going inside the sikh temple. mitt romney is touring swing states this weekend and the dnc will follow him in a ride of their own. tom periello joins us and reince priebus and bill bolling, you know their faces and more, the gold medal swimmers, nathan adrian and ricky berens. "starting point" begins now. >> our starting point here, breaking news out of afghanistan. here's what we know. a man wearing a afghan military uniform open fire on u.s. troops

killing three soldiers in the country's southern helmand province. >> cnn's chris lawrence is live from the pentagon. what are your sources telling you about this attack this morning? >> well, john, they say they are still trying to figure out whether this was actually a true afghan police officer or someone just wearing the uniform. although the taliban is claiming that this was an actual afghan policeman who lured these three soldiers to his residence or to a party and had planned to kill them for some time. u.s. military officials are now confirming that part of the detail. but again, it speaks to a larger issue, which is trust in the fact that if this is a so-called green on blue attack, where afghan troops turn on their american allies, it would be the third time just this week. in fact, in the big picture, there have been more attacks

already this year of that kind than all of last year, john. >> all right, chris lawrence at the pentagon. the story developing at this moment. we know you'll stay on it here. a cnn exclusive this morning. inside the wisconsin temple where six people died and three others wounded. this is video shot exclusively by cnn. it shows a stark reminder of this attack of bullet hole that punctured the door leading to the main fare area. that remains and members say it will stay as a reminder of what happened. >> ted rowlands is live outside of oak creek high school where a memorial service will be held a little later today. and ted, just back to the temple. i know you've been inside the temple and talking to a lot of members. what are they telling you? >> reporter: well, they are very emotional as you can imagine going into that temple was very emotional. we saw where each of the four victims were killed inside that temple. we also saw a pantry where 16

women and children were crammed inside for two hours. some of them injured, not knowing if the gunman was going to come back to continue to shoot. we also talked to family members that were in the temple. one of the sons that lost his father talked not only about the victims but also addressed the shooter. >> simply put, our families, his mother, who left behind two beautiful boys and was the only mother -- imagine losing your mother. our father, the four other victims, the people shot and in the hospital, the police officer that did his job, they are heroes. they are living the american dream. the other person was a coward. and at the end of the day, he should always be remembered as a coward. >> reporter: and today, brooke, we are expecting thousands of people to come here to oak creek high school where allix victims bodies will be out in the gymnasium.

people will have a chance to pay respects. >> hearing that man speak, i can't help but shaking my head at this whole thing. ted rowlands, thanks so much. mitt romney begins a bus tour through four swing states, virginia, north carolina and ohio. and democrats are tagging alone. in less than three hours, the democratic national committee is kicking off its own bus tour in virginia that will mirror mitt romney's trip. >> they plan to tell voters they think romney would in their words put the middle class under the bus. of course they have a bus to prove it there. tom periello is an obama campaign surrogate. congressman, the bus getting ready to go. yesterday it was parked in front of the rnc headquarters, republican national committee, kind of a stunt there. is this a mature way to go about campaigning? >> when i'm talking to voters, what they care about, what sths

going to cost me? independent tax analysts have made clear mitt romney's plan will raise taxes on the mitdle class over $2,000 a year while cutting his own taxes by $4.5 million a year. ultimately what matters is not the stunts but facts. but we sometimes have to have fun too. >> what matters right now is the economy. they are telling us that every day. cnn has brand-new poll numbers out on the economy and they could be troubling for the obama team. only 36% of the country right now thinks that things are going well. that's down from 43% from april. only 19% think the economy is starting to recover. and that's down from 24% in april. congressman, the question is this, people say things are getting worse. are they right? >> people are asking the question, who's going to get us out of this mess. they are looking for solutions. the more they learn about mitt romney the more trouble they got. when he was governor, massachusetts was 47th out of 50 in job creation, not the

leadership people are looking for. they understand that barack obamas understand the middle and working class and fighting for people like them and mitt romney's message, i'm going to raise your taxes and cut my own. >> the president has been in office for nearly four years and if people continue to say things are getting worse and especially this summer, things are getting more worse, doesn't he bear some responsibility for that? >> i think he's taken a lot of responsibility for that and been able to produce a significant growth in the manufacturing sector, getting america back to building and growing things again. we've had month of month -- the republican congress is unwilling to pass the jobs bill he's had on their desk over a year. they went on a five-week vacation for themselves without passing his jobs bill. i think the more people are learning about the facts and substance, they are seeing conservative agenda that will raise taxes and get in the way of that kind of job growth. >> another thing we're seeing a

lot of in this campaign is ads, commercials and people are talking about them. and the obama team has a new ad out dealing with mitt romney again in the issue of taxes. let's take a listen. >> mitt romney paid 10% in taxes, 5%, 0? we don't know but we do know he personally approved over $70 million in fictional losses to the irs as part of the notorious son of boss tax scandal. isn't it time for romney to come clean? >> i do want to point out to the audience, you might have seen a cnn logo, that is quoting a op-ed, not a news article. the first phrase in that ad, did romney pay 10% in taxes, 5%, 0%? we don't know. that sounds like the language that harry reid has been using, questioning he has sources saying romney paid no taxes and the president is trying to

distance himself from that. isn't this the same type of open-ended question without proof that's being asked in the ad? >> it sounds like the question the voters are asking. mitt romney has to remember the vote belongs to the people. he's asking the american people to hire him and going to the job interview, american people, hire me but i won't tell you anything about what i did in massachusetts. i'm not going to tell you about my taxes and don't want to talk about my bain history and voters are saying, are you kidding me? you want to be president of the united states and you're not going to come clean and tell me what's going on. this is a job interview with the american people. when you go into that, you have to be ready for americans to ask questions. >> you're asking a question without any proof. did romney pay taxes? why don't you ask, did romney rob a bank? i don't know. there's no evidence here. >> this is a matter of very clear precedent. every modern president has released their taxes because they understand it would be arrogant to go out to the american people and say, i want you to hire me but i'm not going to tell you anything about my

past. mitt romney is saying, i'm going to raise taxes by $2,000 a year and give myself a $4.5 million tax cut but won't tell you what my tax history is. behind the 30-second spots, working and middle class americans are asking serious questions and not liking the answers they are getting from mitt romney. they are getting a little defensive. ultimately this comes back to the kitchen table. people want to know who's going to help when it comes to turning this economy around and they are not liking the answers they are getting from mr. romney. >> one of things mitt romney will be doing in the next few days is he'll be picking a vice presidential nominee. one of the names we've heard a lot is paul ryan, who a lot of conservative commentators says has big ideas to fix the economy and address the entitlements and deficit. what do you make of the ryan plan? is this something you would like to have as a target as a democrat? >> i definitely think it's a

conversation progressives want and democrats want. this is an effort to really get rid of medicare as we know. a lot of the same things we've seen from romney, where the middle class has to pick up the tab for more high end tax cuts for the rich. paul ryan's budget got the catholic nuns up yet and now the ad about welfare has the nuns upset. if they are trying to win states like ohio, with a lot of catholic voters and getting the catholic nuns upset, that's a debate that will be healthy. >> your advice to him would be don't pick paul ryan, pick someone like rob portman. >> as you say, he has to make his decision who he's excited to serve with. he needs to pick someone he thinks would be ready to lead this country in the event of a crisis that happens. so you know, these should be seen as serious picks. and they should be seen as

reflecting on the kind of leader that the candidate is trying to be. >> tom perriello. thanks for joining us. we'll be talking to reince priebus and get his view. >> we'll see what he thinks about paul ryan and what he told nbc's chuck todd last night. after years of protest and lawsuits, this controversial mosque in tennessee. soledad did a documentary on this. it is set to open this morning in a very volatile time for places of worship. they are on alert as prayers begin. we'll go live to mur frees bore ro, tennessee. >> breaking his leg but not his stride. an american runner refusing to let down his teammates and finishing his leg of the relay on one leg. you're watching "starting point."

