home. well, i know if my dad was still around, he would have told me, with no doubt... he would have told me it's a no brainer and i knew that from the start. it was an honor. booming is moving forward by giving back. the rock star is in the house. "cnn newsroom" continues with t.j. holmes in for ali velshi. >> i don't know that i keep up the energy you have in this room, ton. but, thank you so much. i am not deserving of the title rock star. in for ali velshi today. what's on the rundown now. a 12-year-old girl calls home two weeks after lured away by a child sex trafficker and our cameras are there when the call comes in. we'll show you what happened. also, super heroes born in the divisive years after 9/11, their common enemy, islam ma

phobia. where no comic book has gone before. think you don't have music the talent? never played a note before? you'll show you something that will turn you into a musician. but does it really work? a live test happening. you'll see it. it's going on right now. our chad myers checking it out. we'll see if he turns into a piano player here shortly. of course, a story we are keeping our eye on, big story today, the voters have spoken. the primary, pretty much done, except for one out in hawaii. for the most part they've wrapped up and the gop is once again humbled by the party of tea. yesterday's elections in seven states and the district of columbia gave us the biggest day in politics we'll see until the actual november midterms. here are the big winners. in delaware, starting things off, this tiny state making big headlines. the tea party darling, christine o'donnell, captures the republican senate race.

new york city, democratic senator char rangel easily fends off the right to seek a 21st term. a big deal, expected to win, but remember he's awaiting an ethics trial back in washington, d.c. also in washington, d.c., the city council chairman vincent gray upset the city mayor, adrian fent any a democratic may oral race and paladino, millionaire from buffalo scores defeating the candidate in the new york republican race for governor. the delaware race, the marquise matchup. tiny state but making big headlines. o'donnell backed pie the tea party and sarah palin's blessen easily turned away a nine-term delaware congressman mike castle for the right to seek the senate's seat job joe biden held for some 36 year. republican leaders until a short

time ago seemed they still weren't feeling ining o'donnell. a quote, until she demonstrates vileability in the polls, we won't have money for her. later another statement. this time from senator john cornyn. he said, the national senatorial committee and i personally as the committee chairman strongly stand by all our republican nominees, including christine o'donnell in delaware. this support includes a check for $42,000. the maximum allowable donation we have provided to all of our nominees when the nrsc will accepted to her campaign today. now, election day. it wouldn't be election day without one unresolved race. something up in the air. that race, the republican senate primary in new hampshire. this one, a twist on the tea party versus the old republican guard theme. a lawyer here by the name of

ovide lamontagne backed and main opponent the former state attorney general ayotte backed by republicans as well as sarah palin. last we checked, ayotte had a really, really thin lead. we'll keep you posted. one still up in the air. turn to a guy a bit sleep deprived. there he is. you're looking pretty good for having no sleep last night. paul steinhauser, political deputy's three different groups reacting to what we saw last night. the reaction from the tea party, the democrats and republicans. start with the tea party. how are they reacting to what happened last night? >> they are, you can imagine very, very happy and thrilled with the results. t.j., o'donnell's victory and paladino, you mentioned up in new york, big victories for the tea party movement, conservative, the outsiders, anti-establishment republicans. kind of like almost in a way the grass voots now running the party. in a way the tail wagging the

dog. you can imagine, tea part groups excited about what happened. it's a new chapter in the same book we've been reading all primary season, and murkowski in alaska. bennett, two other republican senators ousted by candidates backed by the tea party as well. results yesterday, same thing. as for delaware, take a look at this. ca castle, good stuff from jessica yellin. zero chance he'll endorse o'donnell. hard feelings. >> that's just sour grapes. yeah, that's the next category. republicans, these still their candidates, even if they are tea party candidates. how is the republican party reacting to what we saw the tea party do last night? >> i love what you did there. the initial response from the national senatorial committee, campaign committee, tepid. you mentioned. today a different story, a little more kum ba yah. let's see what the -- how much

