athens today. greeks are furious about government belt-tightening measures, particularly a new tax on electricity. now, the government is working to meet fiscal targets set by lenders in order to get the next installment of bailout money. without that loan money, greece could default in a couple of weeks. shane bauer and josh fattal woke up on american soil for the first time in more than two years that happened today. they say they spent more than 780 days in an iranian prison. iran sentenced them to eight years in prison for spying, but freed them on a million dollars bail last week. >> we had to go on hunger strike repeatedly just to receive letters from our loved ones. many times, too many times, we heard the screams of other prisoners being beaten and there was nothing we could do to help them. >> bauer and fattal say they accidentally strayed into iran

while hiking. texas governor rick perry failed to live up to his front-runner's status this weekend. mitt romney won michigan straw poll by a 3-1 margin over perry. now, romney's father served as michigan governor in the '60s making the son somewhat of a home state favorite. in florida, herman cain took top billing. he drew twice as many votes as perry, with romney in third place. cain says he won because voters are beginning to notice his 999 tax plan. here's how he explains it. >> my plan is bold because it throws out the tax code and imposes a business flat tax of 9%, personal flat tax of 9%, national sales tax of 9%. it replaces all of the taxes that people are now having to grapple with and it provides search engine to the business community which is what they're looking for in order to grow this economy. >> governor perry jumped into the race for the gop nomination.

that was just six weeks ago. instantly topped the polls but critics say that perry's debate performances have been kind of shaky, leaning to some doubts. well, in 3 1/2 hours we're going to get new details on the washington monument and perhaps when it's going to reopen to tourists. it's been closed since the art quake ripped four cracks in that marble structure last month. and then hurricane irene left pools of standing water inside the monument. despite that all that the engineers say the monday knew meant is structurally sound. diana nyad nursing serious welts and bitter disappointment. second attempt to swim from cuba to florida without a shark cage. well, that is now over. repeated jellyfish stings forced her to call off the swim after, that's right, 42 hours and 67 miles. >> oh, my god. the first night i felt i was my back was paralyzed.

i thought, wait a second, it's the portuguese man-of-war sting. it swept across the lips, eyes, the nose. the entire face. just never ever in my life have i known pain like that. >> we're rooting for her. nyad who is 62 now hibts that she's not going to try again as severe asthma attack forced her to end her attempt at the cuba to florida record back in august. well, president obama, he's on the west coast today raising money promoting his jobs plan, a trip comes really after a fiery speech. the congressional black caucus. that happened in weekend. a sign of the president that many people have not seen. i was there. it was something else. i want of bring into today's talk back question, carol costello with your question. carol, i mean, really, it was a lot of emotion, a lot of

passion, and it looked like frustration and anger coming from the president on stage. i had not seen that before. >> yeah, he usually seems so robotic, but he did show emotion this time. that's the subject of our talk back this afternoon. president obama is kicking it up a notch these days. polls showing low approval ratings and loss of confidence in his economic plan. the president seems fired up as politico's roger steinman says, we're seeing a rockem sockem obama. >> i'm going to press on for jobs. i'm going to press on for equality. i'm going to press on for the sake of our children. i'm going to press on for the sake of all those families who are struggling right now. i don't have time to feel sorry for myself. i don't have time to complain. i'm going to press on. >> in case you hadn't noticed the new alpha obama first appeared in that jobs speech

before congress and then when he blasted the rich for not paying their fair share of taxes the president acknowledged sarah palin's criticism of this hopy changy thing, sarcastically saying the hopy changy thing, it's still there. at a fund-raiser he was down right foois they saying about rick perry, goat, you've got a governor whose state is on fire denying climate change. mr. obama said this about the republican debate audiences. cheering at the prospect of somebody dying because they don't have health care and booing a service member in iraq because they're gay, come on. no question about it, president obama is throwing some red meat to a liberal base upset that he seems weak in the face of republican attacks. oh, but the big question this morning is, and this is our "talk back." is president obama's new fiery persona resonating? facebook.com/carolcnn. i'll read your comments later this hour. >> i'm so curious about this,

car carol, because i talked to a at of cbc members and they were frustrated with him because they felt like, what, you're blaming us, putting us on us, we love the fire but direct it at radio t. right place. very curious to see how other folks read that. >> he asked them to take off their bedroom slippers and put on their marching shoes and march behind him. when, you know, the unemployment rate among african-americans is more than 16%. >> right. there are some members of congress who are saying, look, you know, you're a little late to the party here. some are saying we were the ones who put forward these jobs plans. we were the ones holding the jobs fairs. where were you when there was a jobs plan. the president came back and said get on board. i've got this jobs plan. get on board. so i am very curious to see how people are going to read this one. >> well, especially voters because that's what it all boils down to. if the voters like this, it's a sign that he's actually fighting and has a plan that he wants to

institute and that resonates with them, but we'll see what our facebook friends say about that. >> all right. thank you, carol. >> sure. here's a run down of the store roys ahead. first, congresswoman maxine waters is joining me to see the president's fiery speech helped her hurt him with the congressional black caucus. pushing a war on poverty. the reverend jesse jackson joins us on the nation's problem as the problem moves from the inner cities to suburbs. the manslaughter case against michael jackson's personal physician that officially begins. we examine how both sides are preparing their case. the days of free checking accounts, they're numbered. we're going to be live in the new york stock exchange with what this means for you and your money. so i was the guy who was never going to have the heart attack.

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we've been talking a lot about the changing face of poverty in america. the numbers telling the story. really a whopping 46.2 million americans are now living in poverty. that is more than 15% of the population. you might be sure priced to know that most are in the suburbs. more than 15 million people in suburban america live below the poverty line. the number of people receiving foot sta food stamps is at a record at $44.2 million. reverend jesse jackson of the rainbow push coalition is in athens, ohio, today focusing on poverty in the united states. he joins us live. reverend, thank you for being with us. it is a pleasure to see you. >> good morning. >> can you explain to us, first

of all, why is it that poverty is now disproportionately impacting those who live in the suburbs? >> well, because those jobs have left, as well. but in many ways poverty has been shown to be intractable in the appalachian region, hardworking coal miner, steelworkers, chemical workers live. open up the wall on poverty here in athens to put the focus on the faceless poor. most poor people are white, female and young. you do not see that face. it will have -- they come alive and begin to vote, they will have a tremendous impact on the national dialogue. >> reverend, what do you think needs to happen to create more jobs for that group specifically and then also for the african-american community which is now at about 17% unemployed? >> well, jobs must be targeted zones of need. that was the kind of genius of lbj is that wherever the pain is

is where anesthesia must be. and i mean, the poorest district in congressional america is harold rogers district in eastern kentucky. what is eastern kentucky or whether it's here in this part of a plaappalachia or l.a. or n york. people on welfare can't own a car. they don't have transportation to where the jobs are and locked into poverty. public transportation is a piece of that. some direct jobs, not just indirect jobs, i think, are from tax cuts. so for for our policy tended to favor those from the deck of the ship and not the hull of the ship where the water comes in. many people lost their will to work, the will to vote, beaten down by poverty. poverty is expensive because it contributes to surrender. poverty is bad for your health. it affects infant mortality and

