if i were to coin a term, it would be obamaloney. >> i didn't even say it right. obamaloney, a sharp dive into the absurd. andrea saul and deputy campaign manager stephanie cutter. also coming up tom vilsack and "true blood" star, debra ann woll. "starting point" begins right now. >> good wednesday morning, thank you so much for being with us here. we want to begin with our starting point this morning being jared lee loughner, admitting he's guilty now and faces life in prison. >> he changed his plea to guilty on 19 different charges amidding to killing six people and wounds others outside a tucson grocery

store. gabby giffords survived and is still recovering. he will avoid the death penalty. after the hearing a number of survivors came together outside the courthouse. >> give up this hopelessness in this country that we can't do anything. because we can and we must. >> these taboo words, gun control can be spoken plainly in the halls of congress again. >> one of ways i believe we can make good come out of this, is to begin some common sense discussion about who should bear arms. what hands should firearms go into. >> kyung lah was in the courtroom. >> he seemed calmer than previous appearances. clearly medicated. when he first walked into the

courtroom, he did have an unusual look on his face a he looked at the public at his family and reporters and some of the victims. he looked very briefly at everyone and sat down. he was very calm. he sat very still and he was able to engage with his attorney as well as respond to questions from the judge. this is different from the jared lee loughner ha reporters had seen in the past. in his first appearance he smiled when the charges were read against him. in another appearance, he had a loud, very sudden outburst and had to be subdued by the judges. what the doctors have testified to is that he is responding well to medicine. and it is his mental illness, his schizophrenia that prosecutors say they had to take into account for the plea deal. here's what the prosecutor told us. >> the doctors who have treated and observed mr. loughner since the shooting agree that he suffered from a severe mental illness that is severe

schizophrenia at the time of the shooting and before the shooting. the fragility of his continued competency to stand trial was taken into account. >> so how severe the doctor who was treating loughner told the judge that loughner's illness, not the absolute worst is one of the worst she has ever seen. >> thank you very much this morning. simon was shot twice and she was serving as the outreach director at the time and she was in the courtroom when he entered the plea. pam, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> when you first heard guilty, what was your reaction? >> my reaction was one of this is going to be closure, not only for myself but for many of the other survivors and families of the victims. >> that's interesting you use

the word closure here. this is a man, pam, who trialedo kill you. he shot you in your chest and hand. you were inside the same room, sharing the same air as this man in the courtroom. how did he appear and how did you feel sitting in the room with him? >> well, i've attended the other hearings as well. a terrible irony is that the shooter was a student at the junior high i taught in over 20 years so we walked the same halls. i did not know him at the time. my only thought for him now is just remorse that something couldn't have been done earlier, that he couldn't have had the medication he needed earlier and this tragedy would not have happened. but it was very emotionally charged and as he said the words that he pleaded guilty to each count that was read, many of the

survivors, including myself and families of the victims held hands or put our arms around each other. it was very tense. >> very tense and emotional. i know that beyond -- >> i know beyond the courtroom just yesterday, you were outside basically calling now for more gun control as we're hearing this echoing throughout the country. i'll get to that in a moment. i talkeded to mayor nutter out of philadelphia, he's part of this coalition, mayors against illegal guns. you're demanding a plan. let's look at this ad. >> i'm a veteran. >> a mother. >> a teacher. >> we're survivors of the tucson shooting. >> our leaders gave us a moment of silence then. >> but haven't given us a plan. president obama. >> governor romney. >> we demand a plan. >> you're demanding a plan, i spoke with someone else yesterday in similar shoes as yours also demanding a plan. why do you think the president and mitt romney have been reluctant to address this issue?

>> rather than spending time on why in the past what we're doing is looking forward and asking e american people to join not only us but the families of on average 34 people every single day are murdered by handguns or by some weapon in this country. every single day. and so we think the time is now to ask people to sign onto the online petition so that we have some political will to take to both of the presidential candidates and say now is the time. now is the time that we need to open this discussion and prevent further tragedy. >> i know that -- i want to share some numbers with this research poll. they took a poll after the colorado massacre in aurora, 47% say it is more important, here are the numbers, to control gun ownership, very close number, 46% say it's more important to

protect gun owners rights. there's no real change in the numbers since the horrendous scene inside the movie theater. what do you say to nearly half of america who say, i have a right to carry a gun? >> well, i think there are some simple things that we can start with and we also need to do some educating. i have learned so many since joining with the other survivors working with mayors against illegal guns and one of things that i think a lot of people don't realize is 40% of the guns purchased in the united states are purchased without -- legally without a background check. because if they are not purchased -- if they are purchased from a gun show or online, no background check is required. the second thing i didt realize, is that many states do not put their records into the national data base. so if someone had a criminal record and that record was not

entered, then they aren't going to be found when they go through when you purchase a gun. >> in the case in aurora, there was no criminal record. he obtained those weapons perfectly legally. i have to ask ts final question. jared lee loughner, have you for given him? >> absolutely. it was not his choice to get a serious mental illness. and i think what we need -- it does not take away the pain and grief and especially those that have lost someone. i lost a dear friend and my colleague gabe zimmerman. but it's time to forgive. it's time to move on and it's time to find ways that we can both help people with the type of illness that jared lee loughner had and also ways that we can find some common sense ways to examine who is going to be able to have a firearm. >> pam simon. thank you. >> i always find that so remarkable, the human capacity

for forgiveness. stunning. we have other top stories making headlines. we may never know why wade page killed six people at a sikh temple near milwaukee. he did not leave behind letters or any obvious clues about his motive. meanwhile, south milwaukee police arrested page's former girlfriend on a gun charge. the 31-year-old waitress shared page's interest in the white power movement and was active in at least two neo-nazi organizations. after a tough two-year legal battle, vandalism and a bomb threat, the islamic bureau in tennessee will open this friday. it is taking place just one day after a mosque burned in joplin, missouri. get ready for the storm. ernesto slams into mexico's yucatan peninsula. it seems to be fizzling out.

>> ernesto has been downgraded to a tropical storm. but the danger is far from over. alexandra steele is tracking ernesto for us. good morning. >> you say the danger is over because it has the propensity to once it gets into the bay of campeche strengthen into a hurricane once again. here it is. here's the center of circulation. it came ashore last night with hurricane-force winds. now winds down to 70 miles per hour. you can see how small and tight, see the circulation right there. those maximum sustained winds of 70 already expand out by 30 to 35 miles. we're going to watch it and continue on its west movement, moving at 15 miles per hour. and backtrack westward we're expecting to continue at the same pace. it went over land so it weaken pd but the expectation going over the warm waters of the bay of campeche and reinvigorate and make the second landfall

tomorrow, tomorrow night. we'll watch is move westward and again potentially do that. forecast rainfall especially in the mountainous region, could see a foot of rain. the quadrant of concern pretty small because the center of circulation is pretty tight into and of itself. >> thank you. >> the faa is imposing stricter rules on airplane traffic after a scary collision at reagan national airport last week. it is temporarily burning two-way air traffic when planes fly in opposite directions as they arrive and depart from airports. the faa says it is also considering other measures in the wake of the close call when an air traffic controller accidentally sent two computer flights in the path of a third inbound jet. >> take a look at this photo. this is not exactly what you want to e out your window. thchs taken by a passenger on an alaska airlines flight. she looked out the window and saw this. a damaged spot on the wing with

a handwritten note. can you make this out? it says, we know about this. something is funky with our wing, we're aware. the airline says the plane was safe but did apologize for the sign. a maintenance technician wrote ito let the flight crew know it was an approved trim repair. >> i would have freaked. >> excuse me, we need to land this plane right now. >> bold. ahead on "starting point," an epic hack. thieves crack into apple and amazon accounts exposing massive security flaws and haven't heard the scariest part. romney hood or your favorite word obamalony. >> you nailed today. >> it's like robin hood in reverse. it's romney hood. >> if i were to coin a term it would obamaloney. >> okay. have we hit a new low in the campaign? romney campaign spokeswoman

