do with regard to kids? >> well, the question, again, is not so much limited to kids, but it's the question of identifying the level of risk of the individual, the passenger. that includes kids. obviously, kids do not belong to the obvious high-risk group, although that cannot be completely ruled out in light of some incidents that took place during the last ten years where kids were used cynically by terrorist organizations to either smuggle or to even carry

suicidal devices. but -- >> knowing what you know. let me ask you. knowing what you know about terrorist tactics. what are the chances of a kid that age being wruzed as a suicide bomber here in the united states? we've seen it overseas, but, really, what are the chances of that here? >> i think that largely speaking it is lower than the other part of the population. the adult population, but it cannot be completely ignored. so, i think that largely speaking, again, the tsa is doing the right thing by creating a special procedure for kids in order to avoid some of the images that we have seen earlier that most of us oppose to, including the professionals among us. at the same time, they not drop the ball completely. again, i think that we are still not there. we have to do better than that by identifying the fact that

kids are mostly not high-risk passengers and most of the kids can avoid even that. >> rafi ron, appreciate your time today, thank you. major college football program can make tens of millions of dollars a year, but perhaps a player on that team can't afford to go out to dinner. paying college athletes presented by a civil rights historian, next. and tastes simply delicious. for those of us with lactose intolerance... lactaid® milk. the original 100% lactose-free milk. handle more than 165 billion letters and packages a year. that's about 34 million pounds of mail every day. ever wonder what this costs you as a taxpayer? millions? tens of millions? hundreds of millions? not a single cent. the united states postal service doesn't run on your tax dollars.

it's funded solely by stamps and postage. brought to you by the men and women of the american postal workers union. ♪

you know, we, i was just talking to our next guest about an article that he wrote, taylor branch, "the shame of college sports." i will get right to it because i want to get in as much time as possible. taylor, you're known for your civil rights background and you have written so much about injustice on a number of different levels. and this is the approach you took while researching the shame of college sports for "the

atlantic magazine." you already have received so much feedback. if you don't mind, what we were just talking about on the break, i think it's fascinating. a lot of people angry about this article. how are you taking that and what is that telling you? >> well, i'mila a little shell shocked. they just released it online yesterday and people care about it an awful lot. it's like sports. it engages great passion. we're the only country in the world that hosts big money sports and universities and colleges. and, so, we have this clash there between whether colleges should be about education or whether they should be about entertainment for all of us. it really does arouse a lot of passion. >> you know what, i pulled out a couple things that i'm guessing what aroused a lot of passion and i guess, you know, fire, about this article. you lay out what you describe a plantation mentality in your article. you know, you write about the

least educated being the most exploited. talk to me about that. >> well, college sports uniquely has a multi-million, really multi-billion dollar industry whose one rule is that the people who generate most of the income cannot share in it. that's not by law. you cannot write a law to deny these people the revenue that they earn. it's by conspiracy and by custom. we call it amateurism. and, therefore, these college athletes, i'm not saying colleges should have to pay players, i'm just saying the system now where they're prohibited from playing players cannot be justified by anything other than a plantation mentality. >> well, you also talk, too, for corporations to make money as it states in the article, the unpaid labor of young athletes and you make the point that slavery analogies should be used very carefully.

>> yes. this is not slavery, but a lot like can locleallism. and not pay for them for their own good which is the way colognelests treated all around the world. last year when cam newton was being investigated at auburn. the ncaa specified at the exact same time the size of corporate logos for under armor, four on his helmet visor and one on his headband and one on each sweatband for underarmor because they had a deal with auburn. it's not very attractive. the real question is whether professionalized sports are compatible with higher education. but we're not even raising that question, which is an honest question and a real one because we've been diverted by the notion that the big problem is dirty athletes getting some of the money.

that's not the problem. >> and, well, you do lay out the academic shortcomings and shortcuts for athletes, as well. it's fascinating article and my guess after this interview, taylor, you'll get a lot more hits on your website and the atlantic website and be interesting to see what kind of comments come forward. taylor branch, thanks so much for your time. >> thank you, kyra. >> you bet. coming up, texas just kicked off a busy week. we're going to take you in depth on the 7-year-old capital case that is still dogging governor rick perry. 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.

checking stories across country. federal authorities in connecticut say three tsa agents and two police officers were among the 20 suspects rounded up in a narcotics ring that was trafficking pills. the officers allegedly got cash and gift cards to allow the drugs transport. >> see, this is when the alarm goes off. you see his face? you see him just look like that. >> police in mt. prospect, illinois, say a 19-year-old man stripped down to his underwear and burglarized a local burger joint and police say he wasn't on drugs or looking for money, but definitely hungry. he's on the kitchen's camera there savidging for some food but when the cops nabbed him he was cooking up chicken tenders and french fries. target stores may want to go

bigger after selling out six-week production. target calls it unprecedented demand. cnn in depth this week. we're looking at rick perry. last night a man was put to death. more people have been executed under rick perry than any other governor in the country and he's been criticized for that. with one case, in particular, sparking nationwide outrage and disgust. cnn's ed lavandera reports. >> reporter: cameron todd willingham was executed seven years ago, convicted of setting his house on fire to kill his three children. his appeals, including to the supreme court, repeatedly denied. texas governor rick perry signed off on the execution. >> willingham was a monster. >> reporter: just before willingham's death, a nationally known fire expert studying the

arson investigation found it horribly flawed that the original investigators relied on outdated arson science. ing willingham supporters asked to delay the execution and perry refused. >> follow the procedures and they found this man guilty every step of the way. >> reporter: cameron todd willingham's execution still haunts rick perry, the question is not only did texas execute an innocent man, but did perry use his power to try to shut down a potentially embarrassing investigation into how willingham was convicted. if there was no arson, willingham would not have been executed. >> if this case went to trial today, i cansee any way that w l willi willingham would be executed. >> reporter: the innocence project brought it to an obscure state agency called the texas forensic science commission which started looking into whether bad arson investigative techniques were used to convict