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welcome back to "starting point." aiming fwor the gold usain bolt thrills the crowd with a gold medal race. he swept the medal stand. for team usa it was the women's soccer team winning its third consecutive gold medal. it was fantastic. they beat japan, 2-1, avenging the painful loss to the japanese in last year's world cup. in the medal count that puts team usa on top with 90 medals total and most golds also. you have to look at this, an unbelievable story. mitchell finished his relay lap

on a broken leg. he had 200 meters to go in the prelimbs and adrenalin must have been flowing. it's hard to tell when it happened or even that anything is wrong. mitchell finished the lap and limped to the side to watch the americans finish the race and qualify easily for the final. a few hours later, doctors confirmed he ran the last lap with a broken left fibula. unbelievable. >> how? just how? >> guts. >> amazing. now this after two years of legal battles and bomb threats, vandalism and protest, the tennessee islamic center will be holding its first prayers before the close of the holy month of ramadan. a national islamic group is warning mosques to be on alert. after a mosque in joplin, missouri, burned in a possible arson case. george howell got an exclusive look inside the mosque and is live with the very latest. george, good morning.

big day for folks there. >> reporter: brooke, indeed a big day. we were first visitors inside this mosque, a big facility, a lot of room there, 12,000 square foot facility that is much larger than the older mosque members have outgrown. you have to consider, this is a long time coming for members of this mosque. two years after a lot of controversy. back in 2009, that's when the land purchased. 2010 construction started. then a lawsuit brought on by some who feared this mosque brought a risk of terrorism to the community. later local judge stepped in and stopped the permitting process. but then a federal judge stepped in this year and ordered today to continue on. brooke, as you mentioned. this mosque has been the focus of vandalism and arson and even a bomb threat. when you talk to members here, they say that is brought on by people outside this community. they say they are accepted in the community but people outside are trying to mischaracterize their religion. take a listen.

>> there is an agenda nationwide unfortunately that enable islams and muslims to be not what they are but because of the act of a few people, they are labeling the whole religion to be that way. it is unfortunate but it is -- and true and it's un-american as well. >> reporter: brooke, we know the first prayer service will happen at 1:10 central standard time. a lot of people here are anxious to have that moment for the first time. >> we'll watch as the doors open. george howell thank you in murfreesboro. this sunday, sole da o'brien krchronicles the fight, it's called "unwelcome the muslims next door" it airs sunday night at 8:00 eastern. still ahead, the justice department will not pursue

criminal charges against goldman sachs for selling risky home loans to investors but they may not be in clear just yet. also, we have pretty stunning pictures this morning. here it is, the mississippi river. is it running dry? how bad is the drought at one of the nation's most important waterways? more on that. we're at chicago's renowned saloon steak house where tonight we switched their steaks with walmart's choice premium steak. it's a steakover! tender. really tender. the steak itself is phenomenal. it's so juicy. this steak is perfect. these are carefully aged for flavor and tenderness. it's probably the best steak i've had. tonight you are actually eating walmart steak. are you serious? wow. i'll get some steaks from walmart. walmart choice premium steak in the black package. it's one hundred percent satisfaction guaranteed. try it and check us out on facebook.

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welcome back to "starting point," we're watching your money and goldman sachs is off the hook. the justice department deciding not to pursue criminal charges against the financial giant or its employees despite accusations they bet against the

subprime mortgage securities it was selling to clients. justice officials say the burden of proof couldn't be met to prosecute goldman but they are keeping the option open if they can gather more evidence. here we go, gas prices, yep, going up again. the national average price rising another cent to $3.67 a gallon. over that time the average jumped just about 19 cents. >> a charter school agrees to reverse a controversial pregnancy policy pending board approval. what the new policy will be isn't clear. the aclu went over dell high charter school over the policy which expelled pregnant students from campus and forced pregnancy tests of those suspected of being pregnant. >> we had the woman from aclu on saying it can't be. but the school said they never had complaints before. >> they didn't even know it was an issue and now they do -- >> it's an issue and they are doing something about it.

>> we're going to talk about a deadly week for u.s. troops in afghanistan. the latest breaking news on an overnight attack that left three american soldiers dead. the donald, he's announcing he will have and i'm quoting, a major role at the republican national convention in tampa. what exactly does that mean? i know you were talking to folks about this last night. we'll get your information. we're going to talk to the chairman of the rnc, mr. priebus, next. >> send us your end point, about a 20 second video with your thoughts. it's easy to upload. head to cnn.com/starting point and you can see it played on the air later in the show. we're back in a moment. [ feedback ] attention, well, everyone. you can now try snapshot from progressive free for 30 days.

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welcome back to "starting point," i'm john berman. >> i'm brooke baldwin. soledad has the week off. let's begin with breaking news out of afghanistan. deadly 48 hours for americans there. three u.s. service members died after this gunman wearing an afghan military uniform open fire in the southern helmand province. here's the thing, the taliban is taking responsibility for an attack earlier this week that killed four americans when an insurgent detonated a suicide vest in kunar province. three u.s. servi members and

an aide and interpreter were killed. >> in aleppo, the opposition taking heavy artillery fire overnight. syrian armed forces are tracking down rebels and inflicting heavy losses. 134 people were killed across syria yesterday, including 47 in the fighting in aleppo. an ohio man will be arraigned on weapons charges after aeldly attending a zreening of the new batman movie armed with a gun, ammunition and knives. he is facing two counts of carrying a concealed weapon and another 19 counts of carrying weapons under disability. his attorney says smith was carrying the gun to protect himself. prosecutors say he was under the influence of prescription medication when he went inside this theater in west lake last saturday night. a judge issued no ruling about unsealing the full court record this the case against colorado movie massacre suspect, james holmes. 17 news organizations, including

cnn, want access. there was also a strange moment during the hearing. a woman who had to be escorted out after blurting out in the courtroom that she had vital information for the defense. don't know what was going on there. >> george zimmerman's lawyers are seeking to request a hearing for the stand your ground defense. if it applies, zimmerman could walk free. another new development here, prosecutors remistakingly released a photo of his body and along with zimmerman's school records. sued by the state of california, the organization help hospitalized veterans is accused of engaging in fraudulent fund raising. california's attorney general seeking to recover $4 million that she claims was diverted from veterans programs.