life expectancy. poverty is a crippling factor that we can address. right can't we right now commit to malnutrition. every child in school of access to a dentist and hearing and eye assistance. these are things that transcend these political divides. >> reverend, we know that part of this is about creating jobs, obviously. on saturday you and i attended the congressional black caucus dinner where president obama spoke about really push forward for his jobs bill. he wants this to pass in congress. and this is his message to the congressional black caucus. let's just listen. >> stop complaining! stop grumbling! stop crying! we are going to press on. we've got work to do. >> reverend, he was fired up. he seemed trust trafrustrated. he seemed angry. what did you make of his message and what did you think about his tone, the fact that he is accusing the cbc of whining and

complaining. >> i think that he -- he feels the pressure of the pain. i will not use the language of whining of complaining. people are crying out. those who are crying out, the congressional caucus, these are canaries in the mind. they support you. we really want you to hear the impact of 30% unemployment. people cannot get transportation. citizens closing hospitals, closing schools, they're building jails, infant mortality rate is out of control, life expectancy is cut short. they should be seen not as enemies, they've should be seen as canaries who are friends seeking help. if they get that help, they will be all winners. >> reverend, do you think his tone was helpful in winning over the congressional black caucus? >> it's hard to say. i thought he was inspired. he was excited. he wanted to send a message we were going to fight. to me fighting is not just challenging the caucus, which is important, but those banks that drove people in the foreclosure,

they got bailout with links to lending and reinvestment. i mean, they need to be challenged in the rest real sense. those insurance companies that are going to have to pay out the public option, insurance rates are rising, uninsured is rising. the bush tax cut extension amounts to more money in all of the state budget deficits combined. i think he's right. but that passion and that passion that he showed broadly applied. i think it's a good tone for him. i think because he believes the reconciliation, but sometimes confrontation precedes reconciliation. i think he was on fire and that fire must continue. >> reverend jackson, thank you so much for your time. we appreciate it. thank you. the jury is seated. the lawyers now ready. tomorrow we're going to hear opening statements in the trial of michael jackson's personal physician, dr. conrad murray was with jackson when he died.

he is now charged with involuntary manslaughter. cnn's ted rowlands looks at the case against dr. murray. >> your honor, i am an innocent man. >> reporter: the jury in the manslaughter trial will have several questions to answer. one, did dr. murray give michael jackson a lethal dose of propofol. prosecutors say there's no doubt, murray and his attorneys say there's no way. >> there's no way that dr. murray would pump michael jackson full of propofol, sufficient for major surgery, and walk out of that room. it's not going to happen. that's not the doctor dr. murray is. >> reporter: murray claims the day jackson died he only administered 25 milligrams of propofol, far less than what was found in jackson's body by the coroner. >> how did it get in him? >> that's a good question, ted. do you have any idea how it got in him? >> reporter: the defense is expected to argue that jackson somehow gave himself the lethal

dose. >> could michael jackson have done it? >> is it possible for an individual to inject himself with a drug? yes. yes. >> reporter: before jackson died he spent hours struggling to go to sleep, according to a time line murray gave police. murray says he gave jackson five doses of three different drugs, between 1:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. at 10:40 a.m. he says he gave jackson the propofol. >> did anybody witness what happened? >> no. just the doctor, sir. >> reporter: 911 was called at 12:21. emergency responders will testify they believe jackson was dead when they arrived. another question jurors must answer is, was using propofol, an anesthetic for surgery, as asleep aid so reckless that murray should be held responsible for jackson's death? doctor after doctor gets up and said this should never be used outside a clinical setting, outside of a hospital or a clinic. >> the fact that the

circumstances may be unusual, may be demonstrated to be unusual does not make it egregious. that alone does not make it egregious. >> reporter: murray's defense will argue jackson was a drug addict and in horrible physical shape and that he was getting drugs from other doctors that murray didn't know about. prosecutors plan to argue that jackson was in good shape and plan to show this clip from the documentary "this is it" of jackson rehearsing just days before he died. so now, more than two years after jackson's death, a los angeles jury will be presented with the case and ultimately decide whether or not dr. conrad murray should be held responsible. next hour we're going to take a closer look at the make-up of that jury. sunny hosstin from "in session" is going to join us to profile those jurors. we are also watching, want to go live to an event. this is diana nyad, long

distance swimmer who tried to swim from cuba to florida without a shark cage. her second attempt to do that without a shark cage. it was cut short because of stings from jellyfish. let's listen in to her story. >> and looking across that long passage of water and saying, i did it. i'm ready. this body, these shoulders, and this mind is ready to traverse this distance. i know it's going to be hard. i know i'm going to come to big swollen lips and all kinds of chafing and -- and maybe some tears that bonnie will help me get through, but i can do it. i got the willpower. i've put in all the training. i deserve it. i deserve walking up thoon that other shore. how naive of me not to think of these almost science fiction little animals in the water.

-- on that first night, this here -- so rude. [ cell phone ringing ] i think it's the gas company telling me my bill's due. on the first night i'm swimming and i'm telling you, i hosted a series called "the great catch of the world" and we went around belize for the jaguar in africa and the lion and the leopard. and then we did the final suit in north america about the north american mountain lion. all of you know if you have a dog occasionally sweet and what not. but if a dog is in a moment of nature when you're near it to chase something, you have forgotten how powerful and how fast that animal is and that we are such pathetic animals compared to the animals -- all the other animals on earth.

and that mountain lion, it came at me and it pinned me down. it actually didn't bite me but it took his jaws and put them around my calf and lynched me to the earth. it sat me down. and i thought, oh, we go watch disney films and we go to africa and see the beautiful -- you have no idea how pathetic we are compared to the animal world. but that jellyfish -- i asked john because this brother was with me. he came in to take that sting with me. and he had throwing up and parlization of his lungs. his body kept, come to the side. john is 15 minutes behind me. he's going through the whole thing. he's taking every shot. it's like you can -- you can die from these things. he's done some research. because he was in the water and he saw them.

we thought portuguese man-of-war. blow a bubble? not portuguese man-of-war. they can be easily fatal. okay. i'll turn it off now. i know how to work my phone. so the first night i'm swimming and ironically it's like two hours we have beautiful like the first time we started off. glassy. and i'm cruising. i'm thinking, this is what i trained for. i'm on top of the water and this is going to be 60 hours and it's going to be glorious and i'm going to go through the mind trip that all those hours in the meditative water take you to. even hallucinations. i'm going to enjoy it like that journey to ethica. this is epic. >> you're listening to diana nyad explaining how it was that her swim was going and coming across those jellyfish and how

painful that was for her. we are hoping to talk to diana nyad later on in the show and ask her a couple of questions ourselves about how she feels about pursuing her goal in the future, whether or not she will try again and what that was like. well, prepare to say good-bye to free checking as you've known it. banks rolling out all kinds of fees now. strings for people opening up an account. alison kosik will join was all the hoops you're going to have to jump through. that up next. with overactive bladder, us our pipes just don't work as well as they should. sometimes, i worry my pipes might leak. but i learned there's something more i can do. now, i take care with vesicare. once-daily vesicare can help control your bladder muscle and is proven to treat overactive bladder with symptoms of frequent urges and leaks day and night. if you have certain stomach or glaucoma problems, or trouble emptying your bladder, do not take vesicare. vesicare may cause allergic reactions that may be serious. if you experience swelling of the face, lips,