money. a check for $42, where the division that can really give her big money, will they do that? put up ads for o'donnell in delaware? help her with get out the vote efforts? the big question. or will they say we're going to write out of delaware. a civil war almost to a degree going on in the republican party. it's fascinating. >> paul, last thing, 2 seconds 22 seconds to do it. what does this mean for democrats? >> they're thrilled. they think the nominee, too outside the mainstream and ex-team for the independents and moderate whose can decide elections on november 2nd. >> appreciate it as also. you do some of your best work sleep deprived. check in with you plenty. six minutes past the hour here now. i turn to a story we've been keeping an eye on. a lot of people scratching their heads, how could this happen? a normal, quiet day. the next, a raging inferno. at first, total confusion rushing to last week the natural

fuel blaze in san bruno, california, right outside san francisco. no idea what they were facing. that is today's sound bite. >> i have a call. it appears we have plane down in the neighborhood. multiple structures on fire and we have a fireball still coming out. >> stop that engine. we have no water in this hydrant. we need them to lay into us. >> copy that. >> further we think we've got a broken water main down here. so they freed to lay in from the corner of san bruno avenue. >> this is north branch on 31. go. >> it does not appear this is an aircraft down. it tears it's some sort of natural gas explosion. >> imagine. couldn't imagine a neighborhood could look that like because of a glass explosion. you heard there, they thought a plane was down. quick thinking helped firefighters overcome destroyed water mains in the area. imp employee mized stretching hose lines from another water

grid and all 400 responders battled that inferno. four killed in the fire. three still missing. 37 homes destroyed. coming up, selling underaged girls for sex and using the internet to do it. next, a young victim calls her mom two weeks after she was lured by child trackers. and our cameras were in respect we'll show you what happened. don't go anywhere. [car horn honks] our outback always gets us there... ... sometimes it just takes us a little longer to get back. ♪ i just wish that all of the important information was gathered together in one place. [ printer whirs ] done.

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and here it is. completely networked. so, anything happening, suz? she's all good. oh, my gosh. is that my car? [ whirring ] [ female announcer ] the new community. see it. live it. share it. on the human network. cisco. well, the topic of underaged girls for sale is being talk about right now on capitol hill. online child sex trafficking. that's the focus of a hearing that is underway. representative from craigslist

expected to be among those to temperature. seeing a live picture of the house judiciary committee as this gets underway. the online site craigslist expected to be there. they recently shut down their adult sites. selling young girls for sex. on this story for us and monitoring the hearing for us and also talked to a woman whose 12-year-old daughter fell victim to online sex trafficking. >> reporter: where are we headed right now? >> we're going upstairs to her bedroom. she's a normal 12-year-old. hannah montana, the jonas brothers. >> reporter: do you sleep in her bed at night? >> i do. just so i can still basically have that connection. >> reporter: a mother's anguish. her 12-year-old daughter, lured away by a pimp on her way home from school. sold away and trafficked on another website.

backpage.com. >> a friend of mine told me to look on craigslist, and it almost blew my mind. i really didn't believe what i saw. she was there with a wig on. she had on a purple negligee. >> reporter: your 12-year-old daughter? >> yes. and one, the other one was just her rear end. i mean, she was bent over. >> everybody wants to know when many of them are children? >> nobody knows what the real numbers are. >> reporter: back in june we asked craigslist to estimate the number of potentially underaged trafficking victims in its adult services ads. their answer, "effectively zero." >> that's not true. we have been able to find, locate and return home 54 missing kids on craigslist. now that is a tiny fraction of

