to beat yourself up before you get in to take over the worst job in the world. i mean -- would you be surprised if nobody ran for president? no, i wouldn't be surprised. nope. sorry. i got a gig at dairy queen. that's where i'll be. >> better offer. >> i'm not running for nothing! [ applause ] >> after this week, we could all use a good laugh. thanks for watching "futurstate the union." i'm jim acosta in washington. thanks to candy for letting me cover. and congratulations to her selection to modify the second presidential debate. she'll return next week with "state of the union" from the republican national convention in tampa. i will be there, as well, covering the action on the floor. if you missed any part of today's show, find us on itunes. search "state of the union." "the situation room" starts right now. you're in "the situation room."

mitt romney's beginning his final sprint to the republican convention, but president obama isn't about to let him have this week's spotlight all to himself. also, paul ryan's presence on the republican ticket just one factor putting his home state back into play. see why we now call wisconsin a toss-up. smile for the camera. stores installing new technology that not only knows who you are, it will serve up tempting deals based on what you buy. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. wolf blitzer is off today. i'm john king. you're in "the situation room." we're heading into a monster week for mitt romney and paul ryan as they gear up. the republican convention now just a week away. to start building excitement, the running mates reunite in monday in one of the all-important swing states.

joe johns will look ahead to what else we can expect in a big week ahead. >> that's right. it looks like the ryan-romney campaign could be changing its strategy already. last week paul ryan said and campaign aides confirmed that the initial plan was for the two men to split up more often than not in the few weeks leading up to the republican national convention in tampa. but now, mitt romney and paul ryan are already scheduled to re, nig-- reunite in manchester hampshire, and the campaign has left open the possibility of more stops together later in the week. early reports are the stops could be in the midwest. new hampshire was the place where romney originally was supposed to make the announcement of the pick for vice president. they planned to do it last friday. but that got postponed until saturday because of a memorial service for the victims of the sikh temple shooting in ryan's home district. why the change? ryan and romney work well together. i saw them campaign as a team in the primaries just a bit.

and romney clearly appears to get pep in his step when he's with ryan. there's some elevated energy there for one thing. the tandem of romney and ryan has been drawing large crowds, conservatives like ryan a lot. and the romney campaign is going to try to capitalize on that. as you know, it's a gamble for the romney campaign. obviously the two of them can cover more ground in those all-important battleground states if they're campaigning separately rather than together. >> so you see this whenever the pick is made. you want them to campaign together, you want to get the optics, they're a good team, looks like they work well together. you're right about ryan energizing crowds. i of in wisconsin and iowa -- i was in wisconsin and iowa watching him. how do they deal with the delicate balance? in the end americans pick presidents. governor romney says thank you, paul, but to win he has to step forward -- >> it is clear they're walking a delicate balance. i think you'll see it in the coming weeks.

romney is going to establish himself ashe man who's running for president, vote for me. ryan is my sidekick. and that's generally the way it works. though so many conservatives out there see ryan as so important now to energize them and get them to the polls in november. >> when you talk to folks, there's no question this pick was largely designed to give mitt romney someone he likes and can work with and to energize the conservative base. how did the romney campaign deal with the questions of, well, might it hurt you in the middle, though? >> that's certainly a possibility. but romney is hoping that he himself can make the case to those voters in the middle and let ryan worry it the conservatives, as well. romney thinks he can handle that. and he's certainly proven that, being a massachusetts governor coming from a state where he had to appeal to both sides. >> don't get any bluer than massachusetts. joe johns, thank you very much. it may be the republicans' turn in the spotlight, but don't expect president obama to lay low during the week ahead. he's also visiting swing states and raising campaign cash with the help of some nba stars. here's cnn white house correspondent dan lothian.

dan, take us into the week ahead. >> reporter: that's right. the president will be heading out to nevada. that's an important state for the president. he's been going there quite a bit, talking about what he's done to help homeowners who have mortgages that are under water, the upside down mortgages. that's a state that's been impacted by the -- the downturn in the real estate market. so the president visiting that key state. also going to the state of ohio. that's a place where recently he had that bus tour. has been spending a lot of nightmare that state. he's ahead in the polls there, but both of these state critical to deciding who wins the white house. of course the president also going to new yk. new york city, as you know, a lot of money there. he'll be going to collect campaign cash to fuel this very competitive race. >> new york more of an atm than a swing state. dan, how do they view this in the obama campaign -- they understand the ebb and flow of campaigns. mitt romney will have the spotlight, lead up to convention and convention week.