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here's your chance to choose the news, text for the story you would like to see. text 1 for apple's tox xiic gas? is the company making people

sick? a chinese watchdog group says an apple plant is letting off toxic gasses. text 2 for flying plantsambulan. you won't need a siren. look for doctors who use special planes to treat patients trapped in isolated parts of africa. and text 3 for importing style. one of cuba's best known designers is reinventing the island's classic style and celebrities like sting, danny glover, jumping on board. vote by texasing 122360, text 1 for apple's toxic gasses? 2 for flying ambulances. or 3 for importing cuba's style. winning story is going to air in the next hour. thanks. now wrapping checking accounts, a lot of red tape. fallout from the recent financial reform bill that has already passed congress. we're going to bring in alison kosik joining us live from the new york stock exchange. alison, explain to us why this is happening.

there are no free checking accounts. this is like a thing of the past now? >> well, keep in mind, suzanne, free checking does exist. you have to look really, really hard to find it because only 45% of the checking accounts out there are actually considered free. you compare that to just a year ago where 65% were wered free. and this is happening because banks are taking in less money. there are more regulations out there now. means that it limits houch banks can charge or can collect on other fees. what they're essentially trying to do is make up the lost revenue by putting a fee on these checking accounts. and it's pretty much sticking it to the consumer at this point, suzanne. >> so less than half of these checking accounts are free. how do people make sure they get one of those, one of the ones that are free? >> exactly. so there is a trick to this. but you're going to have to follow some rules. if you want to really find true free checking, you would have to probably have your paycheck direct deposited into your account. you'll have to maintain a minimum balance.

and here's another trick. try to have all of your banking done at one bank, meaning having your money market account, have your mortgage, have your savings account, all with the same bank and then you're more likely to have free checking. suzanne? >> and how are the markets doing today? what do we know? >> we're holding on to our rally right now. the dow up 123 points. funny thing is you're not seeing traders really trade on anything tangible. more on optimism and hope that greece is going to get its act together as far as the debt troubles go. if you ask anybody they really want to see action if you want to see a rlly like this stick. but at this point, a strong words from imf officials from world bank officials are helping to keep this rally at least for the moment. suzanne? >> we hope. thank you. we can only hope. thanks. president obama tells black lawmakers, take off the bedroom shoes, put on marching shoes. we're going to get reaction to his fired up speech before the congressional black caucus. congresswoman max xine wate is going to join us live. ♪ sent her back to college for her sophomore year ♪

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president obama is taking a

lot of heat lately, not only from republicans but the congressional black caucus. they say he hasn't done enough to deal with the high unemployment in the african-american community. at a cnn dinner over the weekend the president was fired up and firing back. >> i'm going to press on for the sake of all those families who are struggling right now. i don't have time to feel sorry for myself. i don't have time to complain. i'm going to press on. i expect all of you to march with me and press on. take off your bedroom slippers. put on your marching shoes. shake it off. stop complaining. stop grumbling. stop crying. we are going to press on. we've got work to do. cbc, god bless you and god bless the united states of america. >> we're going to find out how the president's speech went over with the members of the congressional black caucus.

congresswoman maxine waters is with us from capitol hill. thank you so much for joining us here. >> you're welcome. >> i saw you that evening. wasn't able to actually pull you aside and ask for your reaction. but i know you were in the audience there when he threw that out there. what did you think? >> well, i think the president is moving in a good direction. that's why the congressional black caucus went out on the road to five cities, held town hall meetings, and then put the job fair together. one, to recognize the pain and devastation in the african-american community. people want to work. and we challenged the conversation. they asked us to get this conversation going. the president heard us and the president responded in his speech to us at the cbc. it was not as if i took it as an attack. i took it as having been successful and getting the president to talk about the joblessness in the

african-american community. many of those people in the room are civil rights people who have marched, who have worked. we don't have bedroom slippers. we've been out there for years doing this kind of thing. so we take it that he just kind of got off the tell prompt etelr a little bit and got fired up. we want to help him. we want to make sure that the base is protected. and the conversation has began. we didn't take a vacation during our break. we went to work. we went to cleveland, detroit, atlanta, miami, and los angeles with thousands of people in line wanting jobs. and we put them together with employers to give them an opportunity. i think the president sees this and he appreciates that. we think that -- we go to support him. we think that he should be re-elected. yes. >> congresswoman, having known you for quite some time i.e., know you do not have bedroom slippers on. you have marching shoes. >> that's right. >> when you listen to that, did you feel at all when he talked about stop grumbling or crying or whining, did you feel that he

was accusing you or members of the cbc of not rolling up your sleeves and getting the job done and create jobs? you didn't take it that way? >> no. well, i thought it was rather curious. that's what i've been describing it as. certainly those of us who are out on the road recognizing the pain and devastation of joblessness and the african-american community. certainly, we're working. we won't on vacation. those job fairs that we put together, thousands upon thousands of people came and they thanked us. so we don't know exactly who he was talking to. we think he just got off script and got fired up and had to say something. we certainly don't think that he really meant that. that he knows that not only have we been working and he certainly couldn't have been talking to unemployed people telling them don't grumble. people who don't have jobs have a right to say i want some help. >> congresswoman, do you think there's anything that he said

that night specifically addressed the unemployment in the african-american community being as high as 17% and 40% when it comes to young black people? is there anything that he said that really addresses that specifically to your satisfaction? >> well. one of the things that happened is the recognition of it. we have not heard him say black or african-american or 16.7% unemployment or that 40% to 50% unemployment among black youths that you just alluded to. so we think that the recognition of the pain was extremely important. >> why is that a big deal, just the fact that the president recognize those numbers? isn't that something that he already should be doing? >> well, it's a big deal because that's what we were challenged about in detroit. they wanted to hear from us. they wanted to hear from the president. and that's extremely important, that people understand that the president gets it, that he knows what's going on. this is unprecedented unemployment. the joblessness, the worse since

the great depression. and since they have not heard it from him and we were able to help bring him to this point. remember what i said in detroit, are you ready for this conversation? well, the conversation has started. the president gave recognition to it, and now we have to move very aggressively and we've go to fight very hard to do job creation. not just tax breaks but job creation. and that's what they're looking for. >> all right. congresswoman maxine waters. thank you so much for your time. appreciate it. good to see you. >> you're welcome. thank you. >> thank you. president obama is taking part in a town hall and jobs in mountain view, california. that's happening today. the forum is hosted by the link linkedin jobs networking site. we're going to take you there live 2:00 p.m. eastern. also to we log another story. enduring swimmer diana nyad amid jellyfish, man-of-war. a white tip shark almost came too close for comfort but ultimately she had to call it

quits on her cuba to florida swim. nyad did complete a historic caribbean swim back in 1979. do you know where from? jamaica, the ba ma'hamasbahamasn islands? that answer when we come back. ♪ oh, it was the first time i fell in love ♪ ♪ the first time i felt my heart ♪ [ man ] people say i'm forgetful. [ horn honking ] ♪ ...all through the night [ man ] maybe that's why we go to so many memorable places. ♪ [ male announcer ] the subaru outback. love the road you're on. for a free home loan review, we'll offer them a free android smartphone. but how are you gonna get these phones to our clients coast to coast? it's gonna take a little magic. i'm on it. straight from motown to you, america! yes! helping people coast to coast. give me that spartan touch.