according to the own records, lynch is paid an annual salary of $389,000. the lawsuit alleges he used donations to pay for two country club memberships at a cost of $80,000. and drew griffin tried to track him down for a comment. >> i've got to ask you about the money though. i mean, that doesn't answer any of the questions about the money that they are -- that's it? >> in its complaint the state of california claims help hospitalized veterans used bookkeeping gimmicks to inflate how much it spent on veterans services resulting in false filings to the irs. we'll move on to politics. mitt romney hilts the road this weekend. going to visit four swing states, virginia, north carolina, floridand ohio. democrats will trail his trip on a bus tour of their own starting in two hours. the tours comes as a new cnn/orc poll shows president obama leading romney by a full

seven points. 52 to 45%. r e reince priebus, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> let's talk about your guy. let's talk about mitt romney. we showed the cnn/orc numbers, president is up seven points and fox poll there is a nine-point spread with obama leading as well. it is august. is romney slipping? >> no, i don't think so at all. i think that there's a lot of work to do. i think that the stark contrasts are very clear. if you look underneath those polls, you see that when people are asked whether barack obama fulfilled his promises in regard to the economy and jobs, people know that that's not true. we're going -- we're leading into a big convention here coming up at the end of august. i think that we're going to have a great fall. i think it's going to be very clear that we're not better off today than three or four years

ago. that messaging is the messaging that you're going to hear for the next three months. i feel very good about where we're at. >> you may be looking underneath polls but we're going to look at another poll because these are the hard numbers. with regard to independents specifically, you see these numbers unfavorable numbers here up from 40 to 50 -- let me see, up from 42 to 48%. that's all americans. but we have independents, and i know those are up from 40% to 42%. how do you explain that? >> two different strategies here at play. obviously we went through a republican primary. so governor romney had to spend a lot of primary dollars in that primary. the republican national committee and mitt romney now together have more money in the bank, twice or three times the money in the bank that the dnc has. we're going to be spending all of our money now that you're

starting to see happening across the country just starting. and you'll see us be able to outspend our opponent at the end. whereas barack obama outspent us tremendously over the past year. what you're seeing is the effect of millions, tens of millions of dollars that have been on tv now i think that table is going to be turned and this has been widely reported and debated. we're going to be in a better position at the end than the president and the president has been in a better position than us. now it is our turn to tell our story. >> it's john berman. there are polls that show governor romney is a worst position in terms of unfavorable than any other nominee. romney has spent a lot of money but as time goes on, the unfavorable opinions of him are going up. it's not like he hasn't trialed

to make people like him. why can't he connect with the voters? >> i think first of all, explaining those numbers are very easy, john. just because governor romney ran in '08 and running now, doesn't mean he was on television for four years running around on air force one and spending money in advertising. the fact of the matter is, it's very easy to see. if president obama hadn't had spent tens of millions of dollars on negative advertising, some of this which you know is completely untrue, all over the country for almost an entire year, well, it has an effect. but the good news for us is that we now are in a position to outspend them on television and tell our story, tell mitt romney story starting with our convention going through the fall. and turn the tables. i mean, that's what campaigning is all about. i think we're in a great position because we have the facts on our side.

the president can't -- they can divert and they can lie but the fact is they can't change the truth as to where we are in this economy. the truth is great because it's on our side. >> let's talk about positions as in buses. can we talk about the buses now? >> sure. >> this weekend, right, it's actually the democrats who are shadowing the republican, mitt romney's bus as he kicks off the bus tour in virginia. we have seen it before where you've had the republicans' bus shadowing the democrats. so this isn't new. but i'm going to pose the same question to you that we poseded to an obama surrogate last hour. isn't this a little immature? come on now. >> i don't know, it's pretty typical political stunts. the fact is we put a romney sticker on their bus yesterday, it was parked outside of our office. these are things -- this stuff happens. the fact is these are things

that go on. i don't begrudge him at all. it gives us a real opportunity to show the difference between what their records is and what the truth is. if we just spent all of our time flashing up obama speeches and all of his promises and put the facts on the screen, we'll win this race hands down. it's incumbent on us and the challenge for us, is just staying on message on the economy. where are we on jobs, the debt and deficit? what did this president promise he would do with the tax dollars? where are we as a country? quite frankly and we know the truth, it doesn't square. we have to stay on message and tell the truth as to where we are in the economy and what this president promised and we win. >> i appreciate you can laugh with us -- >> it was great. we appreciate it. >> i do -- talking about about the truth. we have to talk about taxes and i know a lot of americans, the

latest cnn/orc poll -- here it is. 63% of the americans say romney should release his additional tax returns and it's a subject -- >> we're going down this road again. >> we're going down this road, friend. >> the subject of a new obama campaign ad as well. take a look. >> did romney pay 10% in taxes, 5%, 0%? we don't know but we do know that romney personally approved over $70 million in fictional losses to the irs as part of a notorious son of boss tax scandal, one of the largest tax avoidance schemes in history. isn't it time for romney to come clean? >> come on, it's a perfectly valid question. 53% of americans say -- they want to see tax returns. why shouldn't they deserve to see them, transparency? >> i can think of a million interesting questions. i wonder -- >> how about the answer though. >> it's ridiculous. i mean he's released two years of taxes and releasing 2011.

released 500 pages of documents. >> americans say that's not enough. >> any second we spend not talking about the fact that this president failed in his mission, the mission to fix this economy, he campaigned on this economy and hasn't accomplished a darn thing. we're worse off. that's the issue and i'm not spending any more time talking about this issue. >> i'm sure you'll want to talk about this instead. how about donald trump. there have been reports that donald trump will have a major role at the republican convention. i confirmed with an aide overnight that mr. trump says he will have a major role at the upcoming republican national convention in tampa. will you please tell us what that role will be? >> what does that mean? >> i'm sorry, well, for one thing, donald trump is a good friend of our party and i'm thankful to donald trump for the work he's done for us and for governor romney. so i do agree that he's been very -- >> what's he doing at the

convention? >> i don't -- i don't know right now what he's going to do at the convention. but i do know that he's important to us and i know that he's somebody that we appreciate. because he's telling the truth as far as where we're at in this economy. that's what we fleed to talk about. >> is this a good message for a guy still a berther and still calling for the president to release his college transcripts? >> i have been from the very moment very clear as far as where i stand on that issue. it's just as much of a distraction as it is for people to ask for more and more tax returns and all of these other issues. the fact of the matter is, this election is coming down to one thing, are people better off today than three or four years ago? did this presidentful fill the mission and meet his promises, the answers are no to those questions. >> we'll see you in tampa. thank you. >> looking forward to it. >> still to come on qu"starting

poin point", old tires and dead fish washing up. the mississippi a lot less mighty, is this epic drought slowing down cargo? how it's slowing down all of us next. the red planet, stunning 360 photos of mountains and valleys from 150 million miles away. one of the lead scientists on the curiosity mission on what the pictures will tell us. this is $100,000.