how do they decide in the obama campaign when to engage and when to step back and let the republicans have their day? >> reporter: right now it doesn't appear they want to step back. they're engaging very much either with the candidate himself or on the air with tough campaign ads. they've really been pushing the issue of medicare. that's something that has been part of this campaign cycle. but not the key focus. then when paul ryan was brought on as the vice presidential pick for mitt romney, that became a central focus. we saw that from the president when he was doing that bus tour in iowa. and the campaign plans to keep pushing that, saying that under the policy of what mitt romney has and paul ryan, they painting them with one brush, that medicare will be changed as we know it, will be changed. it will be turned into a voucher program. the romney campaign saying that the president has taken money from medicare in order to fund "obama care." so medicare a big issue that we'll keep hearing the white house and the president push in the coming days. >> dan, they also for weeks have

been pushing mitt romney to release more of his tax returns. >> that's right. >> one year out, says a second will be coming. now the obama campaign having what i'll call a not-so-friendly exchange of notes. >> reporter: that's right. i guess we could call this let's make a deal. what you have is the obama campaign really trying to push the romney campaign into the corner. they've been asking for more taxes to be -- tax reports to be released because they believe that the american people deserve to find out more about the financial background of a presidential candidate. even some republicans have been pressuring romney to do the same because they believe if romney releases these tax returns, then this issue will just go away. now you have jim messina, president's campaign manager, firing off a letter to the romney campaign saying in part, "governor romney apparently fears that the more he offers the more our campaign will demand that he provide. so i am prepared to provide assurances on just that point. if the governor will release five years of returns, i commit in turn that we will not criticize him for not releasing

more." they say that they won't criticize him in ads, won't criticize him in any communication or commentary. but for the romney campaign, matt rhodes, romney's campaign manager, essentially dismissing this letter, writing his own letter that said in part, "it is clear that president obama wants nothing more than to talk about governor romney's tax returns instead of the issues that matter to voters, like putting americans back to work, fixing the economy, and reining in spending." the romney campaign, they have said time and time again that this is not an issue, that what mitt romney wants to focus on is how he can go out and create jobs for the millions of americans who are still out of work, john. >> that's at least good to know despite all the nastiness they can have a nice exchange of notes. >> that's right. >> dan lothian at the white house for us. thank you very much. a group of veterans including former navy s.e.a.l.s. accusing president obama of taking too much credit, they say, for the killing of osama bin laden. the group says it's nonpartisan. but a cnn investigation find close links to the republican

parties. let's bring in brian todd who led the investigation. what did you find? >> we have discovered links that the group has to the gop. links that the group has not freely acknowledged. its web video rakes the president for his campaign references to the bin laden raid. [ applause ] >> in a campaign ad, bill clinton praises president obama's courage for ordering the navy s.e.a.l.s. to launch against osama bin laden. >> supposed they had been captured or killed. the downside would have been horrible for him. >> on the campaign trail, the president emphasizes it himself. >> i promise to go after al qaeda and go after bin laden, and we did it. >> now there's a counterattack. >> mr. president, you did not kill osama bin laden, america did. the work that the american military has done killed osama bin laden. you did not. >> that's former navy s.e.a.l. ben smith in a new video slamming president obama. the 22-minute film entitled

"dishonorable disclosures," features former s.e.a.l.s., special forces members, intelligence officers securing the president for taking credit for the blin laden raid. the obama team points to this interview wolf blitz der recently with the commander of the raid, admiral welcome mcraven. >> at the end of the day, make no mistake about it. it was the president of the united states that shouldered the burden for this operation, that made the hard decisions. >> i pressed ben smith on that. does the president get no credit? should he get no credit here? >> he gets the credit for having osama bin laden killed under his watch. and if he's -- if he gave the order, wonderful. but taking all the credit with the i, i, i, me, i, i about it and using us as a political ad is -- is wrong. >> the film also blasts the obama administration for allowing classified information on the raid and other security operations to become public.