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an australian rescue team on the way to antarctica to help an american expeditioner dealing with a medical emergency. they are trying to help transport the expeditioner out of the station. it is negative 22 degrees there right now. also this morning, more than 20 suspected islamic terrorists killed by egyptian air strikes in sinai overnight. these follow attacks by armed gunman at checkpoints near the israeli border. last sunday, 16 border guards were killed by suspected palestinian terrorists. john? >> mitt romney will be in iowa as president obama makes campaign stops in the swing state of colorado and may have

his work cut out for him. a new poll shows mitt romney ahead in colorado. voters who choose him there, 50% to the president's 45%. things look better for the president in virginia, 49 to 45%. in wisconsin, he has the advantage, 51 to 45% from the latest polling. we're joined this morning by andrea saul from the great state of massachusetts, boston, mass there. your campaign is running ads in all of these key swing states right now dealing with the issue of welfare reform. specifically a letter that president obama, his administration sent trying to grant waivers to some of the states to make adjustments to the law. let's listen to this ad. >> under obama's plan, you wouldn't have to work and wouldn't have to train for a job. they just send you your welfare check and welfare to work goes back to plain old welfare.

mitt romney will restore the work requirement because it works. >> politifact, gives this the rating as pants on fire, which means really really false. president clinton who signed the welfare to work law says it is not true and says the administration has taken important steps to ensure that the work requirement is retained and that waivers will be granted only if the state can demonstrate that people will be moved into work under its new approach. >> look, john, if president obama didn't want people to think that he was going to waive the central work requirement in welfare reform. his administration shouldn't have written a memo say it was going to waive the work requirement in welfare reform. sthaz what they've done. they can issue blog posts and have surrogate statements saying that's not what they meant. the memo still stands.

that's exactly what it says, like giving a teenager, give me the keys, i'm not going to drive your car, i promise. it's ridiculous. presiden obama has been a vocal opponent of president clinton's bipartisan reform in the '90s. it should come as no surprise that this would be something he would want to do. >> among the teenagers asking for the keys to this welfare waiver car, was then governor mitt romney in 2005, who asked for just this kind of waiver when he was governor. he said increased waiver authority allowable work activities, availability of partial work credit and ability to coordinate state programs are all important aspects of moving recipients from welfare to work. whys had governor romney's opinion changed over the last seven years? >> it hasn't at all. there's a big difference between asking for more state flexibility and gutting the central work requirement in welfare, which is what we see now. when governor romney was governor, he actually strengthened work requirements. he vetoed a bill that would

weaken them. for the obama campaign to try to say that when someone is working to strengthen work requirements, somehow that was weakening them, that's not right. also, with president clinton, what we had was a bipartisan bill that went through congress. what we see time and again with president obama, he signs execute orders and gets no one on board to work toward any kind of agenda. he decides what's going to please his liberal base and with a stroke of a pen waives the wo requirements. >> you say liberal base but it is some republican governors asking for this waiver right now. let's move on. there are some other new polls. >> the republican -- i do want to correct that. the republican governors that you're referencing actually didn't request that. they didn't think it was in his legal authority to do so. again, requesting more state flexibility is a lot different than gutting the work requirement. >> so it's safe to say the ads aren't going away. let's move on, there are new

numbers out from the abc news and "washington post" dealing with the issue of favorable. how much voters like the candidates. on this number right now things don't look all that positive for governor romney. the new numbers say americans favor the president some -- some 50% of americans view mitt romney unfavorably. right there only 40% view him favorably, 53% view the president favorably. that's mitt romney in august, 49% view him unfavorably. he's been running for president on and off since 2006. his poll numbers in the favorablety are low as any nominee since 1984. how come he can't convince people to like him? >> first off, people are still getting to know governor romney. but then the important thing that keeps coming out in survey after survey. americans think they'll be better off with president romney than under current president

obama. they trust him most on the economy and to turn things around. that's the thing people care most about is getting a job, having more pay come back in their paycheck. under this president, we have seen the policies haven't worked. sure, he's a nice guy but doesn't mean people are able to meet their bills and get a job. those are the things americans care most about. >> are you saying people don't have to like mitt romney to vote for him? >> well, i think that the more people learn about mitt romney, the more they are going to like him and the more they see they can trust him to turn this economy around. president obama has not been able to get the job done and that's why middle class americans are suffering so much. governor romney is launching his bus tour to talk about plans to strengthen the middle class. that's what voters want to hear about while president obama doesn't want to talk about the issues at hand. >> let's talk about the bus tour. going through the swing states with pretty flashy surrogates

who will be appearing with him leading them to speculate that he might announce his decision soon. give us news here. can you categorically state it won't happen before sunday? >> i can tell you, you can be the first to know if you download mitt's vp app from the website. you could be the first to know along with all of the other americans who download it too. >> politifact rates that as pants on fire. i'm not going to be the first to know if everyone is finding out at the same time. that's a load of obamaloney. did you come up with that phrase, by the way? >> i did not. you see with whd o brpresident obama, he distorts mitt romney's plans. to keep from talking about the real issues at hand. he's going to raise taxes on americans and raise taxes on

small businesses where governor romney has a plan to lower trat and reform the tax code. >> we'll see you soon, i'm sure. we'll put the same questions to stephanie cutter who joins us in the 8:00 hour. >> baloney may be the favorite processed meat -- >> i'm with you, berman. >> security lapses lead to an epic hack attack. how easily it happened and how you can minimize your own risk next. check out this florida mansion. you won't believe how much it sold for. it's all ahead. you're watching "starting point." >> in your dreams. with real advice, for real goals. the us bank wealth management advisor can help you. every step of the way.