willingham. >> that the science was, indeed, junk science. >> reporter: sam basset was head of the commission and said he was call under to a heated meeting with two governor's aides and said the investigation was a waste of state money. >> i couldn't believe they were injecting them selves into the commission business so directly and so confrontationally. >> they wanted to influence the outcome, i guess? >> yes. that was my sense, that they wanted us to stop the investigation. >> reporter: the commission kept working. more fire experts agree the investigation relied on junk science. seven months later, basset says he was suddenly told he was not being reappointed because the governor wanted to take the commission in a different direction. >> i've seen just kind of analyst drum beat of strategies and actions to stop this investigation. it's been terribly disappointing. >> why do you think you were taken off this commission? >> it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that this was a situation that the governor's office clearly did not want us to conclude.

>> reporter: perry has denied sam basset's removal was politically motivated and the governor remains as unwavering today as he was two years ago in his opinion that willingham deserved to be executed. >> go look at the facts and you will find that this was an incredible bad man who murdered his kids and the record will stand. >> reporter: more than two years later, the cameron todd willingham investigation is still stalled and no one can say for sure if texas executed an innocent man. ed lavandera, cnn, austin, texas. governor perry is scheduled to speak next hour at liberty university in virginia. we will take some of his remarks live. everybody knows nascar jeff gordon gets around, not just on the track. he talks about his visit with the president and his recent trip to africa and, of course, we'll talk racing. of financial security from new york life. we've been protecting families for over 166 years. new york life. the company you keep.

we've been protecting families for over 166 years. possibilities are everywhere. multiply them with the premier rewards gold card from american express. with triple membership rewards points on airfare, double on gas, double on groceries, and a single point on everthing else, it's a fast way to earn more every day. plus, you can earn 10,000 bonus points. and the annual fee the first year is on us. call 800.axp.gold to apply. don't let times like these stand in the way of them. protect your family with the gift of financial security. backed by the highest possible ratings for financial strength. new york life. the company you keep.

at 12:30 eastern time, republican rich perry speaks to the republican party of virginia's grassroots luncheon. later that hour, president obama is slated to speak at a north carolina manufacturing plant as he pushes his new jobs bill. and senate majority leader harry reid is expected to discuss the president's jobs bill as he hosts his first town hall on twitter at 4:00 p.m. eastern time. we're following lots of developments the next hour. let's check in first with paul steinhauzer. >> reporter: as the president gets ready to talk about jobs, we've got new poll numbers. good news and bad news for the man in the white house. details at the top of the hour. >> reporter: i'm max foster in london. was president ahmadinejad of iran making false promises when he said two u.s. hikers would be released?

there's confusion in iran. details at the top of the hour. >> reporter: i'm alison kosik at the new york stock exchange. move over orbits, google is looking for a new way to search for a flight. the question is, will it take off? i'll have details in the next hour. >> thanks, guys. ahead, walmart giving a boost to businesses owned by women. we'll explain their $20 billion effort and how it will help women around the world. i want healthy skin for life. [ female announcer ] improve the health of your skin with aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula

improves skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. i found a moisturizer for life. [ female announcer ] only from aveeno. but not in my neighborhood. ♪ [ female announcer ] we're throwing away misperceptions 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. can make it from australia to a u.s. lab to a patient in time for surgery

may seem like a trumped-up hollywood premise. ♪ but if you take away the dramatic score... take away the dizzying 360-degree camera move, and take away the over-the-top stunt, you're still left with a pretty remarkable tale. but, okay, maybe keep the indulgent supermodel cameo... thank you. [ male announcer ] innovative medical solutions. fedex. solutions that matter.

major league milestones for two veteran pitchers, right? >> it's been a great year for baseball milestones. derek jeter made 3,000 hits. jim them to 600 home runs. last night yankees' closer mariano rivera saved 600 in the yankees' win over the mariners. last out caught stealing. the 41-year-old arguably still the best closer in baseball. rivera with 600 saves, one short of the all-time record. you have to think he'll get a couple before the season ends. he says he'll come back for one more year. i think most agree without a doubt he is the best reliever in baseball history. red sox knuckleballer, tim wakefield, going for career win 200. that's the knuckleball. stifled hitters for years. jose batista didn't have his best stuff but did get the champagne shower after getting

the win. it was his eighth shot at going for win number 200. feels good. 45 years old. wakefield become the second oldest pitcher to get win nature 200. he was drafted as a hitter, not a pitcher. turned it around. the team trying to catch the sox in the a.l. rest, look at jennings into the wall. the rookie, a great play. protect yourself -- great catch. but the os would win the game 4-2, snapping the rays' five-game one streak. i hear you have a guest -- >> jeff gordon. >> 85 wins, third in all-time nascar history. for the modern era in tass car he is probably the -- nascar he is probably the best ever. >> i didn't get to ride with jeff gordon but i did with elliot sadler. maybe i shouldn't say that. just love to drive fast, period. thanks. police are supposed to serve and protect. does that include dancing?