>> we had tactics, techniques, procedures that were compromised. we even knew the name of the dog that was on the operation. >> reporter: the obama team denies taking part in any leaks and says "the republicans are resorting to swift boat tactics." a reference to the blistering 2004 attacks on john kerry's vietnam war record. >> john kerry cannot be trusted. >> this new film was made by a group called op sec for operational security. a spokeswoman says it's completely nonpartisan. but cnn found many link between the group and the gop. the president of op sec, former navy s.e.a.l. named scott taylor, who appears in the video, once ran for congress as a republican. a spokesman for the group has done similar work for the bush administration and republicans in congress. ben smith, that former seale, told me he's an independent voter. but says on his facebook page that he was once a spokesman for the tea party. and op sec lists its headquarters as being in this building in a certain suite. we found out that also in that suite are two republican

strategy groups and no other groups. we were not allowed to film inside but were told by someone in the suite that op sec doesn't have much more than a desk there and that no one was there to talk to us. and op sec's spokeswoman told us where they're located has information to do with the message they want to get out. could that message hurt president obama like swift boat damaged john kerry? >> it could hurt obama politically in the sense that it's a very competitive election. it's going to come down to 20,000 or 25,000 votes in a handful of states. we don't know what's going to move voters. national security's a sensitive issue for many people. >> op sec is one of three groups coming out with campaigns against the president over security leaks. neither the pentagon nor the cia would comment on the latest video or confirm the military experience of those in the film. john? >> brian, this is one of those stories where the watergate rule applies. >> if you can follow, that's great. apparently you can't now. the group is not disclosing its

donors. it's set up as a special nonprofit under the tax code where it does not have to disclose its donors. they did tell us you have about a million dollars at their disposal and plan to run ads in swing states in the coming weeks. we'll see what resources they have. >> excellent. thank you. >> thank you. stay with us for a death-defying drive. cnn's ben wedeman and his crew go to the heart of civil war and run out of gas. see what people go through every day. candidates going negative. it's been happening for centuries. we'll look at 200 years -- that's right -- 200 years of campaign muds linging. irl namede who dreamed she could fly. like others who braved the sky before her, it took a mighty machine, and plain old ingenuity to go where no fifth grader had gone before. ♪ and she flew and she flew, into the sky and beyond. my name is annie and i'm the girl who dreamed she could fly.

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i tell mike what i can spend. i do my best to make that work. we're driving safely. and sue saved money on brakes. now that's personal pricing. syria seems to be sinking deeper into civil war by the minute. the humanitarian crisis now affecting an estimated two million people. at the heart of the fighting the largest city, aleppo. this week, cnn's correspondent ben wedeman took a death-defying

drive inside. >> reporter: we made it. we left our safe house at 11:00 in the morning. it's ten minutes past 10:00 at night. finally made it to aleppo. >> no, no -- >> reporter: we're going in the direction where all the fighting has taken place. what we're going to do is go to the mushed neighborhood, adjacent to salahadin. we'll get out and make our way slowly and cautiously toward slahadin which the rebels say they've largely retaken. but -- you know, if you have to take everything they say -- everyone says with a great big sack of salt.

saying at the intersection, go faster. at the intersection he says to drive fast. time to get on the gear. [ speaking native language ] >> reporter: just going through the intersection. >> keep going. >> reporter: now we're good. we're good. was just that road here.

saying here there's a sniper that's shooting. [ speak iing foreign language ] >> reporter: go back and drive fast through the intersection because there's a sniper. he said get down. >> there's a sniper. >> reporter: get down, get down, get down. >> get back. >> reporter: you're fine. come down. even if it's uncomfortable, just get down. >> not because of uncomfortable -- >> are you going to do it? >> we're off.

>> reporter: all right. okay. we made it past that one. maybe now's a good time to get out, get our bearings. what are you doing, kareem? he's going to take us between the buildings. probably will park the car there -- >> ben wedeman and his team doing heroic reporting inside syria so you is a better sense of what's happening in the middle of that crisis. ben will be with us throughout the terrifying days ahead. a lesson in political mud slinging for the 2012 candidates from our founding fathers. ahead, why negative campaigning is a big part of usa history. and companies may be able to regnize you from facebook and then track you with the blink of a camera's eye. in that time there've been some good days.

and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our anniversary matter to you? because for 200 years, we've been helping ideas move from ambition to achievement. and the next great idea could be yours. ♪ and these are the ones you'll love on a school night. pillsbury crescent dogs with just a few ingredients you have an easy dinner... pillsbury crescent dogs... school night ideas made easy.