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27 minutes past the hour. welcome back to "starting point." >> suing new jersey over the law that would allow sports betting there. the organizations say they want to protect the integrity of professional and amateur sports but the governor of new jersey says the government cannot ban sports gambling in some states and allow it in others. a miami mansion sells for $47 million, that is the highest price for a home in the country ever. but what does that get you? well, just a mere ten bedrooms, 14 bathrooms, a two acre gated island, wine cellar, fingerprint identification -- here's my

favorite part. pink sand. >> pink sand. >> imported from the bahamas because the sand in florida. >> isn't good enough. >> you bring in your own pink sand. >> i say pink sand is a little special. >> minding your business this morning, it is the hack attack heard over the internet. matt hone an out with a frightening story how he was hacked last week. >> what's scary is the way the accounts were attacked and it could happen to anyone. poppy, tell us what went down here. >> this is going to be a little confusing, it could happen to anyone and i think the important part for viewers is that there's nothing you can do to protect yourself. this was a glaring loophole, a blind spot found when you talk about oipdty verification. these hackers used his amazon account to get into his apple account. how it works, you call amazon and they pretended to be matt honan saying they wanted to add

credit card number to the account. thern amazon said we need your name and billing address and e-mail attached to the account. they had that and were able to add a credit card number. then call back later, you lost access to the account, in order to get the access, all you need is your name and billing address and credit card number you just added to the account. then you add a new e-mail to the account, now that you have access to it and you can e-mail yourself a new password. this is how it happened. once you have that password, you're able to get the last four digits of the credit card number on the account and associated e-mail address. that is all you need to get into -- for an apple i.d., to get into icloud. they were able to get into his good mail, twitter, he talked about losing photos and things he didn't back up and that.

he said the very four digits that amazon considers unimportant enough to display in clear on the web are precisely the same ones that apple considers secure enough to perform identity verification. so that's how this went down. it's also important to note and cnn money is reporting on this this morning, saying that amazon said they have fixed the gap on their end. >> it's a loophole closed. >> the loophole is closed as of yesterday afternoon. apple said we found our own internal policies weren't followed completely. this can't happen going forward, that's what they are saying, but we'll see. the fact this happened specifically to him and the hacker tweeted out from his account, they said, clan vv 3 and phobia hacked this twitter. this is a glaring blind spot. and the issue here, there's nothing you could have done. not that you had an easy password or something. things are so complex and amazon and apple have different

identification process and -- >> hackers are so devious. >> they did this purposely to him. >> he was a wire guy and he was able to realize this happened to me and needs to be fixed versus -- >> and figure out how it happened and wrote this extensive article telling people, alerting ople. >> good for him. >> thanks, poppy. >> ahead on "starting point," maybe we'll call her the secretary of shake. i love this. good for her. hillary clinton caught dancing again and really going for it. we have the tape. >> also ahead, seven olympic athletes disappear from the games in london but there may not be any foul play involved. we have relief on the way for the nation's farmers suffering through the worst drought in 50 years, tens of millions of federal cash coming their way. tom vilsack joins us live. you're watching "starting point." ar.

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it is 35 minutes past the hour. >> a man blows past the nevada checkpoint sparking a standoff. the s.w.a.t. team raised the vehicle between the barrier and the truck so he had nowhere to go so he did peacefully surrender. >> a man from ohio faces arraignment after caught packing a pistol at the showing of "the dark knight rises." he had a loaded 9 millimeter hand gun. he said he didn't intend to use the weapons but wanted to protect himself in case someone wanted to imitate last month's theater shooting. seven athletes from cameroon

vanished, possibly maybe trying to defect. they include five boxers and swimmer and soccer player. it's not clear if they are seeking asylum in britain. officials are not talking. hillary clinton showing off her moves again. the secretary of state mixing dancing with diplomacy during her 11-day african tour. she danced at the dinner hosted by her south african counterpart and did a little bump and grind. i think she was doing well there. i have to say. that dance party followed her busting a move on sunday in malawi. she likes to dance. remember her dancing up a stormerier this year in a bar in cartegena. >> if you have seen the text, they say hillary is cool. thermometer popping temperatures plaguing much of

the country here. right now farmers and ranchers are dealing with the worst drought, folks, in 56 years. we're talking 60% of the lower 48 states are suffering in level of drought. the federal government is trying to provide help and make it rain here with federal relief funds. president obama calls this drought historic and impact on farmers profound. take a listen. >> we're taking every single possible step to help farmers and ranchers to fight back and recover. the department of agriculture is announcing an additional $30 million to get more water to livestock and restore land impacted by drought. i want to bring in tom vilsack, overseeing distribution of the 0 million in releief funds. good morning. >> good morning. >> what exactly does the 30 million go toward? >> part of the concern here is how the drought is affecting

livestock producers, they don't have access to the hay or feed they thought they were going to have at the beginning of the year. this is designed to provide assistance of grazing opportunities and as well as dealing with water issues, they may drill wells and things of that nature. we're going to get it through our process so they'll be able to access it quickly. this is in addition to providing additional credit opportunities. we're concerned about not only farmer operations but small business depending on the agricultural economy. the credit unions will give the greater flexibility to work alongside a number of opportunities for folks. >> these are opportunities and as we've been talking and showing the pictures. i have to say it's one thing for us to sit here and try to understand and sympathize for what they are going through. we had a farmer on air a couple of weeks ago, a grown man, tough as nails crying over the

situation. can you hammer home for me how truly difficult this is for these folks? >> you can imagine doing your work perfectly, doing everything exactly the way you're supposed to do it and then basically losing everything through no fault of your own. fortunately we have new seed technologies and perhaps the yields will be better than we expect and we hope that's true. but many farmers are in fact going to lose basically their entire crop. this is different than in the past because many of those farmers have crop insurance, which will help them get through the process. we need disaster assistance and relief. the and the only way we'll get the full scope of disaster assistance is if the house of representatives completes work on a farm bill and it works out the differences between the senate and house in terms of competencive disaster assistance and the farm bill. >> this was the president speaking yesterday. >> congress needs to pass a farm bill that will not only provide important disaster relief tools but also make necessary reforms

and give farmers the certainty that they deserve. >> so, you know, he wants to see this five-year farm bill pass, but my question i guess, he's calling on congress right now. is he playing congress? because members of congress are not even in town to listen? >> i think it's important for the president to say this and important for constituents back home to tell their members of congress on recess that they are interested in seeing a farm bill done. the senate passed the farm bill in a strong bipartisan vote. the house agricultural committee passed a bill. it takes leadership upon in terms of house leadership to get this thing on the floor and get it voted on and get the differences worked out. it can include a comprehensive -- hurting as a result of the drought. because prior to this drought, we actually had momentum

building in the rural economy, rural manufacturing going up, record incomes and exports for farm products. we want to continue that momentum and we need certainty in terms of what the policies and programs are going to be. >> you're mentioning the house specifically. this is from kevin smith, spokesperson for house speaker john boehner. in his remarks today the president forgot to mention that senate dems refused to take up bipartisan house drought relief before add adjourning hash tag shocked. it true, mr. secretary? because the house passed, $383 million emergency relief package last week and the democrats in the senate refused to take it up before they went on vacation. so will this $30 million relief be enough? who's really responsible for this relief here? >> the $30 million is certainly going to provide some assistance but it's nowhere near what we need. the house disaster assistance program was a good start in the

discussion but didn't cover specialty crops. i think what we can do with the passage of the farm bill is provide a comprehensive disaster assistance program, which is what the senate and i think many members of the house want. get it done and provide at the same time the certainty that producers need so they can begin planning for the future. if we basically allow this thing to continue beyond september 30th, the farm bills expire and then we get this discussion wrapped up in a tax policy and sequester and deficit reduction. i'm deeply concerned it becomes so complicated we don't get help and assistance to folks that they need. >> we are thinking of the ranchers and farmers and selfishly speaking of ourselves feeling it at the grocery store. tom vilsack, thank you so much. >> you bet. >> a big high and big low for the u.s. women's gymnastics team. we'll take you live to london. awesome new pictures from

mars from the curiosity rover. we'll take you inside this high stakes nasa mission. we're so excited for this. you're watching "starting point." [ obama ] i'm barack obama and i approve this message. [ male announcer ] you work hard. stretch every penny. but chances are you pay a higher tax rate than him... mitt romney made twenty million dollars in two thousand ten