some new york city officers are getting heat for getting caught on camera doing the bump and grind. jeanne moos, of course, has the story. >> reporter: talk arresting image. [ crowd noise ] >> reporter: new york city police officers surrendering to scantily clad dancing girls? ♪ >> reporter: laughter gave way to wide eyes and gaping mouths. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: wait. it gets better. >> oh, my god! >> reporter: the video was shot at last week's west indian parade known as new york's most raucous parade. ♪ >> reporter: nine people got shot at this year's parade, but the only shooting where these officers were posted was the shooting of the video that's now gone viral. "stop and frisky" read "the new york post" headline. forget force, the "village voice" called it "excessive use

of dance," though actually a couple of officers did much dirty dancing on duty. >> i think it's reprehensible. >> they're supposed to keep the order. >> they're too busy humping girls. >> reporter: on the other hand -- >> they are human. if i was at a parade and having fun and i had a cop having fun with me, i'd be happy about it. >> they're having fun like thier at a bar. >> reporter: think of it as community outreach. >> he's having too much fun working. if i did that at work, i think i'd be fired. >> reporter: new york's police commissioner wasn't firing anyone. >> you know, i prefer it didn't happen. but i don't want to make too much of it. >> reporter: commissioner ray kelly told wor radio that the young women approached the police officers, and he noted that it's quite an unusual parade. >> you know, you're going to get caught up in the spirit of it. >> reporter: even the commissioner has gotten caught up in the spirit of it. ♪ >> reporter: enough to play the bongos. but new york cops aren't the only ones to get lured into dancing to the beat while they're on their beat. look at this british policeman

at the notting hill carnival. ♪ >> reporter: instead of getting heat, he got a facebook fan page dedicated to the dancing policeman. ♪ >> reporter: and we're always seeing soldiers in iraq letting off steam. ♪ >> reporter: this retired police reserve sergeant says the new york officers were just being part of the neighborhood. it's community policing -- >> his sergeant's going to educate him quickly, it won't happen again. >> reporter: at least the new york cops -- ♪ >> reporter: didn't take their hats off. ♪ >> reporter: jeanne moos, cnn, new york. this hour, the economy becomes issue one on the campaign trail. republican contenders hit the road along with the man trier trying to replace. president obama's talking jobs in north carolina. republican john huntsman meets with students in new hampshire, and front-runner rick perry reaches out to evangelicals at liberty university. for democrats, the stakes are even higher after this week's loss of two congressional

seats. that's republican bob turner that you're going to see in a minute celebrateation -- celebration upset. he won the seat of anthony weiner, the disgraced lawmaker whose sexting scandal went public. turner's win is not the only victory republicans are celebrating. just the day before, a house seat went to republican hands. an easy defeat of kate marshall in the special election. many people say these republican victories may be a sign of just how unhappy voters are with obama and its -- his administration's handling of the economy. we're breaking down the angles with the best political team on television. let's start in north carolina with white house correspondent brianna keilar. you're actually traveling with the president. >> reporter: yeah, we're following the president. and you can tell it's noisy where i am. i'm at n.c. state where the president will speak at about 1:00 p.m. to a crowd of thousands here pushing his jobs plan. his first stop here in north

carolina is going to be not too far from here. he'll be touring a manufacturing small business, and the whole point of that is to tout one element and really the biggest element of his jobs plan which is an extension of a payroll tax cut to employers. the idea, the white house says, put more money in their pockets and allow them to hire more people. this is actually one element of his jobs plan that house republicans have indicated they're amenable to. they would be open to it. they talked about really kind of looking at the certain parts that they have commonround with on the president. perhaps breaking off that piece and passing it. we heard yesterday from the white house, from white house press secretary jay carney, that the president wouldn't veto an element of this bill if he got it piecemeal, but he's going to keep going back to congress, pushing for more. that's what he'll be pushing for today. he wants congress to take up this entire bill and pass it soon. although, you know, sources on the hill concede it's very unlikely that it would pass

congress in its entirety. >> all right. brianna keilar, thank you very much. president obama is choosing states where he needs to get the most political bang for his buck. new polling results showed how skeptical the public has become. deputy political director paul steinhauser with the numbers. paul? >> reporter: brand new numbers from cnn and orc conducted over the weekend after the president's primetime speech on jobs. do you approve or disapprove of how president obama's handling his duties in the white house? 43% approval. pretty much where it's been. 55% disapproval. kyra, that is an all-time high in cnn/orc polling. the numbers indicates that his numbers on being a decisive and strong leader are dropping among the american public. >> what about the numbers with regard to the economy? >> reporter: with the economy, look at it there. has the president's policies made the economy better or worse or not? you see there, only 9% say what the president's doing is programs that made the economy better. 39% say it's prevented it from

getting worse. about half the public says, yeah, he's doing all right. another 52%, you take the 37% who said he made it worse and 15% who said he's had no effect. mixed message. as troubling as the numbers are for the president, go to who will do a better job on the economy. who do you trust more to fix the economy? you see that president obama does better than congressional republicans. 46% say they trust the president to deal with the economy. only 37% say republicans in congress. >> all right, paul. thanks. this hour, republican front-runner rick perry is due to speak at liberty university. the nation's largest evangelical college. political reporter peter hamby is nearby in richmond. this comes after perry's conservative credentials came under fire, shall we say, at monday's cnn tea party debate. so how much does he have to sell himself? >> reporter: you're absolutely right. his social conservative credentials were topic number one, it turns out, at the debate when we thought it was going to be about says. candidates to his right, michele

bachmann and rick santorum, opened wounds, questioning his record on illegal immigration, his decision to push for an hpv vaccine that would be mandated for schoolgirls in texas. so perry is in lynchburg today speaking at liberty, the school founded by evangelical jerry falwell sr. and he will talk about his socially conservative credentials to the crowd. he's going to be in richmond later this afternoon. kind of has a different mission. here in richmond, he's speaking to a republican party fundraiser. don't forget that virginia is turning into a central battleground state, if not the central battleground state of the 2012 election. it's a purple state. so the questions about rick perry are his electability in a general election. is he too conservative for empty independent voters, mainstream republicans. he's going to have a different message in richmond later. >> we'll talk to you after that. peter, thanks. let's head to afghanistan this morning. the taliban siege on the u.s. embassy is over after almost a full day of street warfare. coalition forces were being told