we hear plenty of complaints about how negative this presidential campaign is. really, it's nothing new. what we're seeing this time, actually mild. cnn dug up some of the ghosts of campaigns past. >> reporter: mitt romney. the ad implies he was more or less responsible for a woman dying. >> she passed away in 22 days. >> reporter: a stretch to say the least. barack obama, the ad says he wants to end welfare reform. >> wouldn't have to work -- >> reporter: not really true either. no, mitt romney and barack obama do not agree on a lot. but they do agree this campaign has become positively negative. >> there's so much negativity

and sencynicism. >> what's different is that the president is taking things to a new low. >> reporter: different? different than, say, mitt romney's campaigns against rick perry, rick santorum, and newt gingrich? >> are calling mitt romney a liar? >> yes. >> reporter: or, for that matter, barack obama's campaign against hillary clinton. >> shame on you, barack obama. >> reporter: if history has taht us anything, it's that every campaign in history seem like the most negative in history. >> 2010 likely to have the most negative campaign ads ever. >> the most negative campaign in memory. the most end intive campaign any of cuss -- negative campaign any of us can remember. >> reporter: negative campaigns existed even before superpacs. lyndon johnson implied barry goad goldwater of starting a nuclear war. and dran landrew jackson accuse

killing a man and having eye wife who was a big mist. and thomas jefferson, john adams supporters once said his election would result in murder, robbery, rape, adultery, and incest. until we get charges of robbery, nuclear war starting or prostitute procuring, maybe this will have to wait. >> the president is taking things to a new low. >> reporter: they might be mean, cruel, and cynical, but negative campaigns are not blights on history, they are our history. if there is one thing that does seem different this year, it's not that the negative campaigning has started earlier, it's that the complaining about negative campaigning has started earlier. john berman, cnn, new york. >> and if you're wondering, perhaps the last presidential election that didn't go negative, well, 1820. president james monroe ran unopposed. what a difference four years

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...we inspected his brakes for free. free is good. free is very good. my money. my choice. my meineke. less than three months to the presidential election. some new states, smaller states, are becoming prime battlegrounds in the race to get to 270 electoral votes.

tiny places like new hampshire, four votes, wisconsin, ten electoral votes, and iowa with six are becoming big battlegrounds. this past week, i spent some time out in iowa. >> we go through probably about 3,000 an hour. >> choices, choices, choices. the iowa state fair is a test of diet discipline. >> take a kernel of corn -- >> in the spirit of farm state fun, proof this time around iowa is a competitive presidential battleground. president obama stopped by the fair during his three-day iowa swing. and the romney campaign chose it for paul ryan's solo debut. a very different feel from four years ago when the president won iowa by ten points. >> we have a real battle here for the heart and soul for the people of this state. >> republican governor terry branstad said the gop base is fired up and predicts the president will lose a good chunk of his 2008 iowa coalition. >> obama had a tremendous following here four years ago. but people feel betrayed. they feel like he ran --

something that's going to bring people together, he was going reach across the aisle. he hasn't done that. >> reporter: four years ago democrats had a significant voter registration advantage. now, republicans have erased that edge. visit a obama campaign office like this one in davenport, and you see the competition up close. >> can i vote on you to vote by mail? >> have you been outhustled here? >> i think we still have an organizational edge in the state. we found a good job of registering new voters. so i think we're building that back up. i don't think we'll be outhustled on election day. i don't think we'll be outhustled in the next 85 days. >> mitt romney's middle-class tax increase. he pays less, you pay more. >> the tv ad war is bruising. $6 million in just the past month. the obama campaign outspent the romney campaign almost 2-1 in that period, but add in party and superpac spending and the pro-romney forces have the edge. >> 41 straight months of unemployment over 8%. almost four million fewer jobs than president obama predicted.

>> iowa is a great test of the ryan factor. the president's team says his policy views will trump his midwest roots. >> he may hail from wisconsin but is a product of the big washington think tanks. that vision is not a good vision for this country. >> the governor says he helps with critical catholic voters and in tune with iowans' biggest worry. a million people attend the fair. both campaigns are working hard. signing up new voters, new volunteers, and leaving the fun to others. [ bell ] >> joining us "new york times" national political correspondent, jeff zoelleny. when you look at this map now, 237, strong or leaning for president obama. 206 strong or leaning for governor romney. let's focus on iowa. the president woin a blow outlast time. it is truly a toss-up state. >> gore won in 2000, bush won in 2004. the result intua 2008 is an