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the olympic games focused on track and field today as u.s. women's gymnastics wrap up their team. aly raisman wrapped up the floor routine and scored the bronze on the beam. >> fellow american and all around champ gabby douglas did not fare as well. she took a fall on the beam.

she'll have to be satisfied with her two gold medals so far. zain, tell us about the olympic drama. >> reporter: there's always drama when it comes to gymnasti gymnastics, it's great to see aly raisman get a gold in the floor exercise, good for her. it was a little bit of a controversy when it came to the bronze on the beam. but she ended up getting that because the coach made an appeal. and she ended up getting the highest numbers there for the bronze. sad news there for jordyn wieber, she did the floor exercises too and ended up limping off. she also landed outside some of the lines. she didn't do too well. she was seen walking out with a bit of a brace. it may be a stress fracture for her. >> amazing these pictures of these young women upside down, twisting and tumble. big day on the track for americans, including photo finish in what is it 100 meter hurdles final?

>> yeah, it was 100 meter hurdles and it came down to dawn harper and sally pearson of australia and both of those athletes stood on the pitch and looked up, didn't know who had won. it was that close. and the u.s. missed it and got silver just by that much. >> zain, i happen to think beach volleyball is always historic, always an intense moment of history. >> you do, do you? right, why am i not surprised? >> these finals are particularly historic. what's going on here? >> reporter: well, the good news for the u.s. is that the u.s. is going to win gold. and i know this because the u.s. is actually playing the u.s. in the finals. so congratulations. >> process of elimination. >> reporter: in advance of winning the gold medal. a couple of coo things, misty may-treanor and kerri walsh jennings have had to go into

couples therapy because of bad dynamics head of the olympics and all four of the athletes on the u.s. beach volleyball final team have been having dinner together and just being great buddies but then secretly trying to find out are. so it's going to be a fight even though you'll get gold and silver. >> interesting. i hope we don't have to have co-anchor therapy at the end of the week. >> i need it already. we are all cheering for the americans. >> we are. go u.s. thank you, zain. >> mind boggling new pictures from mars. martian gravel. a mountainous sunset. and most exciting of all, the search for life. the truth is out there. you're wching "starting point." ffee-mate? with over 25 delicious flavors for a fraction of the cost of the coffee house. add your flavor, with coffee-mate, from nestle. add your flavor, this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires.

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welcome back to "starting point." the mars rover curiosity is exploring the gail crater this morning and sending back amazing photos here. nasa released the first color photos of mars' surface. the video of the landing, if you haven't seen it, go to the twitter feed and check it out in. the next couple of days, we should be seeing more high resolution images. scientists suspect it will take months for the rover to reach the center of this two-year mission because it could, we're hoping, they're hoping, give valuable insight into whether mars can in fact sustain life. >> one of those big questions. we have now with us a geologist who specializes in meteorites, curator of the american museum of natural history. thank you so much for being here. >> great to be here. >> you're just so excited about this mission. we were just chatting. >> yes, i am. it was a late night on monday night, monday morning actually, but it's fantastic success.

just fantastic. it's a triumph of jet propulsion, the landing. >> i've been looking at the different images. they have video from -- we won't call it a rover. we're calling it a big bad suv. so this lands. and we have the first images. when you're looking at these, i guess these layers of the sand, and you see this mountain, did that surprise you? >> most of what we're seeing are testing cameras, looking to see if everything is ok that we can see, and that things are good with the rover -- excuse me, with the big bad suv. >> yes. >> and the -- going to be some time before we really start doing science using cameras. but this is a laboratory. we study martian meteorites on earth. here we have a laboratory on mars that will record three kilometers of stuff that's recording a huge amount of martian history. >> tell me about the gail crater. tell us why you're so jazzed up

about this. >> the selection of this landing site in particular was a long process. and first of all, it has to be safe. it has to have a nice flat area to land in. that was there. and it has these layers -- three kilometers, mt. sharp it's now called in the center, is three kilometers of -- excuse me, five kilometers, almost three miles, of sediments that are different. they are differe layers, which we have seen using our mars reconnaissance orbiter assets in space. so the combination of what we've done already with this new opportunities is wonderful. >> so when will they start, you know, doing this experimenting? how long will it take? when should we get some answers? i'm impatient already. >> we're some kilometers away from that actually starting up that mountain. >> ok. >> and all these illusions to climbing mountains and so forth, this big bad suv is capable of doing things that other rovers couldn't do. and one of those things is to

climb, because it's rough terrain in some places. there are cliff sides. but that's where you want to be as a geologist, with a hammer, banging on the rock. we have a hand lens there. literally a hand lens type camera. we have mass spectometers that we can measure. >> what's the one thing that you want to know? >> i want to know the organic chemistry in those rocks, if there's any. >> me too. >> all right. we're together. the nation is together. we all want to know these things. why? because they are clues to the possibility that there was once life on mars. there's clues to the possibility of there still being microbial life below the surface. also this big bad suv is going to tell us about the radiation environment in a way we've never known before. so what are the fluxes of nasty stuff on the surface? and that paves the way for humans as well. >> this is so huge for deep

space exploration. i was talking to charlie boldent recently, and he was saying that in our lifetime we should see boot prints on mars. >> i hope it is. >> thank you so much. one martian year is 687 earth days. take that. >> go figure. marinate on that. >> i'm only 28 years old on mars. "starting point" will be back in just a moment. >> thank you so much.