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welcome back to "starting point," it is official, july was the hottest month it more than 100 years. >> and it felt like it. >> it felt like it. the average temperature across

the u.s., 77.6 degrees, that's more than three degrees above average. the warm july helped make last year the host ever since record keeping began in 1895. >> take a look at the map. you can see the latest drought map we have and all of different colors. the issue is the country suffering through one of the worst droughts in half a century. you see the dark red, that is where it is most dry, right smack dab along the mississippi river. and that is precisely where we find martin savidge. beautiful pictures in memphis, tennessee but it's causing a bit of a challenge for the boats. explain. >> reporter: good morning, brooke and john. what a difference a year makes, we were here during the height of the flooding here in memphis. if you look behind us now, it looks nice. let me give an example of how severe the flooding was. to the right, that is referred to mud island.

and you see the flagpoles on that island. the water was up just about to the base of those flagpoles. that's how much there was and now well it's nothing like that at all. in fact, take a listen to what we found yesterday. >> you might think this is some kind of desert outside of memphis. it's not. i'm standing on the exposed bottom of the mississippi river. that's how dramatic the drought impact is being felt here. hard to believe a year ago we re talking about record flooding. now they are worried about a record low. the river was three miles wide here and down to 3/10 of a mile of the and that's causing all kinds of problems. there are some benefits. take a look over here, new beach front. some have equipped that the mississippi river has more beaches than the state of florida, which would be funny if it didn't have an impact on

trade. a lot of stuff we use goes up and down the mississippi river, steel, coal, ore, grain. the problem is a lot of those barges had to lighten their loads and even doing that, they are still running aground. there is a real fear there would be a possibility of closing the mississippi river. if that happens, wellll of that product that used to be carried cheaply by barge will be carried more expensively by truck or train and guess who's going to pay for all of that? and a quick mathematical equation of barges. they had to raise the barges about 3 feet in order to navigate the lower river. to raise a barge one inch, you have to take off 17 tons. to raise it a foot, you have to take off 200 tons. excuse me. so that's an example of just how much cargo is not going down this river. >> pick my jaw up off the -- >> amazing pictures. >> stunning pictures. to see you in the bottom of the

mississippi and think it could be closed. martin, has that ever happened before? >> reporter: it happened in 1988 for a while. and they are fearful it could happen. the army corps has made a lot of improvement since then. but the river is expected to drop 2 to 3 feet and that would break the record for low here in memphis. after that, all bets are off as to what will happen. >> martin savidge along the mississippi, thank you, martin. >> amazing pictures. haven't seen anything like that. we have more amazing pictures coming up of a much happier variety. coming up on "starting point," a postcard from mars. the curiosity rover sends back his first 360 degree panoramic shot revealing -- >> in color. >> very colorful planet. >> you're watching "starting point." [ female announcer ] how do you define your moment?

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welcome back to "starting point." the morph yus crashes and burns saturday at kennedy space center. no injuries were reported during the failed test. nasa believes it was a hardware problem with the navigation control system. meanwhile, stunning new pictures of mars this morning courtesy of the curiosity rover. the first color panoramic view, 360 degrees here, of the gale crater vista. and this mission as you and i both know is just getting started. jim garmin is a member of the curiosity team and a chief scientist at the goddard space center. he also served as the chief scientist for the curiosity mars

exploration. this is so excitin it excites me and my inner space geek. let's just begin with the 360 pictures mu pictures, the color pictures. walk me through exactly what you see. >> well, we see a marvelous landscape, just ripe for fantastic science. and a great place to start. it may remind you of the deserts we know in california, the middle east, even places like hawaii and iceland, and that's kind of what we're looking for. but most spectacularly, brooke, is the landscape in the distance where we see the mt. sharp, where really our destination for this unbelievable science journey. >> and so right now, curiosity, this rover, this big bad suv, as one of our guests called it earlier this week, is basically sitting there and going through checks, right? and when does it actually start the experimenting? what does it get to mt. sharp? >> well, first, the checks are really important. we have 10 powerful experiments and all kinds of engineering gear. it's kind of the science

engineering olympics on mars. and we have to warm everyone up. one of the key experiments is an inboard laboratory on the rover. so we checked her out yesterday, looking really great. this is only a low resolution sample of this beautiful color panor panora panorama of what we'll be seeing. the shores of mount sharp are about eight kilometers away. and we have a lot of work to do locally. we'll be sniffing the air within the next 10 days to see what chemicals are in the air. >> wait, wait, wait. sniffing the air? how does that work? >> well, we have an instrument that can measure parts per billion of the chemical constituents of the mars atmosphere, and we'll be taking a little taste to see what's there. for the first time at this scale in human history. >> can we go back to sunday night, monday morning, and the big scene inside the jet propulsion laboratory you? were there. you were part of the excitement. and something i learned this morning, there is a bit of a peanut tradition. please explain. >> well, at jpl, you know, with a nearly 50-year record of

unbelievable planetary exploration, about 40 years ago the tradition began of opening peanuts when a keen event in planetary exploration began. we passed the peanuts around for good luck right before opportunity landed. and of course some of the pebbles under the rover deck remind us of those peanuts so it's all a good thing. >> and also, mohawk guy. cnn talked to him just yesterday. let's roll the sound. >> the thought that in some way of kids and other people that are motivated to come work here because they see me and they say, that guy can put stuff on mars, maybe i can too, i would like to say it takes all types to make these missions work. >> have you been just overwhelmed by the excitement? and i'm not just talking about his mohawk, but the whole deep space exploration, really just this outpouring in the last couple of days i'm sure globally. what does that mean for you and nasa? >> well, it means so much for all of us, because this is an 11-year journey.

the engineers at jpl and the engineers that built this across the world have been working for 11 years, training for if you will the engineering science olympics. now we're there. now we have the fun part, doing the science we have all waited so patiently forment so we're ready. we're excited. mars is home now for us. >> hopefully fun translates into funding down the road. i know that's a big issue for nasa. jim garvein, thank you for getting up so early. so exciting for us early this morning. we appreciate it. john? >> really exciting. ahead on "starting point" this morning, we are locked in one nasty presidential race. and yet the most effective weapon on the campaign trail is still an old reliable. a candidate's name, from hoovervilles to obamaloney and illustrated history ahead. and domination in the pool. heart throbs out of the pool. nathan adrian and ricky berens will join us live on "starting point," back in a moment. urself♪

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good morning. i'm john berman. >> and i'm brooke baldwin. it is saturday. soledad is off this week. and breaking news, three american soldiers shot dead by a man in an afghan security uniform. reportedly after inviting them to dinner. we are live at the pentagon with all of the breaking details. cnn exclusively going inside the sikh temple open this

morning for the first time since a gunman's deadly rampage. and battling buses. mitt romney is touring swing states by bus starting tomorrow, and of course the dnc this time will trail him in a ride all of their very own. but it's been reversed in the past. plus, team usa's gold medal swimmers. nathan adrian and ricky berens will join us live a little later this hour. berman is so excited about this. >> yeah, it's me. you're staring at the pictures on the wall here. it is friday, august 10. "starting point" begins right now. on this friday, we want to introducour panel with us this morning. anna navarro, republican strategist. welcome and good morning. ron brownstein is back, cnn senior political analyst and editorial director at "the national journal." and joanna kohls, the editor-in-chief of "marie claire." >> good morning.