what the total scope of the problem is. we found 12 kids on backpage. >> reporter: the national center for missing and exploited children gave us current missing child posters. all being sold for sex. there are 52 missing persons posters behind me representing 52 girls all under age 18, all missing right now. christina, monica, rachel -- and the national center for missing and exploited children says all 52 of these girls are being sex trafficked. erica, ashley, nicole. the vast majority sold on the internet. we've got white girls here. black girls here. hispanic girls, asian girls. the youngest girl on this wall went missing when she was 13 years old. a lot of these have something in common. she may be in the company of an adult male. over here -- christina may be in the company of an adult male. in this case, that adult male is most likely the pimp. >> reporter: a group based in georgia called a future not a

past commissioned a study. they were focusing on the men who try to buy sex online with underaged girls. >> we wanted to know, what's the scope of this problem in georgia? and to me the results were staggering. 7,200 men a month buying sex from adolescent girls. it like, just took my breath away. >> reporter: there's no league obligation for websites to report ads that might involve underaged prostitution. backpage.com told cnn the site includes links to help users notify the national center for missing and exploited children if they identify potential abuses. back in 2008, craigslist promised to "work tirelessly in tandem with profits" and agreed to report ads to national center for missing and exploited children when they seem to involve adolescents, but in a period of 15 months, craigslist only reported 132 ads. that's 132 out of more than 700,000 adult services ads that it rejected. ads that could have provided

vital leads about children being bought and sold. and that 12-year-old girl we told you about at the beginning? by chance, she called home just as we were speaking with her mother. >> you should be home. with your family. with your friends. with the people that love you. >> reporter: the first time they'd spoken in the two weeks since the little girl had vanished. police rescued the 12-year-old girl and arrested a 42-year-old man and charge him with human trafficking. one girl rescued out of thousands. >> how you doing. just, please, step away. >> sure. >> reporter: amber lyons, cnn, washington. >> the president keeps saying, small businesses are key to jump-starting the economy. right now pushing to pump hundreds of billions of dollars into those small businesses, but small business owners, they have their own take on things, and they have some advice you're going to hear. this, for the president. [ female announcer ] in the grip of arthritis, back, or back joint pain?

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wachovia, wells fargo, and you. together we'll go far. president obama says it all the time. that small business creates two out of three jobs in this country and last week the president announced that $350 billion plan to help those businesses. so what are the owners saying about it? cnnmoney.com's poppy harlow joining us from new york. poppy, the president wants to give $350 billion to small business. surely small business owners like the sound of that? >> yeah. it's interesting. they want more aid, yes. when you hear the president make that announcement midlast week we wanted to find a economy that to show what you they were doing with government money, how much

more they need. this small business is family owned. started it in the 1980s. still up and run today but talked to us about the challenges and also the benefits they face now. namely what they think the government should stop doing. take a listen. >> reporter: how hard is it to run a small business right now? >> it's not something that you can just take a back seat on. you have to always be involved in every aspect of the business. how much more do you have to do? this is your last box? >> reporter: we hear so often, nothing is made in america anymore. not true. your company makes -- >> yep. made in america. materials are purchased in america and canada, and our workforce, our local people. we have the opportunity to add more jobs locally. >> reporter: is the president's latest plan, a $200 billion tax break for businesses, is that what small businesses need right

now? >> we need anything we can get. i would look into additional equipment to replace the equipment that we have now. >> reporter: would that mean hiring more workers? >> it would. it would allow us to put on a second shift. we currently have about 27 employees now. i hope to have 50 employees with the next two years. i'd like to modernize our production lines and get into a larger building. >> reporter: what do you think the government could do that it's not doing for small businesses? >> i think that as far as unemployment extensions go, they could limit the amount of extensions they put. we've had a help wanted sign out front for probably six months. people come in, they fill out applications, but ultimately we end up just signing their slip that they've been here, that they've looked for a job. >> reporter: to get unemployment benefits? >> absolutely. they're telling me they're happy with the unemployment benefits