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we tested your memory end e enduran endurance. diana nyad didn't complete her last cuba swim. but in 1979 she did, from where? the answer, the bahamas. well, we are rooting for her. nyad says it's hard to let go of her dream to swim from cuba to florida. she is 62 years old now. she has tried three times. her latest attempt ended yesterday after a man-of-war stings paralyzed some of the muscles in her back. just moments ago, she said it was all worth it. >> all worth it. there is so much boldness in living life this way.

we did it all. and no one can ever take it away from us. so i stand here proud. i really am. [ applause ] >> we are root for her. cnn's matt sloan followed her epic swim. >> reporter: for endure rans swimmer diana nyad, the third time was supposed to be the charm. >> i just know i can make it. i could have made it in 1978. could have, should have, would have, worthless saying. horrible, horrendous eight-foot swim. that was untenable for any swimmer. the last time it was asthma took me down. now we have injections. >> reporter: a strong start in beautiful calm seas. but this third attempt at the extreme dream swim from cuba to florida quickly went south. >> oh, my god. the first night, i felt i was paralyzed -- my back was paralyzed. i thought, wait a second.

it's for ch port chew geese man-of-war. it's just -- it's a deadly rip. look at this thing. >> reporter: but she kept on swimming. then at dusk on the second night, another hit from another portuguese man-of-war. this time across the face. >> oh, my god. i was in pain. i was in such pain. my lips, but also swept across the front of the eyes and the nose. just the entire face. just -- never ever in my life have i known pain like that. >> reporter: diana came out of the water for nearly four hours for medical care, effectively ending her quest for the world record. but then she did something remarkable. she got back in the water and started swimming again. >> i kept swimming through it. >> reporter: by 11:00 a.m. on day two, some 41 hours into the swim, her fate became clear.

>> we had done the numbers and the math for where diana was and where she could end up navigati navigationally and was she going to make this swim? no, he was not. >> reporter: at the end of the day it wasn't how many hours she had trained or how much she wanted it, it was simply diana against the elements. >> what a way to go. you have to accept disappointments, you know? >> reporter: matt sloan, cnn, near key west, florida. >> we had a chance to talk to her after her second attempt. we're going to be talking to her again on her thoughts now, that in our next hour. well, donald trump back in the political spotlight. we're going to tell you which republican presidential candidate he is meeting with today. that ahead on our political ticker update. [ junior ] i played professional basketball for 12 years.

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women, it's surprise win for herman cain for an important battleground state. we want to bring you in paul steinhauser, part of the best political team on television live from the political desk in washington. so, paul, this was a surprise, i think, not only to cain but also to a lot of other people over the weekend. >> it sure was. win of the crucial straw poll in florida, plays a very important role in picking the nominee. i guess it was a case of a voice of a protest by the activists there who voted against the field and they didn't want any of the established candidates. let's look at the results. presidency 5, susan. big straw poll down there, finished up three day of debate and a lot of cattle calls as

well. look at that, herman cain at the top, 37%. rick perry, texas gov nevernorg front-runner of the national polls, expected to win, but 15%. mitt romney at 14 %. michigan results, yes, two straw polls this weekend, suzanne. another important one in michigan. romney the overwhelming favorite there and taking more than half the vote. reeb, he grew up in michigan. his father was a popular governor there and he won four years ago. i guess for rick perry the results are troubling, to say the least me had two uneven debate performances over the last two weeks. he's been knocked out or knocked up by the other republican candidates over his stance over illegal immigration and border security. maybe this is a reflection of the tough times he's had. these are stru postraw polls. they are not the end all. >> paul, i understand that

donald trump trying to make himself relevant again, back in the political spotlight? >> front and center in that spotlight today because mitt romney will be meeting with trump and trump towers in new york two hours from now. it was just a wreak aeek and a ago that perry met him as well. we spent time covering donald trump. why? because he flirted wi eed run f nomination. here he is again front and center. this davis the candidates like perry and romney attention because we're talking about it, suzanne. >> paul, thank you. appreciate it. for the latest political news you know where to go. cnnpolitics.com. reminder to vote for today's choose the news winner. text 22360 for the story you would like to see. text 1 for apple's toxic gas snes chinese watchdog group says they're letting off fumes that are making watchdog group says apple plant is letting off fumes that are making people sick. text 2 for flying ambulances.

right along with doctors who use special plants to rescue patients in africa. text 3 for importing style. one of cuba's best known designers re-inventing the island's classic style. big-name celebrities are wearing the new look. winning story will air in the next hour. we are getting a lot of responses to today's "talk back" question. we ask is president obama's fiery new persona resonating. eric davis says not really. too little too late. he should have been fighting from day one. care k carol costello is back with more of your responses. so, i used my citi simplicity card to pick up a few things. and i don't have to worry about a late fee. which is good... no! bigger! bigger! [ monica ] ...because i don't think we're going anywhere for a while. [ male announcer ] write your story with the new citi simplicity card. no late fees. no penalty rate. no worries. get started at citisimplicity.com.

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you've been sounding off on our "talk back" question. carol costello joins us from new

york with your responses. carol, it is a great question here because saw president obama, he was -- he seemed frustrated, seemed angry, he seemed fired up before congressional black caucus and privately, folks are saying they're insuled, they're complaining. publicly they're like this is what we needed to hear. >> well, it depends on if you're a member of the congressional black caucus. not so happy with the president's new fiery rhetoric or an actual voter. believe me, according to our facebook page, a lot of democrats respond dad. they're pretty happy with president obama's new fiery persona. in fact that was the "talk back" question. is president obama's new fiery persona resonating. terry -- do i hear a "hell yeah?" sounded a lot like my old coach. this from jacob -- we need a president that stands his ground and takes command. he scant can't be on the defensl the time.

>> he is fired up -- against the gop. that's not leadership. that's partisan politics. when will he work to unite, not divide? this from mark -- about time. i think he finally believes building a consensus with republicans is impossible. point out that obstructionism to the voters and outhopefully replace them in 2012. terry -- yeah, team. it's about time he stopped acting like he's getting flogged every morning. he's the boss, not the mail room clerk. keep the comments coming. facebook.com/carolcnn. i'll be back with you in about 15 minutes. >> thank you, carol. another partisan stalemate on capitol hill. partial government shutdown could be just days away. we'll explain the latest impasse.

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here we go again. lawmakers at odds over how to keep the government operating. they have until midnight friday to figure all this out. otherwise some agencies could shut down. candy crowley, host of cnn's "state of the union" tells us what all of this fight something about. >> reporter: for third time in year, a congressional stare-down threatened the government shutdown. >> let me start with you, senator warner -- and ask you if there is a point at which you think this is embarrassing. >> yes. it is embarrassing. >> are we there? >> can we once again inflict on the country and the american people the spectacle of a near government shutdown? i sure as heck hope not. >> reporter: the u.s. government runs out of money at the end of

this week unless a temporary spending bill is passed on capitol hill. inside the house version is money to replenish the federal emergency management agency, fema which assists disaster victims, tornadoes in joplin, hurricanes in the northeast. remarkable thing is that basically congress can't agree on something everyone is for -- funding fema. the crux of the matter is how and when to decide how to pay for it. >> the house version says that a disaster has to be dealt with, we're going to help people that have been affected by disasters but we're going to start cutting the government in other places where the money's not so important. >> reporter: senate democrats have rejected the house version saying republicans are proposing to pay for increased fema funds with cutbacks in programs that create jobs. nobody's budging. >> i'll give the senate democratic leader most of the credit. he manufactured a crisis all week about disaster when there's no crisis.