anomaly, not a benchmark. what both sides are focusing in, they're digging in. this pick has energized conservatives who were a little unsure about mitt romney. >> then you look at wisconsin. we moved it to toss-up. "new york times" had it at toss-up for some time. ten electoral votes, if governor romney puts iin wa owa in play, different from four years ago. >> that's one of the states governor romney probably thought was out of reach before this. it's now competitive. it sends a signal to superpacs to send money there now. it's going to ensure that the obama campaign and democrats will have to spend limited resources there. >> let's move iowa to the republicans, wisconsin to the republicans. again, hypothetical. if you do that, 237-222, but what the democrats would tell you is ryan puts medicare front and center. what happens here? can governor romney win 29 electoral votes in the state of florida? if that goes blue again, c can

governor romney win? >> he can win but would have to put one of the democratic states in play. he would have to win a michigan, have to win a wisconsin. wh the romnempgnill ha to do afr labor is me a choice b v in ch,rt of in governor romney's blood, or in michigan. if florida becomes out of reach for republican, we don't know, but if it does, they have to run the table absolutely everywhere. >> that gets interesting. if that one goes blue, governor romney's got to win all of these. let me switch maps. if you look at this, this is what strikes me. this is 2008. and you see this here. president obama owns it. he just owns the industrial midwest, the heartland of the country. if you look at 2010, these are your senate and governor races. i talked to the governor this week. he made the joke -- indiana was already republican. he said if you look at what happened in the governor's races, illinois, that's obama's guys there.

he made the point that we've got them surrounded. does it matter do republican governors matter when it comes to this presidential sflekz. >> i think it matters -- election? >> i think it matters in terms of infrastructure. as we saw in florida in 2000, who controls the levers of government absolutely matters. it matters as much in 2012 because 2012 is not the same electorate as the mid terms in 2010. and there is some sort of backlash to some of these republican governors' policies like in ohio, for example. john kasich not as popular as he would like to be at this point, as mitt romney would like to have him be at the -- head of the republican party. >> so it's a better question after we get through both conventions. as we prepare to go to the republican convention, when you look at the map, i'm going to turn florida back, turn the states back to where we have them in our math, our real math. when you look at the map, and you think, okay, if there's one state where jeff zoelleny's going to spend a lot of time in the final 20 days, is there one? in i don't think there is one. there are several states. i mean, i think that you have to put virginia up there in the mix. if president obama can keep

virginia in the winning column, that makes it difficult for republicans to win here. ohio is always a good place to keep your eye on. if governor romney cannot win ohio, it's tough for him also to reach the white house. no republican has done it. >> math almost impossible for governor imro without ohio and the state of florida. thanks for your time. we'll be going through the map for several weeks to come. the obama campaign says it wants to make a deal with mitt romney if he releases more of his tax returns. ahead, how team romney responds to that. and a camera that knows your ce and tracks your shopping habits using facebook. is it a deal or a danger? at shell, we believe the world needs a broader mix of energies. that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal. and it's also why, with our partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol - a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane. >>a minute, mom!

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mitt romney stirred the

debate over his taxes again, revealing new information about how much he says he paid. >> i did going and look at my taxes. over the past ten years, i never paid less than 13%. i think the most recent year is 13.6 or something like that. so i've paid taxes every single year. >> the obama campaign's response -- prove it. joining us to talk more about all of this and where we're going, "washington post" political reporter nia malika, and michael crowley. how much does this matter? governor romney by trying to say of course i paid some, harry reid said he paid none. he's trying to give information, but he also adds to the -- you have the letter already from jim messina, the obama campaign manager. you release five years of returns, i commit in turn we will not criticize him for not ing more. >> that's a narrow promise that he's making. he's not saying that they won't criticize whatever is in the taxes. we know th at some point he's going to release i guess the 2010, the full tax returns. he's obviously hoping to put out

the rest. i don't think he will. i don't think most voters care about this single issue. i think what democrats have been pretty expert at doing is trying to paint mitt romney as somebody who doesn't have to play by the same rules as everyone else. that's what they're -- that's the case they're making in the ads that you see about mitt romney's taxes. >> the democrats say a rich guy who's hiding something. and the romney campaign in turn says it's clear that president obama wants to talk nothing more than governor romney's tax returns instead of the issues that matter to voters like putting americans to work, fixing the economy. did the romney campaign become its own worst enemy by having him talk again or did they need to say something? >> i think he was going to have to suffer followup questions like that. particularly after he told abc that he would go back and look and see what his rates had been in past years. he kind of invited that followup. had to know it was coming. evidently they weren't -- they did not think he was going to be talking about taxes at that particular event where they wanted to focus on the white board. and it does -- one thing that's interesting is to see the romney campaign trying to claim the high ground. one thing they can do with the ryan pick, paul ryan is divisive