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good morning. >> happy wednesday. soledad is off this week. our "starting point" this morning, guilty. jared lee loughner takes a plea deal for going on that shooting rampage and killing six people, avoiding the death penalty and responding to romneyhood with obama-loney. >> we have been watching the president say a lot of things about me and my policies, and they are just not right. and if i were to coin a term, it would be obama-loney. >> you heard from the romney campaign before. this hour, we have a representative from the obama campaign. deborah walsh is stepping by in studio. we'll get the scoop on the upcoming season of "true bloods." >> i'm sticking around. it is wednesday, august 8. "starting point" begins right

now. welcome and good morning to our handsome and lovely panel. we have abby huntsman here. richard socarides. and we have naftali bendavid. >> good to see you guys together. >> thanks. he's all right. >> it's our second day together. >> our coupsecond date. >> couples therapy begins tomorrow. >> soledad does not usually refer to us as handsome. >> did you like that? >> yes. >> we are expecting good comment tarry for you today for that. so our "starting point" this morning, is winning votes in the swing states. while mitt romney visits iowa today, president obama is making campaign stops in colorado. and we may have his work cut out

for him there. a new poll this morning shows that romney is ahead in colorado. voters there would choose mitt romney 50% to the president's 45%. but in virginia, the president is ahead 49% to 45%. and wisconsin, he has the advantage 51% to 45%. this is all from the latest quinnipiac/"new york times"/cbs poll. i want to start with colorado first of all. this is the first that i've seen with you trailing in this key, key swing state. one that the president is visiting today. why do you think this margin? >> well, you know, john, i think that there are polls all over the place. even the polls that you cited in virginia. you know, they are going to go up and down. this is going to be a very close race between now and election day. but what i do know about colorado is that the women's vote is very strong there. the president is going to denver, colorado, today to talk about those very women's issues.

and remind people that it was mitt romney that wanted to take control over their health care, make their decisions about their health care, get rid of planned parenthood, which takes away cancer screenings and preventive care for thousands of women in the denver area. and those are the issues that are really going to resonate and will make a difference to them and who they vote for in november. i think today's trip is a very important trip. and i think ultimately the polls will go up and down. it will be very close until the end. we're going to fight for every vote. >> so the women vote matters, but so does the middle class white vote. let's listen to what the governor said yesterday about the president in his recent moves on welfare reform. >> i very much agree that those who are seriously disabled or are unable to work need to have the help of the rest of us. but those who can work ought to have the opportunity for a good job, and if they are getting state assistance, they ought to have the requirement for a good job.

we will end a culture dependency and restore a culture of good hard work. >> they are backing up this rhetoric with a new ad. just last hour, i asked a romney spokesperson andrea sol to explain further what they are doing with this attack. >> if president obama didn't want people to think that he was going to waive the central work requirement and welfare reform, his administration shouldn't have written a memo saying it was going to waive the work requirements and welfare reform. and that's just what they are have done. they can issue blog posts and have surrogate statements saying that's not what they meant, but the memro still stands. and that's exactly what it says. it's like giving -- a teenager saying, give me the keys, i'm not going to drive your car, i promise. it's just ridiculous. >> stephanie, your response? >> well, apparently andrea didn't read the memo because that's not what the memo says. and i think that i would take president clinton's word over andrea saul's word any day.

and president clinton said last night that the romney ad was very disappointing, and that what the president did was exactly in the spirit of president clinton's welfare to work law, where it gives states flexibility to meet these requirements. in exchange for that flexibility, flexibility that republican governors were asking for, they increased the work requirements by 20%. i heard you, john, earlier when you were talking to andrea and asking her about that work requirement. she completely dismissed it. so she apparently hasn't read the memo. but that's not unusual for the romney campaign. they don't care about the fans. if i were on their side, i might be doing the same thing because they have taken on a lot of water the last seral weeks from their trip to europe, where they insulted our allies and embarrassed our country, to the independent economic report that came out last week that showed if he wanted to -- >> stephanie -- if he wanted to pass his $5 trillion tax plan, he was going to have to increase taxes on the middle class. i understand why they are trying to change the subject, but it's just not factually honest.

>> let me jump in here. what's not false is that state senator obama said that the welfare reform bill passed in the 1990s is not something he would have supported. he was asked repeatedly whether he would support the welfare reform bill, and he said it's not something that i would have supported. it's not something he supported now. why should we think it's something that in his heart he basically is in favor of? >> because, john what, you're not talking about is what he did in the illinois senate. he said he may not have suppted that law, but the devil was in the details. and you know what he did? he worked on those details across the aisle with republican senators and the illinois senate and won praise from republican senators for the way he implemented that law in illinois, to ensure that people could have the opportunity to work and get off welfare. but we were doing it in a compassionate way, to ensure that everybody could make ends meet and get ahead. so that's what that ad doesn't tell you, that he actually won

praise from republicans across the aisle for how he implemented that law. so that's why you know what's in his heart. he's implemented it, and effectively, and now he is doing what republican governors wanted, give them flexibility. get rid of the paperwork. become more efficient. but in exchange, increase those work requirements. the romney campaign doesn't want everybody to know that because they are launching dishonest, unfactual ads to change the subject. but those are the facts. and i think the american people understand that. you said pants on fire. there are other fact checks out today saying it's dishonest. you know, dubious. all of those things that, you know, it got panned across the board because it's just not true. >> while we're on the subject of ads and questionable honesty and reliability, there is a new ad out yesterday from priority u.s. u. u.s. /* and let's take a look at this ad. >> i don't think mitt romney

understands what he's done. >> when mitt romney and bain closed the plant i lost my health care and my family lost their health care. and i don't know how long she was sick. and i think maybe she didn't say anything because she knew that we couldn't afford the insurance. and then one day, she became ill, and i took her up to the jackson county hospital. >> there are plenty of questions about the timeline of this. this man obviously, and we are sorry he lost his wife, you know, is suggesting that she died because of action that mitt romney took. he of course had left bain years before this bain took over this company. and then his wife died -- that's not true. >> years after. is this ad accurate? is it fair? >> well, john, here are the facts. i don't know the facts about when his wife got sick or the facts about his health insurance. but what i do know is that mitt romney personally handled the deal to take over gs steel and personally handled some of the decisions made to load that company up with debt so much that it went underwater, it went

bankrupt. and you just said that he left the company before the deal was made. that's not true. mitt romney made that deal. you know, he says that he left bain capital in 1999 to go run the olympics. but if you remember, according to the s.e.c. forms that he filed, he was still president and ceo of that firm. he was still taking a salary. and i guarantee you that when gs steel went bankrupt that mitt romney personally walked away with a significant profit while joe lost his job. so that's what really that story is about. >> this gets back to the argument that -- let's leave aside when he did or not give up control of bain capital, because that does appear that it's in dispute. >> i do think that most people think that if you're still ceo that you're in charge. >> this woman died in 2006, and this ad basically accuses mitt romney of basically killing her. is that the kind of rhetoric you want to hear in a campaign like this especially from the side of the president of the united states, especially a president who ran four years ago on raising the level of rhetoric? >> well, you do know that we

don't have anything to do with priorities usa. that by law, we're not allowed to coordinate with them, and by law we don't have anything to do with their ads. i don't know the facts of when joe's wife got sick or when she died. but as i said before, i do know the facts of what mitt romney did with gs steel. i do know the facts of how joe lost his job, lost his health care. the entire company went bankrupt. but mitt romney walked away with a pretty hefty profit. those are the facts that matter. and those are the reasons that in other polls out today that he is completely underwater in his favorability numbers with independents by double digits. because people don't trust him. they now understand that this private sector business experience that he's talking about was all about making profits for himself, at any cost, at any consequence to anybody else. and, you know, they are questioning whether that's the type of experience they want of somebody running the country. and i think that they are concluding no. i heard, you know, on your interview with andrea that she