everybody knows we're going to pay for every single penny of disaster aid that the president declares and that fema certifies. >> one point about who to blame or mott to blame on this current, hopefully non-shutdown is that there is a group -- and i do believe it is mostly centered in the house in terms of some of these tea party republicans, who say on every issue we're going to make this a make-or-break. >> reporter: pointing fingers about an impending shutdown can be good politics, but an actual shutdown is likely to hurt any politician in a 50-mile radius of washington. odds are good they'll figure this out. they have until friday. candy crowley, cnn, washington. top of the hour, i'm suzanne malveaux. want to get you up to speed. investigators are trying to pin down a motive after an afghan employee opened fire inside the u.s. embassy complex in kabul. the shooting left one american

dead at the cia office. security officers shot and kill the suspect and authorities don't know if this was a workplace shooting by an unhappy employee or perhaps the work of a taliban insider. the haqqani network which is affiliated with the taliban attacked the u.s. embassy compound two weeks ago. the historic bid for statehood goes to the palestinian authority. mahmoud abbas formally presented the proposal on friday. a vote is not likely for weeks, perhaps even months. even then, the u.s. has pledged to veto that measure. the obama administration wants palestinians to achieve statehood through peace talks with israel. president obama is on a west coast swing promoting his new jobs bill. he's going to hold an internet town hall from mountain view, california. that's happening in about two hours. it's going to be on the job networking site linkedin. the president attends three

fund-raisers later today, two in los angeles, one in san diego. three rising house republicans are also in silicon valley today for a town hall on jobs. in fact, just six miles from president obama's location, eric cantor, kevin mccarthy, paul ryan, they call themselves the young guns of the house, will take questions from facebook employees. opening statements are set for tomorrow in dr. conrad murray's trial in los angeles. now he is charged in the death of michael jackson. prosecutors contend that murray gave jackson an overdose of aen ste aen these shah. experts say it's complicated picking a jury due to what's known as the csi effect. >> to the point where people expect csi-type of evidence. >> it is really frustration because it is unrealistic. i think they do understand that

we don't have fancy cars to go out on the crime scene and that we can't solve a case within hours. but i think a lot of people feel that what they see on tv is realistic. >> that's interesting. i'm going to ask legal contributor sunny hostin about the jurors and what we've learned from their questionnaires in just a couple of minutes. half say they're michael jackson fans. the first african woman to win the nobel peace prize has lost her battle with cancer. she was 71 years ode. she founded the greenbelt movement, a tree planting campaign to reverse deforestation. she won 98% of the vote when she was elected to kenya's parliament in 2002. she was also awarded the nobel prize in 2004. well now that summer vacation driving season is over, gas prices are now taking a noticeable dip. the lundberg survey says it

costs, on average, $3.54 a gallon to gas up your tank. 12 cents a gallon cheaper than it was just two weeks ago. back to our top story. an american citizen is dead after an attack by a lone gunman at the u.s. embassy in kabul, afghanistan. that happened yesterday. the shooter was killed by security personnel who were on the scene but there are some big questions that remain over what his motives were, who sent him. it is just the latest in a string of deadly attacks in afghanistan. our nick payton walsh reports on what that violence means for american security. >> reporter: we don't know the exact motivation for this particular attack. it could have been a disgruntled employee perhaps or maybe some kind of insurgent involvement but certainly anyone working in the highly secure annex would have to have gone through vetting, searches on the way ol

being felt by people in kabul. in three weeks there have been a series of attacks in the most secure areas of the city where the americans are supposed to have complete control. that lone attack against the u.s. embassy and nato headquarters, more recent assassination of a senior afghan peace negotiator in his home. and today's attack. we aren't sure exactly why it happened. people will still be asking themselves how is it that u.s. forces are allowing these things to occur and in parts of kabul, remember kabul being the city that's supposed to be completely under their control, surrounded by a ring of steel, now looking more and more vulnerable. well, people are calling then "the sopranos" of afghanistan. a crime network that's threatening nato's progress in the war. they haven't taken responsibility for this latest attack but the haqqani network say they're response and for that earlier attack at the u.s. embassy in kabul. want to bring in fran townsend on the phone from new york with more on this. fran is a national security contributor for cnn, member of

the cia external advisory committee, as well. fran, first of all, i want to ask about this latest attack here because i would imagine that it would be quite frightening to people at the u.s. embassy if they suspected that the afghan employees who work with them are people they cannot trust. because that is such an important bond to have that community working together inside the embassy in kabul. >> absolutely, suzanne. the u.s. government relies on what we call foreign service nationals. that is, afghan, in this case afghan nationals who work with americans inside the embassy to do all sorts of things. the thing that is inexplicable yet anyway is the fact that this individual was armed. the only sort of armed afghans are the national police, the army, they have the outside perimeter. you go through that. i've been to this embassy many times. you go through the afghan

checkpoint. you then get to the united states marines who are responsible for embassy security. i don't recall any armed afghans inside the wire, if you will, inside the embassy compound. and so it's very unusual. no doubt, we understand from american authorities they're now investigating how it is possible that this individual got inside the wire. but let's remember, we've had incidents with american personnel shooting others on a military base overseas or inside the wire where american personnel are. and so sometimes it's one disgruntled individual. i think we don't know yet what the motivation is. >> well, fran, let's talk a little bit about some of the things that we've seen in just recently in the last couple of weeks. i was there for the attack when the taliban -- the haqqani network hit the u.s. embassy. tell us a little bit about who this organization is, this group is, how threatening they are to our security. >> haqqani network has long been a frustration for american

intelligence and military officials. they take refuge in the federally administered tribal area in pakistan and for all the sort of laudable activity that we've gotten the pakistani intelligence and military to take in the tribal areas, the one place they wouldn't go ever was into north waziristan where the haqqani network has its safe haven. and as we saw from admiral mullen's testimony last week, this is a source of increasing friction. i had an individual pakistani individual say that relations have never been at a lower point. it starts with the roy davis case. that was the american contractor who shot and killed some pakistanis. they say it's just never improved especially in the wake of the bin laden raid. >> all right, fran townsend, thank you so much. there is a lot of work that needs to be done there in afghanistan. thank you very much. here's our rundown, some of the stories ahead. first, women in saudi arabia win the right to vote. sort of. why some activists say we need

to read between the lines. then, tax refunds. part of medicare, national parks, now in jeopardy. we could be looking at another potential government shutdown. plus, look out for the pizza man? well, herman cain pulled off a stunning upset in florida. but we've got new numbers from our presidential poll. plus, judging conrad murray. we'll meet the 12 people selected to decide the fate of michael jackson's personal physician. and, unfortunately, the third time wasn't the charm for 62-year-old woman trying to swim from cuba to florida. diana nyad joins us to tell us what forced her out of the water. nationwide insurance, what's up ?