>> good to have you with us. we do have a tough story though out of afghanistan. >> our "starting point" this morning is breaking news out of afghanistan. a man wearing afghan military uniform who opened fire on u.s. troops this morning killing three soldiers in the country's southern helmand province. >> chris lawrence is live for us again there at the pentagon. and you're getting new information. tell us what your sources are telling you about this attack. >> right now, brooke, they are trying to figure out if this was a taliban infiltrator or if this was simply an afghan policeman who just turned on his american allies. the taliban is claiming that it was an afghan policeman who lured the soldiers to a dinner to break the ramadan fast, and then had the plan all along to shoot and kill them. this issue of so-called green on blue attacks has been a rising concern in afghanistan. in fact, earlier this year, at one point, one out of every four

nato troops that were killed were being killed by their afghan allies. in fact, there have been a number of changes as a result of this. the afghan intelligence forces have started putting undercover officers into some of their recruit training to try to sniff out who may be radical. and some u.s. commanders are even assigning guardian angels to watch over troops while they sleep. >> wow. >> chris, this was not the first attack in afghanistan this week. and you've got new details about some american loss of life on wednesday. >> yeah. that's right. this was a separate incident in eastern afghanistan, john, where basically it has been a devastating blow to the command there. two majors, an army major and air force major, as well as the senior enlisted man, a command sergeant, all taken out when two suicide bombers blew themselves up as this small team of americans, military and civilians, were going to meet

with the district council there to talk about security. a state -- department of state worker, a foreign officer, was also killed. an american was also killed in that attack. so overall, just an incredibly deadly week there in afghanistan for u.s. forces. >> chris lawrence at the pentagon following what's going on for us in afghanistan. thank you very much. now to an exclusive. inside the wisconsin temple where those six people died and three others were wounded. we have video. this was shot exclusively showing a stark reminder of course of the attack. you see this right here? this is the bullet hole, one of many, that punctured parts of this temple. that obviously punctured the door leading to the main prayer area. it remains because members say it will not be repaired but it will remain as a reminder of what happened. ted roland sis is outside o the temple right now. you toured the temple and talked to members.

what are they saying? >> reporter: john, as you can imagine, they were very emotional, and it was very emotional to go into the temple yesterday. we were invited in and spent about an hour inside. we saw where each one of the victims died in two separate rooms. we also saw the pantry where 16 women and children were crammed for two hours, some of them bleeding from injuries. they weren't sure if there were multiple gunmen. they didn't know if they were sitting ducks and if somebody was going to come back in and shoot them. it was horrifying for that group of people. we talked to some of the victims' family members, including one man who lost his father. he talk the not only about the victims but he did address the shooter as well. take a listen. >> simply put, our families, his mother, who left behind two beautiful boys, and was the only mother -- imagine losing your mother. our father, the four other victims, the people who were shot and are in the hospital, the police officer that did his job, they arheroes. they are living the american dream.

the other person was a coward. and at the end of the day, he should always be remembered as a coward. >> and today, john, the victims will be remembered here at oak creek high school. all six victims' bodies will be out in the gymnasium. the public is being invited to pay their respects at a ceremony starting in about two hours here in wisconsin. >> all right. it will be another emotional day in wisconsin. thank you very much, ted rowlands. >> 88 days until the election. mitt romney hits the road tomorrow visiting four swing states. he'll go through virginia, north carolina, florida, and ohio and he'll have some unwanted company as well because the democrats are launching their own bus tour this morning that will trail romney's trip. >> and these tours come as a new poll shows that president obama is leading governor romney by a full seven points. earlier this week, a

quinnipiac/cbs news/"new york times" poll showed that in virginia, mitt romney is behind by four points. joining us now is a romney campaign surrogate. i have been talking to romney campaign aides for weeks now. if it's one state that seems to frustrate the romney campaign it is virginia. they are genuinely frustrated they haven't been able to pick up ground there. what makes virginia tough right now for mitt romney? >> well, virginia is a very competitive two-party state. but i actually think that governor romney is doing very well in virginia. you mentioned the quinnipiac poll last week. if you dig down into that poll a little bit, there's some very encouraging news for governor romney. he's leading among independent voters. in virginia. and independent voters are the key to winning. president obama has never been able to get in any of these polls above the mid to upper 40s.

he's never been able to get over 50% of the vote. i think most of those undecided voters are going to break governor romney's way in the final couple of months of the campaign. and i'll tell you, all of the energy in virginia is on governor romney's side. virginians understand -- >> the polls aren't, though. >> that the country just can't withstand four more years of barack obama. i think they'll come to governor romney in big numbers here in the next couple of months. >> and part of maybe, he hopes, i'm sure, because of who he chooses as his number two, right? so we've all been pontificating over who it might be. but we actually got some new language, maybe a teeny tiny shall we call it a hint, perhaps, when mitt romney talked to nbc's chuck todd. listen to what he said. >> what do you want your running mate to say about you? what do you want your selection to say about what kind of president you're going to be? >> i don't think i have anything for you on the vp running mate, other than i certainly expect to have a person that has strength

of character, vision for the country, that adds something to the political discourse about the direction of the country. i mean, i happen to believe this is a defining election for america. that we're going to be voting for what kind of america we're going to have. >> vision for the country, lieutenant governor. i'm just curious because i know certain politicos are connecting the dots and saying, huh, vision, might it be a budget plan vision? might it be congressman paul ryan? what do you make of those two dots that are being connected? why do you think that's happening? >> i think all this guessing about who the vice president is going to be is more profitable to play the craps tables in las vegas. i don't think anybody really knows. the one thing -- >> would you make that connection? >> pardon? >> would you make that connection? hearing what mitt romney said, talking about a vision for the country, would you see that as, could be paul ryan? >> oh, no. i think that could mean almost

anything. i think governor romney is going to look at two things, which individual can he work with best to lead the country, and who has the ability to serve as president of the united states should the need arise. and there are a lot of good candidates for that job. i have absolute confidence that governor romney is going to pick the best purpose to woerson to m to try to get the nation out of this malaise that we've been in for the last four years under barack obama's failed leadership. >> lieutenant governor, you know, on our panel today is ron brownstein, who has been writing about a really interesting trend in some of the polling here, what's really opening up to be an epic racial divide among the voting populace here. according to our latest cnn/orc poll, mitt romney is winning among white voters, up 55% to 57% in white voters. but among minority voters, barack obama leading 81%.