to kill the last of the militants. suzanne malveaux, you had the chance to go inside the building where the insurgents were holed up. what did you learn? >> reporter: well, it was surprising when we arrived. after 19 hours of the siege, we did not expect the first thing that we would see is a body coming out of the building. that is exactly what we saw. afghan police taking away the last of the insurgents. six killed inside the building. essentially more information, details behind this plot. there were six people in a vehicle, five of them jump out of the vehicle, they're wearing burqas disguised as women so they would not have to be searched or go through the checkpoint. they then take the burqas off, they're brandishing weapons. they go into this building. this is a construction site. a building that was abandoned three years ago. and there's six police officers inside who had were guarding this building. so they went up to the second floor. that is where we saw a tv,

bedding, that type of thing. the terrorists took out the first police officer, shot him, then threw him over the ledge. they then went from floor to floor to floor to floor. that is when you had afghan police and army that were shooting into the building. you had helicopters, as well, shooting into the building. and these terrorists fighting back, shooting back. we went to the top floor. that is where most of the action took place. two of the insurgents had been killed. four remained late into the night, early into the morning. we saw there hundreds and hundreds of bullet holes, shell casings, even blood on the walls. and rain spattering, if you will, on the floor. that is where the final insurgent was killed in a very big, big gun battle. we also, if we can look at the pictures, saw how all of this happened. this was a construction site, so it was completely open on the 12th floor. you could get a real sense of how these terrorists were able to to see the u.s. embassy and

compound just a half mile away. and to continue this fire-fight for nearly 19 hours. >> it all comes when afghan security forces have to take over that country as u.s. forces leave. suzanne malveaux in kabul, thanks. there's more confusion whether iran is going to release two american hiker jailed for spying in iran. max foster is following that story for us out of london. max, the hikers' lawyer says bail has been set. but iran's court seems to contradict that. what's going on? >> reporter: yeah, we're wondering if the iranian president, mahmoud ahmadinejad, has jumped the gun somehow saying that the hikers will be released. now we've got the statement from the court saying no agreement has been reached on bail. the hikers' lawyer say there has been an agreement on bail. they say no decision has been made at all on their release. and actually the courts saying no other source is entitled to provide news about this case apart from the presiding judge. so some confusion within iran about what's going to happen

now. but the president is a powerful man. we'll see whether his words come true. if they do, they should be home by the end of the week. you do need the courts to prove it. >> we talked to about this yesterday. and i understand you were able to gain more insight possibly into why ahmadinejad decided to do this now. >> reporter: the real decider in iran is the supreme leader. and he's going to decide whether or not the hikers go. it's interesting that if you consider a year ago, sara shourd, one of the others released by the general assembly where ahmadinejad was attending. he's about to attends it again. so some suggestion that the hikers will be released to give him positive currency at the talks this time around, as well. let's hear an experts talking about this because he's got a good perspective. >> over the last several months within iran, ahmadinejad has been emasculated domestically. and i think this is a move by the supreme leader who had to

okay the release of these hostages to show to the world that ahmadinejad still has some power, still has some clout. because i think it's in his interests that the world continue to focus ahmadinejad. >> reporter: so the president made this commitment. the ayatollah look like he should back him up. we'll see whether or not he does and those hikers get released. >> max foster out of london. thanks. coming up, a massive wildfire burning in minnesota. we'll tell you why it's becoming a problem for people living hundreds of miles away. and $20 billion, that's what walmart's going to be spending to help boost warship's businesses around -- boost women's businesses around the world, ahead. [ male announcer ] this is the network. a network of possibilities... ♪ in here, pets never get lost. ♪ in here, every continent fits in one room. it was fun, we played football outside.

why are you sitting in the dark? ♪ [ male announcer ] in here, you're never away from home. it's the at&t network. and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. helps defends against occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas and bloating. with three strains of good bacteria to help balance your colon. you had me at "probiotic." [ female announcer ] phillips' colon health. ♪ [ male announcer ] what is the future of fuel? the debate is over. ♪ lexus hybrid drive technology is designed to optimize any fuel source on the planet. even those we don't use yet. because when you pursue perfection, you don't just engineer a future-proof hybrid system. you engineer amazing. ♪

the usda is taking a tough new approach on e. coli. the department announced it will begin testing for six additional but relatively rare strains of bacteria. strains that in some cases wereproval allowed because -- wereproval allowed because the amounts were small. the center for science and the public interest says the usda should do the same for salmonella. across the country, a fast-moving wildfire in minnesota grew nearly tenfold

yesterday. the smoke started impacting neighboring states. it's so bad in wisconsin, the milwaukee brewers baseball team closed the roof on its stadium as air quality warnings were issued in illinois. the ntsb recommending that commercial truck drivers be banned from using either handheld or hands-free mobile phones while behind the wheel. this comes after an accident last year when a truck driver distracted by his phone crossed a median and smashed into a van killing 11 people. and 14-year-old lexi peters of suburban buffalo will appear in e.a. sports nhl '12 video game. the new female player icon is a like not of her after she complained about the guys only virtual player choices. alison kosik at the new york stock exchange following the world's biggest retailer, walmart, making this big push to appeal to women, right? >> reporter: oh, yeah. walmart's putting its money where its mouth is. launching an initiative to support women. walmart is planning to spend $20

billion to buy more product from women-owned businesses, to train women in factories that are walmart suppliers, and pushing suppliers to use more women on their walmart accounts. the hope is that they reach these goals within five years. kyra? >> all right. walmart was in the news earlier this year because of a huge sex discrimination lawsuit. we actually covered that. so how much of this is in response to that? >> reporter: walmart is claiming this is not related to the lawsuit at all. it says it started this whole big initiative years ago. but the timing is, should i say, just a little bit questionable. if you ask me, it seems like an olive branch, trying to shore up their image. also you think about it, it's not such a bad marketing idea. think about it -- women do the family shopping. i think you know what, it's a good idea to keep them on the company's good side. billions of dollars are in play here when they go shopping at walmart. kyra? >> are we in for a third straight good day? >> reporter: i'm not going to

put my money on that. right now we're trading a bit mixed. the dow down 13, yeah. fears about the european debt crisis, they're easing a bit. but you know what happened? u.s. retail sales came in weak. sales in august actually flatlined in august. and that was back-to-school month when everybody expected an increase in sales. remember, august was a nutso month with the s&p downgrade of the u.s. credit rating. the big market sell-off that followed. so that hurt sales. hurt confidence. so yeah, you didn't see american really go on big shopping sprees last month. that's why we see the dow now down 33 points. kyra? >> all right l. thanks. coming up, casey anthony's lawyer heads to aruba for another high-profile case. and you might expect empty shelves like these following a really good black friday. this wasn't any average tuesday.