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president obama is on the west coast today raising money promoting his jobs plan. the trip comes after a fiery speech to the congressional black caucus this weekend. a side of the president that many have not seen. brings us to today's "talk back" question and carol costello with our question. i was at that event. this is not a side that president obama allows folks to see generally speaking and that is a sense of frustration, a sense of anger. it is mixed, whether or not some of the cdc members see that as directed at them or maybe just meant to fire up and get some attention here. but clearly it is getting a lot of attention. >> it absolutely is, suzanne. president obama is kicking it up a notch these days. polls showing low approval ratings and a loss of confidence in his economic plan, the president seems, well, fired up.

politico's roger simon says we're seeing a rock 'em sock 'em obama. witness his speech before the congressional black caucus. >> i'm going to push on for jobs. i'm going to press on for equality. i'm going to press on for the sake of our children. i'm going to press on for the sake of all those families struggling right now. i don't have time to feel sorry for myself. i don't have time to feel sorry for myself. i'm going to press on. sflt first alpha obama appeared in the jobs speech before congress and then when he blasted the rich for not paying their fair share of taxes. he even acknowledged shrp's criticism of his "hopey changey" thing sarcastically saying it's still there. in a private democratic fund-raiser president obama was down right feisty saying about rick perry, "you've got a governor whose state is on fire denying climate change." and mr. obama says this about

the republican debate audiences -- cheering at the prospect of something dying because they don't have health care and booing a service member in iraq because they're gay? no question about it, president obama is throwing some red meat to a liberal base upset that he seems weak in the face of republican attacks. will it work though? "talk back" question this afternoon -- is president obama's new fiery persona resonating? facebook.com/carolcnn. facebook.com/carolcnn. i'll read your comments later this hour. reverend jesse jackson this last hour said he welcomes this new fiery obama. >> i think the thing that really will work though is if people actually get back to work. but we'll see. >> absolutely. all right, carol, thanks. looking forward to the responses. here's your chance to "choose the news." text 22360 for the story you'd like to see. 1 for apple's toxic gases.

apple makes ipads, iphones, but is the company also making people sick? a chinese watchdog group says an apple plant is letting off toxic gases. text 2 for flying ambulances. you're not going to need a siren for this ride to the hospital. look at some adventurous doctors who use special planes to treat patients trapped in isolated parts of africa. text 3 for importing style. one of cuba's best known designers is re-inventing the island's classic style. celebrities like sting and danny glover are jumping on-board and wearing the new look. so you can vote by texting 22360, text 1 for apple's toxic gases, 2 for flying ambulances, or 3 for importing cuba's style. winning story will air later this hour. we're all bummed about this. the third time was not the charm for long distance swimmer diane

nyad. she's proven time and time again that she is a fighter. nyad is joining us right now from key west. thank you so much, it was such a pleasure to talk to you last go-round. you were so determined. you were exhausted. you tried a third time. diana, tell us what happened. >> yeah, suzanne, how naive of me to put together a huge expedition like this. in the end we had 50 people highly intelligent people from all walks of life navigation, shark experts, et cetera, i myself know what i'm doing in the ocean. i prepared for it. i prepared this body to make that voyage. how naive of me not to think that the animals we were worried about the sharks and we had a wonderful team of highly expert shark experts ready. never to do anything lethal because that's their territory, we respect the sharks. but to keep me safe from them. how naive of us not to think that the jellyfish -- i want to show you now -- i was stung all over the body -- i don't know if

you can see this whip right here. down the forearm and all the way across? can you see that on camera? >> actually i can see it, yes. >> i got those rips? can you see it? i have these rips all over the body. it is called a box jellyfish. if you look it up on the internet, it can kill you with cardiac and respiratory distress in two to three minutes. you're lucky to survive it. so how naive of me to stand on the shore, suzanne, and look across and say is my body, my mind strong enough to make it across? the answer was yes. i can say to you today that i'm absolutely confident, brave, convinced that it's not the distance. i absolutely can swim across that body of water. but those jellyfish are deadly and they're too big for me and that is the only thing that kept us from making our way to the florida shore. and you know what? it feels tragic in some ways, i

thought third time's the charm, but when you're in against something mother nature that's bigger than you, there is nothing you can do about it. >> hur. diana, you said you could swim those 100 miles. you believe you can do that. is there an opportunity? are you going to try again for that distance, perhaps not in those waters, but in another way or is that something that you feel that you need to try again? >> you know, the problem is that it's in my heart. very, very difficult to let go of. need i say that i'm a person who doesn't let go of dreams very easily. but these jellyfish are proliferating around the oceans of the world because of global warming. and we've had experts here give us lectures about it now just since this happened the last couple of days that ocean swimmers are being stung everywhere. they don't go on. once you're stung like this you're out. over. there isn't a possibility. your lungs are shut down. one of the young men helping me

on the swim came in the water and he tried to help me and just by touching me in these stings he went into a deep respiratory distress and paralysis of the entire lung system. this is very serious stuff. that's not the sport i want to be in. i want to be in the mind game. i want to be in the game of strong shoulders and wonderful will. i don't want to encounter deadly jellyfish. so you asked me would i do it again? not with the jellyfish in the water. and i want to live big. i want to dream big. and i will continue to do that my whole life. but i can't -- i can't beat these guys. they're too much for me. >> well, diana, the last time we spoke you sent a message to our viewers. you said be your best self. your best self. sounds like you're saying dream big, live big, still pursue your dreams. >> there you go. i mean do i regret one minute of these last two years? i was living life large. i had to be so intense focused

on this dream. i had to surround myself with the most magnanimous and thoughtful people and it was all worth while. every minute of it was worth while. >> diana, so nice to talk to you and see you again. as always, we wish you the very best. we look forward to see what your next adventure is going to be. thank you. 12 jurors, five alternates. you' are they're going to hear the case against michael jackson's personal doctor. we'll take a closer look at the jury next. with over 30 years of medicare experience, unitedhealthcare medicare solutions can help. just give us a call. the annual enrollment period to switch your medicare coverage is earlier this year, from october 15th to december 7th, so now is a great time to review your situation. i'm looking for help paying for my prescriptions. [ male announcer ] that's a part d prescription drug plan. choose a stand-alone plan, or combine it with a medicare supplement plan. it's all in our free guide.

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to los angeles. gearing up for yet another very public trial, this one involves

dr. conrad murray. is he michael jackson's personal physician. opening statements are set for tomorrow. what do we know about this jury? well, seven of the jurors are men. five are women. there are five hispanics, six whites, one african-american. legal contributor sunny hostin from in session on our sister netwo network trutv joins me from new york. sunny, this is going to be a very interesting case, as we know, and an interesting jury. when you take a look at the racial component here and you see five hispanics, one african-american, do we think that race will matter in this particular case? >> you know, think that's the magic question because we have an african-american defendant and michael jackson was also african-american. so i think a lot of people were very concerned when they saw the racial dynamic on this jury because are you talking about only one african-american juror. but i watched closely, as you know, the jury selection here

and i've read the jury questionnaire and it appears to me that they used their strikes appropriately. it appears to me that either side wasn't trying to get rid of african-american jurors an so all in all i think the process worked and that's what's so important. whether or not that will -- the race dynamic will play a role in jury deliberations, i think is something that happens sometimes, happens more often than not in many cases people say, but i don't think that we can guess that because of the -- sort of the racial dynamic on this jury. >> sure. i found this interesting. this is a jury that skews older. most people are in their late 50s, late 40s. these are folk who grew up with michael jackson, they remember him when he was part of the jackson 5. does that work for or against the doctor in this case? >> you know, think it could work against the doctor because people remember little michael jackson and they grew up with him an they loved him so much.

i mean this is the king of pop, one of the greatest entertainers of our time. and so i think that could work against this defendant. especially as we're showing, six of them admitted to being michael jackson fans. but let's face it, we are talking about michael jackson. just so beloved and i think you'd have to live under a rock and be trying this case on mars to pick a jury of people that didn't like michael jackson or hadn't listened to his music. so i think what they tried to do in picking this jury was to make sure that they got a jury that didn't necessarily not know anything about michael jackson but that could render a fair decision and in looking at the jury selection i think that's what happened here. >> what about the jurors who are big fans of shows like "csi"? i mean those jurors generally do they have higher expectations about how easily it is to -- that a crime can be solved? does that help or hurt the doctor in this trial? >> they do.