and controversial in many ways. but they can say it's a campaign about substance, ideas, and paul ryan is looking at the budget, ten, 20, 30-plus years out. this is where we want to have this campaign. and the obama campaign is coming at us with negative attacks about our tax returns and things we have litigated. so it's interesting to see them here try to take the high road. the high road often does not succeed in american -- i think the obama campaign is on to a winning issue. we'll have to see how it plays out. >> you mentioned ryan, the odd period in every presidential race where we meet the new running mate. he gets a week, maybe two of attention. who knows if it will matter come election day. it usually doesn't. we did meet paul ryan. i tried to ask a question in this great cluster at the iowa state fair. part of the question is how accessible will he be, how different from governor romney will he be. watch the brief encounter. >> they're calling voters here in your state and here in iowa saying this is proof they're going to take away medicare. what will you say? >> we'll play these issues later. we'll play stump the running mate later.

our job is to strengthen and protect medicare. that's what we do. president obama, they're raiding and ultimately rationing medicare. we'll deal with these issues later, though, okay, john? >> the ryan pick is without a doubt, without a doubt put medicare front and center. what's fascinating is the romney campaign says we're thrilled, we've raised more than $10 million. this is great. it energizes the base. the obama campaign says, we're thrilled, this has energized the base. we're going to raise money to put medicare front and center r. they both right? >> they're both right. we've seen that play out over the week since he was announced. you've seen the base excited. very similar to the palin pick last time when you saw so many people energized, peel making calls. i think it is -- we expected that we would be talking about medicare so much. this was a campaign, the romney campaign, focused on where are the jobs. that john boehner slogan was a centerpiece of their argument for -- for gaining the white house. and so we're talking about medicare, but i think the

republicans have very much been on the offensive on this. they had a campaign ad out. now you see obama on the defense. an odd place, i think, for the democrats to be on medicare. >> incredibly odd place. if you look at karl rove, the editorial page of the "wall street journal," they think maybe there's a tipping point. they're trying to make the case, maybe it's all they can say. they're trying to make the case that if we have policy debate about medicare, after a few years in which every american has made tough choices, that maybe the republicans can actually turn this issue in their favor for once. >> yeah. i mean, the karl rove position is that -- in the past, you have not had democratic legislation that took money away from medicare. and the obama health care bill did take some money away. now it's mostly to providers, not beneficiaries. but republicans feel like they have an in they that they never had before. i think, john, that most likely they might be able to fight the democrats to a draw on this. but i'm not sure it's really where they want to be fighting. as you said, what they're not talking about, when this

medicaid argument is -- medicare argument is happening, is job creation, people who are unemployed, whose cousin or spouse might be unemployed, they're not saying we're going to get you back to work in a few months. they're talking about the next generation. solvency of the program. they are hitting democrats on cuts for seniors, which they allege are coming in the shorter term. i think the winning argument for the romney campaign is near-term job creation. this is taking them away from that issue. >> how important is this next week? the republican convention is a week away. there's been a lot -- paul ryan owned last week. that's how it works. governor romney in the end will have to be front and center. only romney can beat president obama. paul ryan may help or hurt, it's romney. next week they'll be together in new hampshire. of the leadup into the convention. what's the challenge for governor romney? >> think the challenge is that he has to reintroduce himself to the american public. we've seen the democrats being expert at focusing on bain, focusing on the layoffs, taking away his argument that's he's a job creator.

that's a challenge. you'll see ann romney there. they'll try to humanize him with the video about his bios. i think that's a challenge, having a message that resonates with people. >> i think humanizing is so important. my sense it s that a lot of american people feel like they don't know mitt romney. he's a little bit of a cease-fire. he doesn't want -- ciper. he doesn't want to talk about bain or his religion. they need to personalize him. that's lacking now. >> thank you very much for coming in. big couple weeks ahead. into the stretch. a surveillance camera that knows your face and tracks your shopping habits. is it a big deal or sign of dangerous times to come? and the late chef julia child like you have never heard her before. who dreamed she could fly. like others who braved the sky befo her, it took a mighty machine, and plain old ingenuity to go where no fifth grader had gone before. ♪ and she flew and she flew, into the sky and beyond.