a huge chasm there. the minorities are very big in your state. what does governor romney have to do? why can't he chip away at this really huge lead for barack obama among nonwhite voters? >> well, i think we just have to keep getting our message out. president obama has failed the country. we have 42 months of unemployment in excess of 8%. the president's policies are jeopardizing the financial foundation of america. mortgaging our children's future with a $16 trillion national debt and still growing. on the on the other hand, governor romney has a positive plan to get the economy moving again and to create jobs to lift up the middle class by empowering the private sector, not just growing the size of the government, and he has a plan to get the budget balanced and start bringing down the debt. so we just have to keep getting that message out. and if we get that message out and we reach out to these diverse voters all across our

state, i think they're going to special respo special. do we have work to do there? absolutely. but we are doing the work and i think governor romney's message will resonate with this group. >> lieutenant governor of virginia bill bolling. thank you for being with us. and i want to open it up to the panel. please weigh in. >> with the most daunting number in the quinnipiac virginia poll for mitt romney is that barack obama is down to 38% among whites in virginia, and is still ahead at 49%. and that is really embodying the national problem that romney faces. romney is actually on track to run as well among white voters as any republican challger ever in the history of polling, comparable to dwight eisenhower in '52, reagan in 1980, george hw bush in '88. romney could match that performance and still lose, which shows how much the

demography of the country has changed. and he has to win the minority voters. >> what's missing here for mitt romney? >> well, right now, i think what's missing is the message. i just heard the lieutenant governor talk about we've got to get the message out. you know, mitt romney has had his hands tied for the last few months because he spent every dime of his primary money. he doesn't get to spend his general money until he is the nominee. we have not done enough. i have seen folks like jeb bush and marco rubio speak to mostly democrat crowds of hispanics and turn those hearts and minds around. we can compete for the vote. but we need the right messenger, the right message, and put in the effort. and up to date, we haven't done enough of a good job of it. mitt romney has to work on it. >> but do you think the message is clear? >> first of all, i think that minorities have heard the message, and they don't believe him. i think the other point is that

mitt romney has lost women voters. not only has he lost minorities, but women are very concerned about health care. they are very concerned about what's happening with contraception. and the sense that the government somehow, the party claiming to be a small government, wants to be involved in their personal business. and they don't want that. so i think the message has been heard loud and clear. but they don't like it. >> look at that itinerary. look at the itinerary of mitt romney's bus tour. virginia had not voted democratic since 1964 until 2008. north carolina has not voted democratic since 1964 except 1967 and 2008. florida had been leading republican. all of them are now swing states. for two reasons. a growing minority population, and an improved democratic performance among white collar socially liberal whites, especially women. exactly what we're talking about. those are not swing states before 2008. the fact that romney has to contest them now is another example of how the demography is changing the landscape of politics. and ultimately, i think that

republicans have to reach out both improving their performance with upscale women and this growing minority electorate that gave 80% of the vote to obama in 2008 and on track to do so again. >> he is on track to have the best performance with white voters but also on track to have the worst performance match the worst performance with nonwhite voters. and right now, there's an increasing number of that. this is no longer, you know, your grandpa's america. this is our new america. >> we're going to stay on politics. but next up, we'll drift into the absurd a little bit. the name game on the campaign trail. >> looking forward to this. >> the candidates' long history of bashing each other with the worst word possible, each others' names. also a woman takes the field on an nfl game for the first time in history. but how was she calling the shots for the very first time last night? you're watching "starting point."

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welcome back to "starting point." so much attention this week has been focusing on the negativity of both campaigns, the attack ads. we've been talking about them this week and the pointing of fingers. >> but lately the candidates seemed to have discovered the cherished political art of name calling. apparently in campaigns, there is nothing more threatening than actually using a candidate's name. >> reporter: it's practically the worst thing you can utter about a politician. his actual name. >> it's like robin hood in reverse. it's romney hood. >> reporter: combine that name with anything, anything at all, including lunch meat, you have a vicious attack. >> and if i were to coin a term, it would be obamaloney. >> because apparently campaigns are like harry potter. there is some sort of mystical cosmic brutal threat with using someone's name. who can forget -- >> hillary care. >> or how about --

>> obama care. >> and -- >> romney care. >> or their illicit love child courtesy of tim pawlenty -- >> obomneycare. >> newt romney. >> names aren't always such a dicey situation. no one complains about jeffersonian democracy or lincoln douglas style debates. but in the 1930s, let's just say hooverville was not meant as a compliment. imagine if it was located in taxachusettes. reanommics, not friendly. the only thing you can do in politics worse than using someone's name is slap a gate on the end of it. >> watergate. >> trailgate. filegate. >> imagine if mitt romney could find a scandal associated with

the president's policies. would we have obamaloneygate? the name calling seems lazy, almost off the wall. you could say it's the definition of linsanity, or bar barack-tually a lot of mitt. >> the illicit love child. >> that was fantastic. >> question, though. and not about my writing. do these names stick or it is juvenile? >> it's mostly juvenile. but probably the most famous one ever was in 1940, encapsulating the republican opposition into a rhyme that resonated through the campaign. hillary care kind of personalized that in a way that did do damage to the clintons. >> they made it on tv. it was catchy, right? >> and also there are rare moments of humor, i think. what we're really seeing is a

campaign to be the most charismatic celebrity between the two men. >> do you think it's leaning to the humorous when we hear obomney care? >> of course. because when you're stumping, you want the crowd laughing with you. >> if they catch for one news cycle, that's good enough in today's 24/7 news. >> how about obama embracing obama care? >> actually. they have turned it into obama cares. >> yes. they have embraced it. >> all i canell you is this republican is going to beg mitt romney not to break into the oscar mayer baloney song. >> if you can find martin, barton, and fish, roosevelt, that is the best ever. >> who can forget martin, barton, and fish. >> looking in the archives. still to come this morning, a woman makes history in the nfl calling the shots. but still not everyone is convinced she shoulde there.