(screams) 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. a mouthwatering combination of ingredients...e for you! 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. ever think healthy could taste so good? [ woman announcing ] new beneful healthy fiesta. another healthful, flavorful beneful.

he got casey anthony off scot-free. now attorney jose baez is working for gary giordano, the american guy suspected in his friend's disappearance last month. he says robyn gardner of swept out to sea while they were snorkeling. his family hired baez. according to giordano's aruban lawyer, baez will serve as a consultant on the case. he could also take care of any legal proceedings here in the u.s. meanwhile, casey anthony's parents breaking their silence for the first time since their daughter was cleared of murder charges in july. george and cindy anthony appearing on "the dr. phil" show admitting that their daughter continued to lie after their granddaughter went missing. cindy, confiding in dr. phil, about the rage she felt toward casey when the case first broke out.

>> i just screamed at her, i said, "what the hell are you talking about?" i said, "what do you mean you haven't seen caylee?" and that's when i just screamed at her, and i -- i wanted to go choke her or hit her. i just went over there and punched the bed as hard as i could to get my anger out. >> another portion of the interview airs today. he was deep in debt when he died, but since then michael jackson's made enough money to pay down a big chunk of that and provide for his kids. "showbiz tonight" host a.j. hammer with more. kyra, we kind of saw this coming. the finances are fascinating here. according to some published report, michael jackson owed more than $400 million at the time of his deaths. since he died, his estate's done very well. the sectors publicly claimed they made more than $310 million through the end of last year,

and they've used that to pay off about $160 million in debt so far. obviously there's still a lot to be paid au but the sectors want -- paid off. but the sectors want to set aside $30 million in a trust fund for his mother and kids. the sectors and katherine jackson want to sell the home and move to another place. they will have to get permission from a superior court judge. that should be decided by the end of the month. that is when the trial of dr. conr conr conrad murray will be underway. and what happened with madonna? >> looks hike she's being accused -- looks like these being accused of over-the-top diva behavior. there were reports that security staff told staffers to turn and face the wall as she went by so she wouldn't have to make eye contact. that doesn't fly particularly at ail festival that relies on volunteers to pull thing together.

a spokesperson told "the toronto globe and mail" that sort of thing flies in the face of what we stand for. madonna's rep wrote back and released a statement denying that madonna asked for that kind of treatment. it said she was appreciative of the work staff had done, and madonna didn't do. it we are trying to figure out who and why anyone would ask the volunteers to turn away from madonna. she has never and would never ask anyone to ever do that. this, of course, comes on the heels of madonna's open mic gaffe at the venice film festival where she was rude about a fan's gift of hydrangeas. she remarked, kyra, "i absolutely loathe hydrangeas." and it was caught on tape. >> a.j., a shame. just a fan trying to show some love. for everything breaking in the entertainment world, watch "showbiz tonight" at 11:00 p.m. weeks after the space shuttle program was officially retired, nasa officials are unveiling a new challenge this

hour. they are revealing details on an initiative to shoot astronauts farther into space than ever before. john zarrella with more. >> reporter: they're in the process of the news conference right now. charlie bolden, nasa administrator, kay bailey hutchison, and bill nelson, two senators instrumental in pushing nasa forward and getting everyone in line to do this. in fact, the much-awaited, perhaps some would say overdue announcement of the next generation rocket, the one that will replace space shuttle and take astronauts to steroimars. $18 billion spread out over five years until the first vehicle flies. they did unveil an image, a sketch of it. and it will look to some degree very much like a space shuttle. it's going to have a giant elk attorney general tank in the --

external tank in the middle, liquid fuel. on the side, there will be two boosters like a space shuttle. they may be solid. they may be liquid boosters. so in essence they may go back more to an apollo era kind of technology. and an orion capsule which they are working on would be on the top of this rocket. so, you know, ultimately, kyra, this announcement could be, could be as big as the announcement of the shuttle program's creation or perhaps the announcement of humans going to the moon back, you know, when kennedy made his announcement. but we're going to have to wait and see. the money's there now. and nasa's hoping that this will be the beginning of a new era in space exploration. kyra? >> you know we'll be following it. you'll be on top of it for sure. john, thanks. the victory -- a victory for the gop. a little-known republican wins a seat in congress and did it in a heavily democratic district. so is it a sign of things to come in 2012? our "political buzz" weighs in.

let's check the markets. dow jones industrials in negative territory. we had a two-day upswing. doesn't look so good today. ♪ [ male announcer ] each of these photos was taken by someone on the first morning of their retirement. it's the first of more than 6,000 sunrises the average retiree will see. ♪ as we're living longer than ever before, prudential's challenge is to help everyone have the retirement income they'll need to enjoy every one of their days. ♪ prudential. bring your challenges.