was saying these favorability numbers were all about people getting to know mitt romney. she's correct. they are getting to know mitt romney and they are not liking what they are seeing. there's a reason that coming out of the primaries, normally a time when nominees reintroduce themselves to the country and gain favorability numbers that mitt romney has dropped like a hot potato. because people are getting to know him. >> some of the other things that are happening in the campaign, we hearing phrases like romneyhood and obamaloney. is this the kind of rhetoric that you like to see as a political operative? >> you know, john, i think it's something that voters don't pay attention to. voters don't care about it. you know, i saw mitt romney use -- i don't even know how to pronounce it, obama-loney a couple of days ago. you know, i think this is a campaign. we have every right to question the facts about his policies. he doesn't want to talk about his policies. excuse me. i understand that because his

policies have pretty dire consequences for the middle class. and we all know that the middle class is what's at stake in this election. i understand he doesn't want to talk about his policies or fill in the details, but we will. we are going to talk about his policies because that's what's at stake in this election. i think that's what voters care about, not the phrase that you're talking about. or what you're calling your opponent but what his policies do. and we're going to continue talking about it, whether he wants us to or not. voters need to understand where he's going to take this country. and when they see a $5 trillion tax cut giving millionaires and billionaires $250,000 in tax cuts, but in order to pay for that we have to raise taxes on the middle class, i think they are really going to care about that. and i think that's going to influence the election. that's not the direction they want this country to go in. we've been there. we saw those policies crash the economy. they don't want to go back there. >> stephanie cutter, deputy campaign manager for the obama campaign. get yourself some water. thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you.

have a good morning. >> so obama-loney. romneyhood. we have an ad basically accusing mitt romney of killing a woman. >> where are they talking about the issues, about what the candidates are actually going to do? i didn't hear one thing that either one was going to do, and that is so frustrating to voters. >> well, it's a fine line i think between a pithy zinger that really gets at something a candidate is trying to do and name calling. >> we're not there yet? >> we probably are there. the romneyhood line was intended to say his tax plans would take from the poor and give to the rich or something like that. obamaloney i assume was intended to say the president is not telling the truth. but whether or not they are effective or meaningful has to doith whether or not they are getting at the deeper message that the campaign wants out there, as opposed to just sounding line playground taunts.

>> does it work for one candidate more than the other? >> i don't think it works for anybody. it's so frustratingly negative, much more so than in the past. and very early. i don't really mind the, you know, romneyhood or obamaloney. but what i do mind is the constant negative back and forth where you can't really tell the truth. this ad this morning about the welfare reform bill i think is pretty much just made up. >> and you forget the people that care about welfare are those that are struggling the most, and they want to hear what the plan is. and they are not hearing that. >> it's not believable. you can agree or disagree with president obama's policies. but nobody thinks he doesn't want americans back to work. he's trying his best. it may not be working but he is trying his best. >> there's a big difference on what you see on the campaign trail and what you see in office. he signed that waiver, and as president he probably would do it again. but now he's doing the opposite. >> i think we all wish they were -- >> she said americans weren't

paying attention and you disagree with that? >> i think that negative -- not only criticisms but even some of the name calling does lodge itself in people's consciousness, and that's why the campaign -- >> guys, i promise you, my word here, we're going to talk about this later. >> more? >> more. much more. >> do you think between now and november we'll talk more about it? >> no, this very day we're going to talk about it more. still to come here on "starting point," the skinhead rocker accused of the sikh temple massacre now linked to the most violent neo-nazi group in the nation. was he or was he not on the radar for the fbi? and a high school forcing some girls to take pregnancy tests. and they kick them out of school if that test is positive. is this even legal? you're watching "starting point."

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splenda makes the moment yours. and that breaking news right here in new york city, where there are now pictures of a fire on the 88th floor of one world trade center. you're looking at pictures right there. not sure if we can make out the smoke or not. this floor is unoccupied right now. in fact, the whole building is unoccupied. the fire department is on the scene and taking care of the situation. but, again, those pictures you're looking at right now, a fire on the 88th floor of one world trade center. we will keep looking at this and see how things develop. >> is that the new building going up? john, thank you. police are still looking for a motive behind the tragic sikh

temple shooting. the suspect did not leave behind a note, but we do know he quit his job, moved out of his apartment that he shared with an ex-girlfriend. that ex-girlfriend, by the way, we have learned this morning has been arrested by south milwaukee police on a gun charge. page was a member of white supremacist bands and posed in photos just like this one here that display his sim pathy clearly to white supremacist believes, but police are still not confirming he was in fact a member of a white supremacist group or whether his beliefs were motive enough for opening fire on the temple. jm berger is a counterterrorism expert who tracks these groups. good morning to you. i just want to begin with the sources because you have sources that tell you that wade michael page crossed paths with the fbi at some point in time, though he was never actually a suspect of any particular crime.

can you explain to me crossing paths? what does that mean and what do you know? >> sure. what i discovered, i was looking into wade page obviously as we all were in the immediate aftermath of the shootings. and i was looking at some of the web postings that he made on the hammerskins skinhead site. you know, the police aren't totally confirming he was a member of the hammerskins, but it's pretty clear he was pretty closely associated with them. i saw references in the posts to some activity in florida which i sort of crosschecked and a source pointed me to some documents, court documents that, had been released very recently regarding the american front skinhead organization in florida. the american front was a similar organization to the hammerskins. they were planning to instigate a race war. they were training very heavily for this. and 13 of them were arrested in may of 2012, which is where these documents came from. and an informant who was involved in that invesgation

reported seeing wade page's bands at an event in march of 2011. so he was in the room with this guy. and in addition to the informant reports which we have, what we don't know is what kind of fbi records are related to this. there were two fbi agents involved in this undercover investigation as well as a local law enforcement agent undercover. so there are probably some records on this. >> here is my question. i was talking to someone yesterday who had been tracking him for 12 years. they are tracking thousands of people like page, which is frightening enough. what is it that these individuals need to know beyond associating with hate groups to do more than simply tracking someone? >> this is the big challenge of counterterrorism. you're looking at extremist groups which have thousands of members, each one, you know, each different kind of extremism has thousands of adherrents. all of these people are very busy. they talk to each other. they post online.

there's a tremendous massive data. and you know you probably heard the phrase after 9/11 that processing the intelligence was like trying torink from a fire hose. it's the same thing here. the people who are going to act out violently are often pretty subdued in some of the stuff they put out there. so this -- you know, there's no sure way to know who's going to act out without, you know, intelligence on the ground and the person discussing it. >> and that is part of the frightening part. and i hear you, that is challenging. we are learning a bit more when it comes to page and his career in the military and sort ofthe roots perhaps for him of this movement. and so anderson cooper, he actually talked to someone who spent time with page while he was in the military. take a listen to that. >> he told me during the course of our time together was that he really started to identify with the neo-nazism during his time in the military.