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welcome back to "starting point," everyone. history making night on the gridiron. shannon easton became the first female to ever officiate an nfl game. >> she was a line judge in last night's preseason game between the san diego chargers and the green bay packers. the league has locked out its referee. and she is a replacement player. antoine barnes shook her hand on the sideline. but some players think she shouldn't be there at all. anna, what do you think? >> i think it's terrific. women, girls these days, we can do anything we want to do.

i think it's just a wonderful breaking of the glass ceiling. i also think, you know, they treated her just like they treated any other referee. they booed her. >> i think that's what she would have wanted. >> we talked about this yesterday. the american women have won more goals than the american men. and that really is a story of title ix. >> well, it's the 40th anniversary of title ix. >> which requires equality in athletic programs for men and women in schools. so society is changing. we are talking about the changing demography. they are all inevitable. there are no women playing in the nfl, but you have to think it's coming. >> they play in high school and college. >> just look at the magnificence of those performances at the olympics. >> women boxing yesterday. first time. >> right. >> do you think this means we'll finally have a woman host one of the presidential debates? because it hasn't happened yet. and i think, brooke, you should go for the job. >> that's a terrific point.

you know what? it's long overdue. >> it is. it really is. >> you see how they turned that whole thing around? >> let me just tell yu, you guys are in the minority here around this table. so agree. >> yes, yes. >> and in the electorate, right? >> bringing it this morning. more insight from the state of the union anchor candy crowley, joining us next. plus, the moment brooke has been waiting for her entire life, the u.s. gold medal swimmers nathan adrian and ricky berens will join us live from london. >> clearly they are very talented. >> very talented and very smart. you're watching "starting point." read it

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welcome back to "starting point." i'm john berman. >> i'm brooke baldwin. soledad is off this week. a lot of brand-new polls out

this morning with interesting insight into the presidential race. >> and candy crowley is the anchor of cnn's "state of the union." no one better to talk about this. the cnn poll, candy, has the president with a seven-point lead. another poll has him with a nine-point lead. >> you have seen over the past four or five weeks a definite change in those polls, which we always saw as extremely close. what's happened in that big battle that we talked about at the beginning of the summer, now the battle goes on now that mitt romney has won the republican primary, it's all about who gets to define mitt romney. so in the battle of who's defining who, right now it does seem to me that president obama and his team have the upper hand. they have pushed up mitt romney's unlikability marks and pushed down his likability. so to the extent that, you know,

it is really getting in the wait of voters even looking at mitt romney and what you also see at the same time is that now voters look at the two of them sort of evenly when it comes to who can best handle the economy. so if you have got a voter who's saying, you know, i really don't see that either one of them is going to make a marked difference in the economy, then what do you do? you vote your gut. and that likability factor, that ex-factor that people use when they go into the voting booth, right now president obama still has a sizeable lead when you match up their likability ratings. >> candy crowley, how much of these -- we have talked so much this week, and one of the new super pac ads has aren't even hit the airwaves. how much do you think these battling ads have affected mitt romney when we look at the numbers, and what are some of the key moments you're looking for that could perhaps break through that for him? >> i think you have to look at the slide that has been definitive. and so i think you have to

credit some of that. certainly to what the obama campaign has done as well as mitt romney has had some sl-ups himself. so there is that. but there is also just $350 million worth of ads from both sides, including ads from everywhere, in nine states. so that's not only a lot of money, it's a lot of money intensely out on the airwaves in just nine states. so that does seem to have done some damage here. so listen, there are the three obvious pivot points that mitt romney can take advantage of. one of them is the selection of his vice president. people look at it. they'll dice up the resume of the vice president. and talk about what he brings to the ticket and what he doesn't bring to the ticket, but it also talks about the candidates' management style, and it gives mitt romney some shine. people will be looking at this. so the spotlight will be on him. next up, that convention speech. hugely important. and then the debate. so there are three big breakthrough chances that we see. and, you know, when we look at

the other poll that cnn has put out about confidence about the economy, it's dropping. so there's a huge hole here for mitt romney. but he has not been able to walk through it. >> candy, it's ron brownstein. can i ask you about one thing we've been talking aut here this morning? one of the findings in the poll that i think is particularly daunting for romney, he is trailing by seven even while doing very well with white voters. president obama is down to 40% in that pole, but romney still trails because obama is winning a combined 81% of minority voters, almost exactly what he did in '08. my question to you, do you see any avenues for mitt romney to chisel away at that overwhelming advantage for the president among minority voters, who your poll has as 27% of the entire electorate? >> he has those three major opportunities. listen, ron, you know as well as i do that this has -- this shift that we have seen in the census

first of all, where now we are a majority/minority nation did not bode well for republicans. and they know and have been trying for some time to reach out in particular to the latino community, which makes up such a huge part of it. so there's two ways, you know, to address it. and that is, you know, ron, you drive up your own vote. or you try to suppress the other guy's vote. or you make inroads. a lot of folks i talk to say this is a year's long effort that republicans have to make. you know, i remember going back as far as when gilmore was head of the rnc saying we've got to start making inroads in this community, and they just haven't been able to do it. can mitt romney still make some inroads? yes. can he make huge inroads? no. but can he make enough to make a different in a close election? sure. there's still that opportunity left. >> it's almost to the end here, and i can't believe we have gone the whole show without gossiping with vp picks. >> ok, go. >> let's all jump in.

who's going it to be and when? >> well, i think it's going to be very, very soon. i think the sooner the better, because i for one am really just worn out on this vp frenzy. i don't know how much longer i can sustain my attention span. but, you know, i really am going to make the case for marco rubio. i think this notion that because he is a cuban american from florida he cannot turn other latino votes is wrong. i'm a nicaraguan american from florida, and he can turn my vote. and i have seen him in rooms where he has changed the minds and the hearts of democrat latinos when he speaks. i think marco is somebody that could make those inroads that we just talked about needing to make. he is very articulate in english and spanish, and he's got a vision. >> it also answers your point about him not having any strength at all in the minority area. and do you feel that if he picks another white man, the two of them together are only going to compound mitt romney's problems with the electorate, which are essentially he's not terribly

likeable. and i'm very worry that this bus tour will make him look even less authentic because i don't think he's ever been on a bus. >> i've ridden a bus with him, to be fair. >> i don't think he's been on a public bus. it's very different to be on a rock star bus. >> candy, what do you think? what do you think about all this? >> i think announcement next week. i was, you know, sort of bought into the portman idea because i think that it's very -- that one of the most important things is do they get along, do they have the same kind of world view. and if you're going to say i'm the business guy, i know how to fix this economy, then you double down with another kind of, you know, i'm all about the numbers. and now i'm kind of looking at it and saying or maybe jindal. >> hmm. >> everything about mitt romney's history says portman or pawlenty. he likes caution. he is a cautious guy.

but it seems like he's lost control of the process, and either of those might be a letdown now. and that might force you to a jindal or a ryan. >> he is now nine points behind in a new poll. the riskiest thing to do is play it safe. >> we'll know soon. >> you say that, but john mccain didn't play it safe and it didn't do him any good at all. >> candy, thank you so much, by the way. >> goodbye. >> leave while you can! >> we'll watch you sunday morning on cnn. >> i thought we could make it through one morning without a sarah palin reference. >> afraid not. you're a little excited along with me, our olympic crushes, team usa gold medal swimmers. ron, you're just rolling your eyes. nathan adrian and ricky berens will stop by. very talented swimmers, et cetera. you're watching "starting point."