this "csi" effect is very difficult. i'm a former prosecutor and i saw that when i was prosecuting cases. if you didn't have dna or if you didn't have these fancy forensic files during your case in chief, jurors were very skeptical. i think though in this case that is going to help if they have those "csi" people. there is going to be a lot of medical testimony here. talking about propofol, the possibility of self-injection. you need people that like forensic files. you need people that love csi because they've got to bic through this thing. i actually think that type of juror is going to be helpful to both sides. >> this is going to be a fascinating case to watch. sunny, looking forward to seeing you cover all of that, analyze all of that. we're going to be watching these opening statements tomorrow. they're expected to begin during our newscast so weep your eyes open for that. for stories from our affiliates across the country,

terrifying moments at a high school track meet near seattle, washington over the weekend. spectators and athletes dove for cover after a man armed with rifles started shooting outside the school. police say he was shot and killed after firing at them. no one else was hurt. still no idea why he did it. heavy rains caused a mess in tampa, florida. that happened late yesterday. you can see the pictures there of some drivers abandoning their cars after getting caught up in those flash floods. water even seeped into several homes. today's forecast, more rain. in this rare sight in milwaukee, wisconsin, you're looking at multiple waterspouts forming on lake michigan. pretty incredible stuff. this is from a tower cam saturday morning. and we are hearing now again those three words -- possible government shutdown. if congress doesn't act, who could be affected? carl azuz will be along in a minute to answer that question. .

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here's a rundown of some of the stories we are working on. up next, we'll take a look at what is affected and what is not

in the event of a government shutdown. then, the question -- can herman cain pull off another upset. we've got some numbers from a brand-new poll to show you. and later, saudi women given the right to vote. but are they celebrating too early? why some activists are saying they need to read the fine print. i bet you've heard this one before -- lawmakers in washington can't seem to agree on how to keep the government running. they haven't until friday midnight to basically sum up some kind of spending deal. otherwise, some federal agencies might have to shut down. we're going in-depth now with cnn's carl azuz to tell us what this means and how people could be affected by this. carl, we've been down this road before. what are we talking about this time? >> could be talking about as many as 800,000 federal workers that could be sent home. that number comes from numbers when the government shut down in 1995 and 1996. there were a pair of shutdowns

in that winter. roughly 800,000 employees were sent home. whether or not they get back pay, they'd be furloughed so they'd go home and not get anything at all, whether or not they get back pay is up to congress and that's not a done deal. as far as those who could be directly affected, we're looking at around 800,000. >> i remember the government shutdown during president clinton's term. what will see in changes day to day? >> the impact on you and me and a lot of americans would really affect most those waiting on the government to process something. when you look in terms of irs returns and refunds, any of those that are still outstanding could be delayed because the people who process those applications would be home. same for passport, visa applications, medicare applications, even small business loans. it is not that people won't get them. it is that they would be delayed. as far as national partisan parks -- national parks go, they could be shut down but in a government shutdown the national zoo closes

but the lions an tigers still get fed. if you look at things that might not be impacted by a shutdown, it is a longer list. this is part of it. we're still going to get our mail. national defense still taken care of though some paychecks might be delayed. social security, people who are already on it, not applying for social security but who are already getting those checks, they still get them. criminals would continue to be prosecuted and pursued. food inspection is considered essential for public safety so that would continue. air traffic control. the government's not going to allow a situation where you have a shutdown and the public safety is threatnd. those who are considered essential government employees would stay put. >> there's always the question about who is essential and who's not essential. it is a very sensitive subject. have we ever seen this before where you've got a potential government shutdown three times in a year? >> it is unusual that there's been that potential three times in a year. you go back to '95 and '96 and you have a situation where you had two actual government shutdowns impacting a lot of people. when you think about it, it kind

of makes sense we're seeing the threat of a few government shutdowns this year because the previous one in april, the debt ceiling debate in the summer and this one now, it is all about money and you never fight more about money than when you don't have it. >> makes a lot of sense. all right, carl. well let's hope it doesn't get to that point. we'll wait until friday to see whether it gets to that point. reminder, vote for today's "choose the news" winner. text 1 for apple's toxic gases. a chinese watchdog group says an apple plant is letting off fumes that are making folks sick. text 2 for flying ambulances. this is a pretty cool story. ride along with doctors who use special planes to rescue patients in africa. text 3 for importing style. one of cuba abest known designers is re-inventing the island's classic style. big-name celebrities are wearing that new look. the winning story will air later this hour.

rick perry having a bad week. his competitors are just itching to take advantage of all this. we'll have the latest from the republican horse race. this is an interesting story. dating during tough economic times. so they say that's a challenge but they say especially if you are looking to marry a millionaire. in our ""smart is the new rich" report," ali velshi and kristen christine romans sit down with tv's millionaire matchmaker. >> if you're out there in the world, you got millions unemployed, struggling to pay down debt. if you're out of a job, do you let your date know that you've got $35,000 -- >> i think they're going to find out. >> do they need to know the 580 credit score? >> the problem is the women, if you're downtrodden, a man wants to rescue you. that is attractive sometimes to the millionaire man. he likes the woman that doesn't challenge his opinions, doesn't

have a better job than him -- >> how boring. >> but that is -- if you were a man and we said that, what would do you? you would run. >> would that change this -- how do you discuss that? >> you can't take a girl out for dinner or cocktails or even olive garden, you shouldn't be dating. >> to what degree are you honest -- >> you know that's true because you laughed. >> i like olive garden. >> how much do you talk to somebody about your financial situation and your debt? this is one you may not want to overshoot. >> have you ever dated when you were dating successful guys, they'd whine and complain they had no money. they'd look at the bill in the end. never, ever do that. you want to be able to be generous, say, oh, i'm into this hobby, maybe it is wine, becoming a helicopter pilot which is saying i spend a lot of money but not leading with your money. when you lead with your money you attract a gold digger. in america, we believe in a future

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mitt romney got a big lift from michigan. that happened this weekend. he rocketed ahead of national front-runner rick perry by more than 30 points in the state's republican conference straw poll vote. it was also a very good weekend for presidential candidate herman cain. the former god godfather's pizzo got a surprise booth beating both perry and romney in florida with 37% of the vote. this morning on cnn's "american morning" cain outlined his plan to rescue the economy. >> i have given a specific plan, "9-9-9" questiwhich is differen

any of my other competitors. they tie a boost in the economy to the existing tax code. my plan is bold because it throws out the tax code and imposes a business flat tax of 9%, a personal flat tax of 9% and a national sales tax of 9%. it replaces all of these taxes that people now have to grapple with and it provides certainty to the business community which is what they're looking for in order to grow this economy. >> easy to remember. "999." but remember also that straw polls are barely enough to change a race. a lot of people think though rick perry's lead could be in jeopardy right now. jim acosta, part of the best political team on television, is live from washington. so jim, tell us about this week for perry. it doesn't look like it's been a very good one for him. are we really seeing a shift in the republican horse race? >> reporter: you remember those headlines that came out after the thursday debate -- texas toast. straw polls you just mentioned over the weekend, rick perry didn't do so well in those straw

polls. there was even a not-so-flattering skit on saturd"saturday night live" tha showed governor perry falling asleep at a podium on "snl." you would think that would all combine and add up to a new national poll that shows rick perry falling out of his front-runner status. well, you would be wrong. the latest cnn/orc poll, rick perry still comfortably in the lead right now if you take sarah palin out of the race, rick perry at 30%, mitt romney 22%. newt gingrich, 11%. herman cain, 9%, ron paul, 7%. this is interesting in that conventional wisdom after thursday night's debate was that rick perry might have done himself some mortal harm but if you look at this new cnn/orc poll he's still very much the front-runner in this race and will remain so unless something major happens in the near future. he is still looking pretty good