and specifically he told me at one point that if you join the military and you're not a racist, then you certainly will be by the time you leave. and what he meant by that was that he felt like that he learned while he was in the military that the deck was stacked against whites. >> i hear that, i think. the members of our military are heroes certainly. but it sounds like that in perhaps certain niche groups within our militaries and our bases there is most definitely part of a signs of a movement here. >> well, when wade page was stationed at ft. bragg in the 1990s, he arrived on base right about the time that authorities discovered a fairly significant neo-nazi skinhead movement on the base. three soldiers from ft. bragg were prosecuted for murdering a black couple right around the time that wade got there. and the army actually did take a first stab at reforming its policies on extremism in the ranks. there are a lot of things that contribute to this.

but, you know, one thing that we really have to keep in mind is that extremists are often explicitly interested in joining the military because they get training that they can use later. you know, if you're somebody that has that inclination, there have been some discussions among leaders of some of these groups that their followers should join the army to get trained. in addition to that, you know, i talked to some veterans. and i hear different things from different people. some say that there's not a massive problem. others have expressed concern to me about what they have seen in the rachks. -- ranks. and the military is a massive operation like the u.s. population, there are going to be some people who are problems. >> jm burger, appreciate it. thank you so much. >> thank you. and we will be back in a moment. you're watching "starting point."

ahead on "starting point," at one high school pregnant students told to leave. details about a controversial policy now facing a strong challenge. also a man goes to a "dark knight rises" screening with a loaded gun and three knives. why his attorney says he is no aurora copycat. and from the hit show "true blood," actress deborah ann wall who plays teen vampire jessica stops by our studios in the day looilt ho lite hours. you're watching "starting point." ♪ i want to grow ♪ i want to try ♪ i can almost touch the sky [ male announcer ] even the plat has an olympic dream. dow is proud to support that dream by helping provide greener, more sustainable solutions

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making a gr[siri]eaking car. sirianother busy day today.ke? are you serious? [siri] yes i'm not allowed to be frivolous. ah ok, move my 4 o'clock today to tomorrow. change my 11am to 2. [siri] ok marty, i scheduled it for today. is that rick? where's rick? [siri] here's rick. oh, no that's not rick. now, how's the traffic headed downtown? [siri] here's the traffic.

ah, it's terrible, terrible! driver, driver! cut across, cut across, we'll never make it downtown this way. i like you siri, you're going places. [siri] i'll try to remember that. you know what's exciting? graduation. when i look up into my students faces, i see pride. you know, i have done something worthwhile. when i earned my doctorate through university of phoenix, that pride, that was on my face. i am jocelyn taylor. i'm committed to making a difference in people's lives, and i am a phoenix. visit phoenix.edu to find the program that's right for you. enroll now. welcome back to "starting point." we have an update on our breaking news this morning. there was a fire scare at one world trade center in lower manhattan this morning.

firefighters rushed to the scene after reports that a fire had broken out on the 88th floor. but cnn has now confirmed that the fire is out. other stories this morning, jared lee loughner now facing a lifetime in prison after pleading guilty just yesterday to that shooting rampage in tucson, arizona. he now admits, yes, he killed six people and almost killed a former member of congress, congresswoman gabrielle giffords. under the plea deal, loughner will be sentenced to life if prison without parole but will be avoiding the death penalty in the state of arizona. he will officially be sentenced in november. he says he was just trying to protect himself. an ohio man was arrested with a loaded gun and three knives at a showing of "the dark knight rises" this weekend. his lawyer claims he just wanted to protect himself in a gunman entered the theater like what happened in colorado last month. investigators say he did not have a concealed carry permit for that weapon. heavy gunfire and rocket

propelled grenades going off in syria. the city of aleppo is fighting, as you can see, very much so, raging on in the streets. this is amateur video. it shows multiple explosions, and as always, we have to say cnn cannot confirm the authenticity of the tape. opposition groups say at least 170 people were killed across the country just yesterday. all of this as the former prime minister who bolted syria arrived in jordan. a charter school in louisiana is reviewing a controversial policy that forces pregnant teens to leave the school. delhi charter school requires students suspected of being pregnant to take a test. and if they're pregnant, they cannot attend classes on campus. if a student refuses the test, they'll be treated as if they are pregnant with the same consequences. which means they're out. >> now the ucla is threatening to sue over this policy. they say it violates a number of constitutional rights here. in fact, in a statement, the school says, it is rethinking

the rule, and i'm quoting them there. they have never -- there have never been any complaints from students and parents about the school policy. however, in light of the recent inquiry, the current policy has been forwarded to the law firm of davenport, files, and kelly to ensure necessary revisions are made so that our school is in full compliance with constitutional law. louise melliny is the deputy legal director of the ucla. in your mind, what does that entail? >> well, first of all, we are pleased they are looking into the policy. it's blatantly illegal. you can't force girls who are pregnant out of school any more than you can force women out of the workplace because they are pregnant. so what a correct policy would entail is that girls have a right to equal education, the same as everybody else, whether they evare pregnant or not. they can't be pushed out of the classroom. >> have you seen this before? >> i think this is the first time i have seen anything this

blatant. what we eventual see are instances where, you know, pregnant girls often are pushed into other arenas, pushed into alternative schools. they don't necessarily offer the same kind of curriculum as the regular schools. so there's definitely issues about the adequacy and sufficiency of schooling of pregnant girls. but this is exceptional that i've seen. >> i know part of the policy is not just if you are pregnant, but if you are suspected. that's the word. if you're suspected of being pregnant. do we know, and i know we're reaching out to the school as well, how do they suspect pregnancy? >> this i don't know. >> does that mean you look a little bloated or something? >> is it possible this is just something they hadn't thought through? rather than a massive civil rights violation, this school believes in tough love. apparently they never used the policy. they say they are reviewing it. is it possible they just didn't give it a lot of thought when they put it into writing? >> i think anything is possible, but the policy is from 2006. in 2006, we should all know that

you can't segregate or push out of school, push out of the work place, push into the home girls or women because of our pregnancies. >> let me read you a section of the school's manual. they really lay it out. it's crystal clear. they say as a school of choice, parents and administrators and the board of directors place high expectations to the students and require that all of the students adhere to the school's high standards. delhi charter school has established an environment whereby conduct of its students must be in keeping with the school's goals. if they are choosing this, and it's spelled out clearly, isn't that ok? >> no. it's illegal. you can make choices among schools, but schools, especially schools that receive government funding, still have to comply with the law. you can't choose to participate in a school that's racially segregated in america today. you can't choose for this. >> but louisiana holds the sixth highest teen pregnancy rate in the country. this is according to the cdc. and 30% of teenaged girls cite

pregnancy or parenthood for dropping out of high schools. >> why should that matter? >> what's the solution for that? >> i think the shocking thing about the entire story, right, is that anybody in this day and age would think that this was appropriate or legal or, you know, it seems to me like it's the school district trying to sort of govern -- sort of lay down some morality tests for whether or not you're allowed in school. and that's the real problem. >> but how do you change those numbers? >> in different ways. and what are the ironies, if you look internationally, one of the ways to change those kinds of ways is education and opportunity. so how ironic in some sense to sort of push all of the girls out. what's also important is that girls and families need to -- when they -- to be able to have a choice to stay in school or for example if medical conditions radio conditions require it to be accommodating. the goal is to keep goals in school. >> is there any consequence for the male student who results in a girl getting pregnant?