aiming for gold this morning, team usa is way out in front of the medal count with 90, a full 10 medals ahead of china, with the most gold as well. it sounds like gloating, doesn't it? >> gloat away. if you want utter dominance, look no further than the u.s. swim team. the men and the women swimmers have 31 medals. >> and joining us live now is gold medal swimmer nathan adrian. ricky berens was supposed to be with us, but he's stuck in traffic right now. it's not as easy to get through the traffic as it is to get through the pool, nathan. >> nathan, how heavy are those medals? look at those, wearing them proud. >> they're heavier than you expect. absolutely. >> so it's been an incredible week, two weeks i know for you guys. what's the one thing you did once all of your events were over? >> you know, we checked out of the village, and i enjoyed some

of the food that london has to offer. >> you like the london food. i was just in london, and fish and chips. some pints perhaps. >> absolutely. absolutely. a little bit of everything. it's so diverse here. i think it's really fun. and culturally we are fairly similar. so i kind of understand and appreciate the excitement of the games in general, that all of the people around here feel. >> nathan, one of the things we've all been talking about overnight and this morning is usain bolt, who won the 200 yesterday. you know, obviously, he's pretty good at what he does. but he had some pretty startling comments about just how good. i want you to listen to something he said right now. >> is your legendary status conofficialed now? >> yeah, without a doubt. this is what i came here for, and i got it. i'm so happy. so happy. i can't explain. i came out here, a lot of people were doubting me. and i showed the world they am the bev, no matter what. >> he also said that i'm a living legend and the greatest athlete ever. >> wow. >> my question to you, is he the

greatest athlete ever? should athletes talk like this, first of all, and is he right? >> you know, i think true legends really let their performances do the talking for them and don't necessarily label it for themselves. i think, you know, our very own, and my good friend michael phelps, you know, he does that. it's hard to argue against having as many medals as michael has. >> i hear your friend ricky is there. do we see him? >> yeah, yeah, he's right there. >> ricky berens, how are you? good morning. how are you doing? how does that medal feel? >> it's heavy. it's good, though. >> it's heavy and good, though. hey, look, you know, you guys are obviously very talented. incredible swimmers in the pool. you know, there's some pictures that have been floating around. you're obviously fairly well -- i mean -- where am i going with this? help me. >> it's easy for you guys to hold those medals up, because it seems you're in pretty good

shape. >> you're in decent shape. i think berman obviously looks just like you, i'm sure. can you just tell me like, are you just totally turning heads as you're walking through the olympic village? are you really big men on campus there? >> you know, not really. i think there's a matter of respect amongst all the athletes. once you get one or two pictures going, it kind of becomes a little hectic and a lot of cameras coming out. but on a regular basis, not too bad. >> you have the gymnasts walking around all small. >> i have no question to ask you. i just want to tell you, you may not be turning heads in the olympic village, but you are turning heads in the cnn studio in new york. >> i have a question. ricky, you said you're going to hang it up now. you're going to stop swimming. and when we check in on you in five years, are you going to not have been working out at all? no more of this swimmers body? >> twinkie time. >> well, the retirement thing

was a little too quick to come out and say that. i definitely just need a little break right now. we've been doing this for so long. i don't think i have taken more than two weeks off of swimming since i started. and right now i am looking forward to a break and having fun. but i'll probably gain some pounds in the next couple of weeks or so. but we're so used to working out and staying in shape that that would just be weird. i'd have to get back into doing something. >> you guys? >> well, what's so wonderful about the olympics? is watching what hard work gets you. and in an age where you think of the guy who sold instagram for $1 billion, i think everybody under the age of 30 thinks the way to make a billion is to fiddle around on the internet. and what i love about the olympics is the sheer extraordinary effort exerted as these people hurdle across the track. i know ron was very excited about the ladies volleyball. >> yeah, great match. >> the sense of, you know, if you really work out and don't

take a two-week break from high school until your first olympics you end up with a gold medal. >> it's such a minority of them that are actually going to get rich. a lot of them just do it for the love of sport, the love of athleticism. and i think they are wonderful role models. >> just to see what people are capable of when they sustain their focus. >> in the middle of all of this political division, it's something that gets us all excited, all unite tunited. >> ricky and adrian, thank you so much. we are all just flummoxed and impressed. we are ready to have you back home. >> and live in the studio. >> all right, guys. thank you for embarrassing us all. >> we have an insurrection going here. >> ahead on "starting point," take a look at thisphoto. what everyone is looking at here is something big has this crowd pumped up in atlantic city. we'll show you what's up when we return. ♪ [music plays]

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before the break, we showed you this picture. crowds at the beach in atlantic city looking up at something completely transfixed. now, here's what they're looking at. tight rope walker nick wall enda pulling another death defying stunt, 125 feet over the beach here. and unlike that walk over niagara falls in june, he did this one with no -- >> oh, my goodness. >> no safety net, no harness. that picture is awesome. the tight rope, by the way, it's only about a nickel wide. >> is he over the beach or over the water? >> he's just really high. it doesn't matter where. >> i can tell you, i can feel myself hypervent lading.

>> does it remind you of mitt romney? >> the spectators might move back just a little. let's talk cnn hero. she is from new york where more than 10,000 children are growing up with their mothers behind bars. sister teresa fitzgerald may have found the key to helping them start new lives. >> across our nation, there are thousands of mothers behind bars. i have never met a woman inside who said, gee, i'm going to go out and i'm going to really mess up again. what is your lesson you learned here? >> not to ever come back. >> the depth of her guilt, what she has done to this child, is unbelievable. and they want to do everything to make it right. but they're always unsure whether it's really going to work. i'm sister fitzgerald, and i happily work with incarcerated mothers to keep their families together, and to rebuild their lives. when women come out of prison, they are so vulnerable. >> money.

i need a job. it feels like there's no way out. >> a home is the heart of what's going to make their life possible. >> so good to see you! >> hi! >> how are you? you're back home. yeah. >> we give them a lot of love, a lot of support. around her is a community who have seen growth and change. >> trust me, it's going to be all right. >> over time, broken bonds have been mended. and there can now be a wholeness to their life. >> hi, it's kelly from the mentoring program. >> i was a crackhead. i gave birth while i was still incarcerated. i just didn't know how i was going to change my life. she didn't just save me. she saved my entire family. she made me proud of who i am today. >> it's everyone's right to live the best life that they can. and when i start seeing that take place in the women that i have worked, and i love -- >> very proud of you. >> that's makes it all worthwhile. >> you can always nominate a hero at cnn.com/hero.

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this is the "end point" when we have the final thoughts. anna, kick us off. >> i think it's a wonderful week for women. we've got the first football referee. the first boxing champion, female boxing champion. i think we need the first moderator, female moderator of a presidential debate, and i really am hoping for the first female presidential candidate soon. there are going to be a ton of numbers from the presidential race from now until november. one equation cuts through it all, it's the 80/40 solution. if barack obama wins 80% of minorities and 40% of whites. in your poll yesterday, 81% and 41%. >> and anna's point, are we going to see potentially a veep pick from mitt romney or his candidate, number two, who would be a woman? i noticed he was very careful in the snippet we saw earlier where he was on nbc talking about his choice, this person. he specifically didn't say this man. >> du