you know what,ell me, what makes peterpeter ? i can my own homemade jam, apricot. and really love my bank's ise your ratcd. i'm sorry, did you say you'd love a pay raise asap uh, tuly, i said i love my bank's raise your rate cd. you spen8 days lo at sea ? no, uh... you love watching your neighbors watch tv ? at ally, you'll love o raise your rate cd that offers a one-ti rate increase if our currentates go up. when anybody in ameri calls icken ans for free home loan review, we'll offer them a fr android smartphone. but how are you going to get these phoneso ou clientcoast to coast? da it's gonna take a tt mic. n't worry about it. i'm it. straight from motown to y america! quicken ans helpinople coast to coast. here's aandroi foalaska show 'em that motown magic. nd ito mepaan-style for wn south. yes!

that's nice right the. ♪ helping in a 5es ♪ ♪ give me what you got,ow magic, you tting tired t? i'm just getting warmed up! [ ale announcer ] it's like gic! callod foa fr home an revie we'll offer free android artphone to you! hit i♪ [ laughs here's one for theast coast. now that's se detroit magi rit th male annncer ] one re way quicken loans is engineered amaze a house seat that had been democratic for years now belongs to the republicans. bob turner won yesterday's special election in new york, replacing anthony who resigned after a secondting scandal. the tsa rolling out new procedures for children. children under 12 will be

allowed to keep shoes on and will be allowed multiple screenings through machines if needed. and yesterday there was a satellite problem that affected service causing dish outages. in the political topics of the day. three questions, 30 seconds on the clock. maria car dona, dana lohse, and john avalon, columnist with "newsweek" and "the daily beast." republican bob turner replaced anthony weiner after the sexting scandal. there was a huge upset. what does this say about 2012 for president obama? maria? >> i think there's a huge lesson for democrat. of that is, do not send pictures of your private parts on twitter. i think that is the only thing that we can get out of this. voters don't want to see picture of your junk. just don't do it. other than that, there's anything else to gather from this. in 2006, republicans swept every

competitive special election and lost the house. in 2010, democrats swept every competitive special election and lost the house. democrats are ready for 2012 with strong challengers who are going to go up against republicans who want to cut medicare, cut social security -- [ buzzer ] >> protect loopholes for the wealthy and protect middle-class families, that's the challenge we're ready to win. >> i think john's smiling over the word "junk." dana, you weigh in. >> i think that there's a tide coming in, and this administration would do best to not only look at the polls, which this morning i decided to look over the past six months of polling and watch as the president's approval rating just tanked. watched as the approval rating of democratic congress absolutely tanked. let's look at wisconsin. let's look at the results that we saw with the midterm elections. this is a huge bellwether race. there hasn't been a republican in the seat since 1922. when you have lost the urban jewish vote, as a friend of mine from the area told me last night, that's huge. it would be really good for the administration --

[ buzzer ] >> to take note of this. >> john? >> republicans are saying basically this is the end of the obama administration. democrats are saying there's nothing to see here. they're both overstating it, putting it through the partisan prison. losing a seat your party held for 90 years is never a good thing. this is a special election. it is a local election driven by a lot of local factors in the wake of a disgraced former incumbent. so you got to see it in perspective. you know, president obama's declining in the poll numbers, yeah. democrats and republicans in congress doing even worse. the special election had to do with local issues more than national. >> all right. let's talk about something happening now. rick perry is at jerry falwell's liberty university. so how much will evangelicals matter for the gop candidates? dana? >> i think evangelicals will matter in every election. i think it's important to note that right now we're in a period where the top concern, especially if you look t exit polling data of the midterm election, is about jobs, all about the economy. the economy is going to make or break who wins in this election. i think social issues, they're

important, as well. i tell you what, the thing that affects our national security, the thing that affects us locally that affects americans being able to put bread on the table is the economy. and if we don't have that, we're not going to have anything else. that's the chief concern. >> maria? >> so quickly on poll numbers since i know dana loves to talk about them and the economy, republicans' poll numbers are much worse than president obama. that's one thing they need to worry about. in the last cnn poll that came out, the majorities of voters trust obama much more on the economy than they do the gop. >> no, no, no -- >> evangelicals are critical to the republican base, and i think it is also something that they need to watch out for because in order to cowtow to that base, they're going to be saying things that are tough than to get thing from mainstream americans in the general election. >> john? >> there's an element of truth to that. look, evangelicals are hugely important to the republican base and key to winning the primary. they're also an important part of the core constituency. a lot of tea party supporters

identify themselves as libertarians. social conservatives are the base of the republican party. rick perry's been able to have the support of tea party and evangelicals. that's why he's in first place in the republican primary. >> 20 seconds each. rapper l'il wayne tells "vibe" magazine that gop disrespect for the president is more about his race than his policies. so do you think that he has a point here? and how seriously do you take l'il wayne as a pundit? dan dana? >> he just got out of jail, didn't he? i guess think he's that moveon.org is racist. harvey weinstein read a statement where he invited tea partiers to iowa for the premiere of his film "butter." he said he wants to educate people about the constitution and women's rights. so as the co-founder of the st. louis tea party, i accept harvey weinstein's invitation. i would do a lot to educate him about the constitution.