>> so it's sexist too, right? not only is the policy illegal, but it's sexist. >> well, yes. it is the irony. if it's about character, then we can assume it's about character then it's about sex. that's why i assume is implicit in that. and it's the girls who are getting tested and pushed out. and that's not uncommon in other contexts. >> hypothetically, i can't imagine how you would do it, but if you did toss out the boy as well, would that remove the legal barrier here? >> no, no. that at least would eliminate one kind of gender discrimination. but we have a history in the country as i said of pushing women out and pushing women into the home in the face of pregnancy. we don't have it in modern day as much. but we certainly have a long history of it. so the laws protect girls and women who are pregnant to say, you can't say that the house is the proper place and we're sort of unfit for the classroom or unfit for the workplace or unfit

kind of to be seen or to function. no matter what your reason, you can't do that. >> there is a lesson to this story. >> which is, riard? >> the lesson is this is why we need the ucla in this country. >> i love that line. >> the school says they have gotten no complaints. we'll follow up and see what happens with the said law firm and see if the policy changes. louise, thank you so much. let us know what you think. you can send us a tweet. >> do it. >> thank you, louise. we appreciate it. we'll keep the conversation going. ahead on "starting point," she plays the teenaged vampire. some call her sexy. on the hit show "true blood." actress deborah ann woll is here with the season finale scoop. we'll get all the details. you're watching "starting point." [ female announcer ] the coffee house.

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welcome back to "starting point." everyone, your olympics update this wednesday morning. u.s. women's gymnastics finishes the competition on a high note in london. aly raisman takes home the gold in the floor exercise and a bronze on the balance beam. but it was not without some drama. raisman was initially in fourth place, but after the team challenged her score on the beam, the judges decided she actually did earn the bronze. fellow american and all-around champ gabby douglas took a fall on the balance beam, and she finished seventh. checking the medal count now, china has the most medals at 73 and the mst golds, 34. team usa has 70 medals total. 30 of them gold. great britain and russia each have 48. we want you to take a look at this. it's today's google doodle on the home page. an interactive basketball player that lets you shoot hoops. this is in honor of the olympics

basketball tournament, of course. the men's quarterfinals taking place today. the u.s. plays australia. i'm sure the u.s. men's team needs all the help they can get, so cheer for them. ahead on "starting point," a very special guest. she is a star on one of the biggest shows on television. get ready to vamp it up with one of the stars of "true blood." >> hi. >> deborah ann woll. she joins us next. >> hi. nice to see you. because it matters. at hp we don't just believe in the power of technology. we believe in the power of people when technology works for you. to dream. to create. to work. if you're going to do something. make it matter.

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welcome back to "starting point." actress deborah ann woll is best known for her role as jessica, the teen vampire on hbo's hit show "true blood." >> you will of course remember she was turned into a vampire by bill compton. so now she's learning how to be

a new vampire, and of course at the same time, deal with teen angst. >> i know how -- how awful and scary, lonely, it can be. but it gets better. really -- it really does. you know, i think the hardest part is that like nobody gets you. like pam and eric and bill. they are all just so old. and then humans, you know, even if they love you, or even if they try, you know, they don't get it. >> here she is. the show is about to wrap up its fifth season. deborah ann woll here to give us the scoop. and i was watching you watch yourself. what's that like? >> it's hard. i'm really -- i'm not good at it yet. my boyfriend and i talk all the time about how i probably just shouldn't do it anymore. >> you should. you're phenomenal. >> thank you. >> and iremember the scene when you sort of were introduced in the show. you were coming out of the trunk

of a car, right? you were this innocent -- >> virgin. yes. >> virgin, now -- >> eternal virgin, yeah. >> talk about your character. >> she came from a very conservative upbringing. i think a very scary upbringing where her parents were abusive towards her. and immediately sort of the first time she did something naughty and tried to sneak out to go to a party, she gets picked up by a gang of vampires and essentially, you know, tortured and turned into a vampire. her whole life has changed. >> when you first got the script, what went through your mind? were you like this is the weirdest thing i ever read, or my dream come true, i always wanted to be a vampire? >> i think i was sort of born like the color of death. >> piercing blue eyes, might i add. >> thank you. >> piercing blue eyes. >> but i fit into it very well. i had never thought about playing a vampire. but i do love material that pushes the bounds a little bit. >> it must be fun to do the show. >> it's a blast. >> even when it's serious, it's fun. >> yeah. >> and i'm also curious that the

blood that you drink, what is it made of? >> true blood. >> the actual blood in the bottles was purple carrot juice. beet juice. it depends on what your taste is. >> it seems like a lot of the show could come from present day life. there's a vampire hate group. how much is it just having a good time with a great story and how much is real? >> my hope is that it's both. it's about 50/50. we want it to be entertaining. but the point is to watch it for the violence and the fun and the sex, but maybe within that we can talk about something that's interesting. >> the panel is jumping to ask questions here. my question is kind of a hypothetical question here. i always look at the show and think about how it compares to real life. if you could turn one person in our modern society and public life here into a vampire -- >> and john doesn't count. >> present company excluded. >> just to see how they would

react, who would you turn? >> oh, boy. that's a very good question. i would hope that i would turn someone who does good for this world in a way, you know. maybe the lovely woman you just had on. we were just talking backstage. she is so poised and fighting for something so important. >> so she could live forever? >> exactly, and continue to do good work >> so you studied animal attack footage to prepare for your role? >> i did. >> why? >> well, we don't live in a world any longer where we are afraid of being eaten or attacked. we're not predators. and vampires really are. that's the difference in that world. i wanted to look at what is it like, one, for the victim to be attacked, and then once you become that predator. >> what do you think it is about vampires that so resonates with our culture? >> i think it's about our inner deep desires, this dark sort of forbidden taboo impulses that we have as human beings and we are never allowed to express them. but vampires can. >> do you think it has lasting power? it's been such a hype the last few years. do you think it will continue to

be? >> i hope so. i think for that reason alone, that we do talk about some things that are true about humanity, even though they are exaggerated. >> there are so many things that are so shocking, people eating each other. what's it like to -- >> please. >> this is like morning television, right? >> put down the cereal. >> i mean, you know, what's that like to do? and why do you think audiences are drawn to that kind of shock? >> sure. it's fun. we'll have a guest star come in. and i'll be like, hi, i'm deborah. i'll be biting your neck. would you like hard fangs or soft fangs? >> what do people say? >> usually soft fangs. people are skittish at the beginning. but it's part of that primal interest. and something like sex and aggression is something that sometimes we are nervous about putting together, but i think it's true humanity. >> i think we'll all watch the show differently now. >> i hope you do. >> such a pleasure. so lovely. "end point" is next.

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time for "end point" now. neftali? >> after months of being on defense this week showed the romney's campaign attempt to go on offense. we'll have to see if that works. >> i think that we're going to have to get away from some of this negativity and the casn candidates are going to have to be positive or ty are going to lose the