at this point. >> how do the other candidates stack up against president obama now? >> well, that's the interesting -- that is an interesting thing to take a look at here. the romney people have been saying that they've been beating that drum over the last several weeks. they've been saying, look, mitt romney is the more electable candidate if you look at what rick perry has said on social security, he's not a viable good general election candidate. we ask how do the candidates stack up at this point against president obama an it is interesting, if you look at rick perry, he doesn't do as well. 51% for president obama, 46% for rick perry. five-point lead for the president. you throw romney into the mix against president obama and numbers are different. president obama just has a slim lead over mitt romney at this point, 49% to 48%. but no doubt about it, this has been a good week for mitt romney. perhaps a not-so-good week for rick perry. perhaps that's not being reflected in these polls at this point. maybe it might take another poll

to get a fresh look at this. we did ask this question just in the day or two after that debate on thursday night. so we'll have to wait an see whether or not rick perry maintains this front-runner status. but for the moment, after all that talk of texas toast, there's still one lone star at the head of the gop field at this point. >> we like that talk of texas toast. all right, he's still in the race. still -- >> maybe a little crispy around the edges but not quite toast. all right, thanks, jim. the man all these candidates have their eyes on, president obama, he's giving a speech at a town hall in california today to continue to push his jobs plan. that's at 2:00 p.m. eastern time. we'll bring that to you live here in the "cnn newsroom." saudi women now have the right to vote. but what good is it if they're not allowed to drive themselves to the polls? [ beep ] [ mom ] scooter?

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text 22360 for the story you'd like to see. text 1 for apple's toxic gases. a chinese watchdog group says an apple plant is letting off fumes that are making folks sick. text 2 for flying ambulances. ride along with doctors who use special planes to rescue patients in africa. text 3 for importing style. one of cuba's best known designers is re-inventing the island's classic style and some big-name celebrities are wearing the new look. winning story is going to air later this hour. next story. they still are not allowed to drive, even open a bank account. but women in saudi arabia now have the right to vote.

and to run for office in local elections. the change may not happen right away. we'll go now to abu dhabi for the story. >> reporter: by saudi standards the announcement was historic. on sunday saudi arabia's ding abdullah made a nay juror announcement in the next round of elections women in saudi arabia would be able to participate more into the political arena, that they would be able to nominate themselves as candidates and that they would be able to nominate other candidates. while that's being interpreted in saudi arabia and outside of saudi arabia as the king saying that women will be granted the right to vote, now in saudi arabia some women activists who yesterday were elated at the news that they would be able to have a greater participation in the political process are starting to wonder what exactly this statement means. some disappointment is starting to set in. i've spoken to some women's rights activists today, they said that while it is great that the king is now suggesting that they will have the right to vote, this next round of municipal elections won't happen for at least another four years.

that's 2015. the king also said that women would be appointed as full-time members of the council but that won't happen for at least another 1 1/2 to 2 years. women's activists saying they wished that the king had said that this could happen now. they're wondering why that didn't happen. they're saying that a lot can happen in the next year-and-a-half, two years to four years before the next round of elections happen. a lot can happen in that time. more conservative aspects of the government there could try to reverse this decision. to try to take the right for women to vote out of their hand before they actually officially get it. that's where the disappointment lies today. some are saying this is a real reality check and that the king should actually come out and re-assure them that this will happen and will happen as soon as possible. cnn, abu dhabi. we're getting a lot of responses to today's "talk back" question. we ask is president obama's new fiery persona resonating. chris says -- well, since he has made little attempt to work with

republicans, i think he's starting to unravel. carol costello's back with more of your responses.

you've been sounding off on our "talk back" question. carol costello joins us from new york with some of your responses. >> lots of feedback. is president obama's new fiery persona resonating? from sandy -- he seems like an actor reading a new script. joshua -- thank you to president obama for finally telling off congress both republicans an democrats pointing out the absurdity of perry calling out the ridiculousness of palin and

holding his own cabinet accountable for their mistakes. this is hope and change, i like it. ann -- yes, obama is getting my fired up as an independent voter who's been longing for him to get tough. >> rosa -- i like my new fiery obama but i don't trust him yet. i'd like to see him pay nor golf with bill clinton than john boehner. it is a wait-and-see. of course i'll probably vote for him but it is not going to be easy for me. jason -- i'll take off my bedroom slippers if the president puts on hisback bo ba. >> this is something you don't want to miss, carol. gop presidential candidates got kind of an "snl" style introduction on the show, the season opener this weekend. i want you to watch this. >> tonight's debate is between former governor mitt romney, and governor rick perry.

there are also six other people who will never be president but showed up anyway. >> well, herman cain, right? so he won the straw polls this weekend. he watched the show. he actually says he's going to use some of those lines for the next debate. here's what he liked. >> when you ask for it pizza will come. pizza will come. oh, pizza will most definitely come. and if you vote for me, america, i promise that i will deliver. >> i don't know what the real herman cain thinks about all this. you think that's what people are looking for, carol? >> why not? >> some promise they can deliver on, right? zplex actually. at least we'll get our pizza -- maybe. herman cain seems to have done well in that area. he's been a great ceo for the pizza place. sure, why not. >> i guess we've lowered our

expectations a little, i think. >> thank you, carol. you told us what you wanted to see. your "choose the news" story is just minutes away. ♪

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you voted, we listened. here's your "choose the news" winner. a chinese watchdog group is targeting apple. they say one of its factories is letting off toxic gases that are making people sick. cnn's eunice yoon reports.

>> reporter: sunrise in an industrial town in china dotted with factories churning out electronics for the world. benefiting residents like this 33-year-old engineer. he moved for a job but now has second thoughts about living here. his biggest concern -- fumes from an alleged supplier to u.s. tech giant apple right next to his apartment. "it makes you feel sick," he says. this is one of the factories that environmentalists say make products for apple. the residents in the area have been complaining of the hazardous gas and could really smell a strong odor. with the help of concerned citizens, a veteran green activist tracked suspected polluters like this one. in a seven-month investigation it targeted and until a 46-page report. >> they commit to insure highest social responsibility standards. if they cannot manage their supply chain, it is just empty

talk. >> reporter: in this town not far away, residents complain suspect suppliers emit noxious gases right next to their local kindergarten. in the village next door, locals say they live daily with polluted water and air, many attribute the high cancer rate here to the ever-worsening environment. young villagers have moved away and the elderly who remain say they feel powerless in convincing the government to enforce its own laws. "our words are totally worthless to the authorities," this 75-year-old says. "there's nothing we can do." activists say public scrutiny is key. one group compiled a database of tens of thousands of local violators and regularly names and shams big brands. >> major companies like apple come into china. they only care about the price. >> reporter: in a statement, apple said the companies we do business with must use

environmentally responsible manufacturing processes. since the findings, the company has discussed the report with ma who told cnn the two sides have now agreed to work together. those we spoke with say the factories are regularly checked and meet china's code. as for the company next door, he hopes to keep the company in find for his health had and his family. health cannot be the price of wealth. right? a philosophy shared by many in china's grassroots environmental movement. eunice yoon, cnn. i'll have links to all the stories on my page at fais dook d facebook.com/suzannecnn. you might be able to tell i'm in los angeles for the long-awaited trial