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another new kind of computer technology now raising questions about your privacy. the camera that recognizes your face and can track your shopping habit through facebook. our brian todd is looking into that for us. [ all talking at once ] >> reporter: you thought ads directlyargeting you were pure fantasy. well, shoppers, meet minority report. >> welcome back to the gap. >> reporter: a new service called facedeals uses cameras set up in stores, restaurants, bars. facial recognition matches up your image with your profile and pictures on facebook. then it can send you a customized offer from that store. only if you give permission beforehand. facedeals uses facebook's open platform but is not otherwise connected to facebook. the service was developed by the marketing firm red pepper which uses this promotional video to take you through it. log in to facebook, grant facedeals perm toigz image you. rare -- permission to image you.

verify your likeness. >> when is a face is recognized, the deal is set into action. >> reporter: the deal is then, as the company says, dynamically optimized. that means your face is red, matched up your facebook "like" history. the facedeals system delivers your coupon, your customized discount right to your mobile device. its wiz bang has laser-like efficiency. mark rotenburg is with the electronic privacy center. there's a surveillance camera, we're always filmed. what's wrong with using it for marketing? >> the problem is that people find their personal information will become quickly available to the stores that they're visiting. >> reporter: what's wrong if they sign up for it? >> well, people would need to know how much of their personal information is actually being made available. it's not simply their identity. on facebook, for example, it would be their network of friends. it would be their likes and interests. a lot of that information would become available. and i don't think people would

agree to that. >> reporter: i ran that by red pepper's ceo. >> we're not actually going to be pulling all of the data. not to mention applications that we do for retail -- retail companies around the country and all that stuff, people allow apps -- applications all the time. like allow this app. and that is essentially saying that we can have access to your network. and i think that's sorts of a line and a comfort line that people are moving toward, as long as the information is not misused. >> reporter: what does facebook think of all this? facebook's a big part of the process, and that facedeals logo looks an off lot like facebook's. a facebook spokesman told us the company is not commenting on facedeals, it just wants to make sure people make informed decisions about the app they use. the red pepper ceo says his agency has been in contact with facebook, and when this camera is actually set up in stores, the name and logo will be different. brian todd, cnn, washington. >> fascinating stuff this. the officials of the company that's developing the facedeals

camera say it's being beta tested in only three different stores in the nashville area, but they hope to roll it out nationwide soon. the late shift, julia child like you've never heard her before. jeanne moos just ahead. [ male announcer ] more power. more style. more technology. less doors. the 2012 c-coupe. join mercedes-benz usa on facebook for the best summer sweepstakes. starts with arthritis pain and a choice. take tylenol or take aleve, the #1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. just two aleve can keep pain away all day. back to the news.

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the late julia child would have turned 100 this week. in her honor, people kicking up tribute, including cnn's jeanne moos. >> reporter: eight years after her death, julia child is back. and she sounds hungry. ♪ bring on the roasted potatoes bring on the montrachet ♪ >> reporter: the woman whose o bit called her the french chef for a jell-o-nation has been auto tuned for a youtube notion.

♪ >> reporter: pbs commissioned producer john boswell to auto tune the icon to celebrate what would have been her 100th birthday. >> actually have her sing, use the magic of auto tune to bring her to life in song. ♪ >> reporter: julia child didn't mince words. she minced ingredients. ♪ regime if you went searching -- >> reporter: if you went secretary offing on google, maybe you stumbled up on a dood nell her honor. these days everybody's a foodie, but not everybody gets portrayed by meryl streep. and dan aykroyd on "snl." nothing finger-liking good about his chicken. >> you must stop the bleeding. >> reporter: the real julia may have liked things rare, but not that bloody. she used a blowtorch to melt cheese over a beef tartare

burger for david letterman. >> have you ever cooked something that turned out awful? >> yes, lots of things. >> what do you do then? >> i give it to my husband. [ laughter ] >> reporter: no wonder he died first. julia's autotuned resurrection -- ♪ >> reporter: is the latest installment of pbs icons remixed. icons like mr. rogers -- ♪ >> reporter: fond memories ev e evoked by new technology, certain lines are favorites. ♪ >> reporter: the video even makes some people cry. and it's not because julia's chopping onions. one commenter wrote, "every time she mercedez-benzs the smell of something cooking reminding her of home" -- ♪ i like the smells of cook cooling makes me feel at home ♪ >> reporter: "i tear up a little. i cried full out my first listen." the woman who once said how can a on