>> maria? >> look, i definitely think that there is an element of truth that there are some people out there who do have a problem with this president's race. let's puts that out there. i would never paint everybody who's against this president as a racist, but there is a small element to that. whether we can take l'il wayne as a serious pundit, no. dana's right. he did just get out of prison and talk good being a venereal disease in one of his songs. no. >> oh, boy. >> that's -- yeah. yeah. first of all, i'd pay good money to see dana debate with harvey weinste weinstein. second of all, you -- >> all he has to do is e-mail. >> look, you know, whenever we get into this sort of celebrities and politics, it's -- l'il wayne, snooki, it's a distraction. it's something i guess. but it's totally irrelevant. you know, on the issue of race and the presidency, race has always been a fundamental fault line in american politics. l'il wayne i don't think is particularly representative. >> thanks, guys. rick perry now is speaking

at liberty university. it's the nation's largest evangelical university. we talked about that with the panel. we'll listen to it after the break. every time a local business opens its doors or creates another laptop bag or hires another employee,

it's not just good for business -- it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact that local businesses have on communities, so we're helping them with advice from local business experts and extending $18 billion in credit last year. that's how we're helping set opportunity in motion. ♪ whoa! hey! [ dog barks, growls ] ♪ whoa, watch out, little man. ♪ [ male announcer ] when you take away the worry, it's easy to enjoy the ride. hey, bud. hey, dad. [ male announcer ] introducing cadillac shield. the most comprehensive suite of owner benefits offered by any luxury auto maker in the world.

rick perry speaking at liberty university founded by jerry falwell. he wanted to sum up beliefs of students there. mostly social conservatives. let's listen to what he has to say. >> my goodness, you know, i -- [ laughter ] >> when i wasn't -- when i wasn't going to church or to school, you usually found me obviously on the farm helping my mom and dad on that dry land cotton farm, and -- for me, indoor plumbing was a bit of a luxury until i was about 5 years old. and i didn't worry about the latest fashions. my mother sewed most of my

clothes. and i didn't know that we weren't wealthy in a material sense. i knew that we were rich in a lot of things that really matter, in a spiritual way, but it was texas a&m that broadened that perspective for me as much as i should -- i should say as much as an all-male military institution could do in the late 60s and early 70s. but it wasn't until i flew around the world as a pilot in the united states air force and i learned about a world that was incredibly more diverse and complex in paint creek or college station in 1972 for the first time in my life, i met people who didn't take freedom

for granted because it didn't exist where they lived. i saw rumors treat people like subjects and who thought very little about the basic conditions or quality of life of those people that they ruled over. i learned what a grand privilege it is to be an american. as students of this most unique university whose very name speaks to the desire of every hum human. so liberty, i hope you will reflect on the blessings it is to live in america. our founding fathers were the first among the nations to declare our rights are endowed by our creator. that among them are life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. and while liberty may be the

gift of god its preservation requires the sacrifice of man. i'm mindful today that we are free because generations of americans have been brave. there is no greater force for freedom than the men and women of the united states military. [ applause ] 47,092 of our fellow americans have given the ultimate sacrifice in iraq. another 2,711 have done the same in afghanistan. that's more than 7,500 families who sent their loved ones off, waved them good-bye, hugged and

kissed them for the last time, and never saw them again. a great many of those who perished were approximately your age. young men and women whose entire future was in front of, but they sacrificed their dreams to preserve yours. we're the beneficiaries of their courage and their sacrifice and because of what they gave, i simply ask you to make the most of the freedom that they sacrificed for. that you redeem their sacrifice by living lives worthy of it.

you are the generation that grew up in the shadow of 9/11. many of you were children the day that those towers and the pentagon were struck. you've grown up fast, you know the presence of evil is real in this fallen world. our response cannot be to isolate ourselves within our borders but to engage our allies in the quest to build these enduring alliances around the globe for freedom. and we must do what ronald reagan did at the apex of the cold war which is to speak past the oppressors and illegitimate rumors and direct to the people. the kwunz w-- the ones who live behind the wall of oppression. the arab spring began when a tunisian street vendor set

himself on fire over the oppression of the authorities. and regardless of tribe or tongue, people desire to be free. america must continue to be the world's leading advocate for freedom. speaking the truth to adversaries and dictators in keeping with our democratic values. you are blessed -- >> rick perry speaking at liberty university. the nation's largest evangelical university founded by jerry falwell. some of the gop candidates are beginning to question whether perry is conservative enough for republican voters. we're following the speech for you. this is a year to remember for jeff gordon. he's in the hunt for his fifth sprint cup championship. meese going to join us live. starting my progresso soup for lunch plan, huh. nope,

just having some tender chicken and some tasty noodles.

let's see...south western vegetables...60 calories. ya' know those jeans look nice. they do? yup. so you were checking me out? yup. [ male announcer ] progresso. 40 soups 100 calories or less. o0 you could save a bundle with geico's multi-policy discount. geico, saving people money on more than just car iance. ♪ geic

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. from the white house to the congressy to women on the track, we're talking about it all with jeff gordon, number 24. he's in the hint for another sprint cup championship, but he's made a pit stop with us. good to see you. >> thank you. good morning. >> tell me about the white house. what was it like meeting the president? >> it was incredible. you know, any time you get the opportunity to go to the white house and, you know, be honored by the president and, you know, get a chance to meet him and, of course, most of it was about honoring jimmy johnson, the championship. but this was the second time i've had a chance to go to the

white house and, you know, it's a special occasion. doesn't matter whether you're republican or democrat, you know, it's -- being able to go and support your president and to know that he's in his group are supporting nascar races is fantastic. >> does he like nascar? does he watch nascar? >> he did say that he thought his wife was a better driver than he was. >> but offer him a lesson or two? >> absolutely. we'd love to have him come to a race. and he -- or michelle, both of them, that would be great. >> what are the chances of that? did you ask? as you know, it's -- conservatives love nascar. and you know president bush came out at the daytona 500. do you think he would do it? did he give you any sign that he would? >> didn't hear any signs of whether he would. certainly we invited him. and, you know, your interaction with him is brief. he's a very busy guy. and a lot going on. so, you know, it was just a

pleasure just to even get that quick moment. >> when he was elected, you actually -- i saw a quote, you said he was a symbol of hope. do you think he's lived up to that? >> well, i thinking about the president is the toughest job that there is. so much responsibility, expectations. you know, i think he's working hard to do the best job that he can. i do believe in that. >> are you going to vote for him? >> you're not going to get me on that. >> i'm isn't you're not going to tell me? if you had to vote today, you would vote for -- >> yeah, you're not going to get me on that. >> all right. i'll keep thinking of three ways to get to that question. all right. we'll move on then to drive to end hunger, something you will talk b. you went to the congo. you said it changed your life, why? >> it did. when you go into a developing country like the drc and you see, you know, the struggles that are going on there with -- with the citizens of the congo

and even all the way through the government, you know, there's -- a tremendous amount of encouragement by the people and how strongwilled they are and how, you know, they get through day to day, but it certainly makes you want to do all you can to support and help them. you know, it made -- made me look at the world a whole different way as i came back to the u.s. and how i look at my children and how i approach philanthropy. we're very fortunate that this year we have a cause-driven scholarship in the cause to end hunger through the aarp foundation. i love being able to represent them and being able to go out there and help them raise awareness and funding for those who are 50 and over that are dealing with hunger issues. it's -- there's about nine million people in america that are dealing with that. >> meanwhile, you're getting ready for the chase this weekend. for nascar fans who don't know what that's about, tell them why they should be excited.

>> i'm certainly excited. we have an incredible race team. momentum, confidence in what we're doing. this year, the chase for the sprint -- nascar sprint cup is wide open. we're starting in chicago this weekend on sunday. so tune in at 1:00 on espn. but i think probably any of these 12 drivers and teams that are in the chase this year can win this chip. and it's going to be -- win this championship. and it's going to be exciting to see how it unfolds. hopefully we can keep the drive to end hunger team moving forward as we have been the last several weeks. >> so jeff, are you voting for obama? >> am i what? >> i said -- >> i didn't hear you -- you're breaking up. >> that's what i thought -- we're having a bad connection. jeff gordon, number 24, we'll be watching this weekend. thanks for stopping by. >> thank you. coming up, you know the cardigans, but do you know the story behind the brand or the man who made it nationally recognized as a label? [ male announcer ] this is lara.

her morning begins with arthritis pain. that's a coffee and two pills. the afternoon tour begins with more pain and more pills. the evening guests arrive. back to sore knees. back to more pills. the day is done but hang on... her doctor recommended aleve. just 2 pills can keep arthritis pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is lara who chose 2 aleve and fewer pills for a day free of pain. and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels. and fewer pills for a day free of pain. naturals from delicious, real ingredients with no artificial flavors or preservatives. naturals from purina cat chow. share a better life.

it's a brands that even the first lady wears, jcrew. hundreds of stores across the country, more than $1 billion in sales and plans to expand. we have more from behind the scenes. can i have your attention, please? >> reporter: meet america's merchant prince. >> if anyone can bring in better sellers -- >> reporter: mickey dressler, ceo of j. crew. when he speaks -- >> thanks are new -- >> reporter: the racks come rolling in. >> bring them in. >> the green is doing half of

the sales. this is the number-one style. >> reporter: why the intercom? >> why the intercom? just why you don't see any walls here, because i think most organizations have -- are fortress oriented. >> reporter: not at j. crew where drexler's mantra is "no profit, no fun." once a catalog company for college kids, a decade ago j. crew was in a slump. that's until drexler came aboard nine years ago, picked up after being abruptly fired from the gap. who was your biggest competitor? >> you know, i could say anyone with a sewing machine. >> reporter: he's been credited with inventing casual fridays by changing the way americans dress. elevating j. crew to affordable luxury. they really are the iconic american brand, aren't they? >> j. crew has made itself into something magical. i know women who can afford anything in the world, and they literally go through the j. crew catalog and order outfits off the page.

>> he wanted to talk about italian cashmere. he wanted to talk about italian shoes, quality. we've been having those conversations. >> reporter: it worked. under drexler, j. crew's sales have tripled to $1.8 billion. with the first family's seal of approval. >> i want to ask but your wardrobe. i'm guessing about $60,000. >> actually, this is a j. crew ensemble. >> really? wow. [ applause ] >> reporter: you call her an act of god? >> yeah. look, you can't argue with that kind of publicity. >> reporter: the secret, a big splash of color. j. crew's signature. >> when you buy something like this, you're competing with 50 other retailers and half have it on sale. >> reporter: that's why you've got this? >> we've got this. look, color is a competitive advantage for us. >> reporter: he created crewcuts for kids. bridal, jewelry, and everywhere there's sparkle. 233 stores nationwide. they're in canada and have their sights set on china, too.

this season for the first time, jcrew presented its latest collection under the fashion tents. six-foot-tall jenna lyons is the resident cool girl. j. crew's president. >> i sort of joke that i'm like the road signs. don't do, that let's do more of that. stay here, no, stop. you know, it's maybe little of that that keeps everything coming out the tunnel at the other end. >> reporter: kooky color combo, a touch of the unexpected. >> i wore these. i loved them. here they are back again. like then you have to wear this with a sequinned skirt. it's not about this with a kilt. >> reporter: drexler's fi philosophy is simple and all american, just like j. crew. >> do it, do it right. pay close attention to the product. and over time you will win. >> you can get an exclusive look at runway shows, fashions, and trends on a special coming up, "backstage pass." it will be this saturday, september 17, 2:30.

another good thing about geico is, they've got, like, real live people working there 24/7. so like say you need to report a claim, alright. a real person will be there to help you. then you can use geico.com to view photos of the damage, track your claim, print an estimate. you want an english muffin? they literally hand you a toasted muffin with butter and jam. (sigh) whaa. tasty. that's, that's a complete dramatization of course, but you get my point.

vo: geico 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. my son and i never missed opening day. but with copd making it hard to breathe, i thought those days might be over. so my doctor prescribed symbicort. it helps significantly improve my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. with symbicort, today i'm breathing better, and that means... game on! symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. [ whistle ] with copd, i thought i might miss out on my favorite tradition. now symbicort significantly improves my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. and that makes a difference in my breathing. today i'm back with my favorite team. ask your doctor about symbicort.