they're receiving now and maybe when they end they'll consider it. there has to be a point in time when somebody starts fresh, gets back into a company, starting even if it's less than they were making before, because there's plenty of upward mobility in the my company. it you're an aggressive, hard-working person, there's plenty of opportunities for you. >> reporter: that's hard. a company saying think willing to hire. people come in, get their unemployment form signed, called back for a second interview and say, sorry, we'd rather get unemployment. not popular thing to talk about, here's a company hiring even in this environment and people would rather be on unemployment than making minimum wage right there. not the norm, but something to take account for. >> right. good hearing from a business own here could be affected. poppy, appreciate you, as always. poppy, of course, part of the best financial team on television. you can catch poppy and all of

your money team on "your $$$$$" hosted by ali velshi and also christine romans. just about everyone plugging into twitter for instant updates for everything. family, finances. now you can add fido to the list. who knew? taking us to the edge of discovery with doggy tweets. >> reporter: meet roscoe. thanks to his high tech tag, he's learning a new trick. how to tweet. >> while i'm at work i'm able to hop on twitter and i can see what my dog is up to. >> reporter: these pups aren't pawing at the keyboard. their tags have a microcensor and microphone that can tell when they move or bark. >> sent from the tag to antenna and determines an appropriate tweet to send to your twitter page. >> reporter: you'll know now when your dog is taking a nap, chasing its tail or chasing away the mailman.

it might be a novelty toy. >> we spent many days in many different homes with dogs trying these on, putting these on dog's collars and having them sit still, run around. we would test the very little dog, like chihuahuas on up to big dogs like great danes. this helped us tune it microphone to be able to pick up on this broad range of volume, decibel level. >> reporter: cutting edge technology that might end up a chew toy. gary tuchman, cnn. well, some clerics have called it blasphemous. some parents probably won't even give it a chance. a comic book series that promotes basic human values, but does it for the prism of islam? we're talking to the creator of "the 99." he's next. one word turns innovative design into revolutionary performance.

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a diverse group of super heroes banding together to fight for justice. if you think this is a familiar story, you might know where i'm going with this. maybe not. check this out. >> teamwork. 99 style. >> when jewish kids watch this animation and think the characters are jewish. christian think they're christians, muslims think muslims and hindus think they're hindus. >> it's called "the 99" based around mercy, wisdom, hard to argue with that. incredibly inclusive.

one with autism, another in a wheelchair and another in a burqa. it refers to the 99 attributes of god, allah in the koran, born in the tough years after 9/11, seeking positive role models for his kids an presumably everybody eg else. bringing in the man behind "the 99" also a clinical psychologist. appreciate you coming in here with us. b go back a few years. the idea of a comic book of all things. why? >> yeah. i mean, the idea has been seven years now in the making, and a lot of hard work and a lot of fun, and it just was, just occurred to me one day the only way to kind of really get to where i wanted to get to was try to mainstream the positives with my own culture we share with the rest of humanity that weren't quite getting projected, what

better way than through comic books? >> do the characters and the storylines in the comic book necessarily follow a story line talking necessarily a lot and promoting iz islam or there's just a lot of characters and some happen to be muslim? >> neither. islam is never mentioned. nobody's muslim, jewish, christian. they're all based on values that people share with the rest of -- that everybody shares. so the characters are from 99 different currents. we happen to have a character from the u.s. a character from britain, from saudi, indonesia, china, but don't talk about people's religions. at the end of the day, the values we share as human beings are the same. it's their expressions that can be differ. that's what we focus on. you can sigh that superman -- >> go ahead. finish up. >> so we could say superman is a christian comic. 'the 99" religion, but there's no religion, it's follows the same tradition. >> who are you trying to get through to with these comic books and this series?

who's your audience? >> a great question. the audience is global. but there's two different things. when i started this, my problem is that i wasn't happy with how islam was being seen by the west, but more importantly, is i wasn't happy how islam was seeing itself. every time something terrible lie 9/11 happens, it associates with islam. islam there the day after, 9/12, compromises t compromis compromised. aggression. and the idea i warranted to go back and link positive stuff to the same place the bad guys were with the negative stuff. in the end if it can inspire both polls in the end they become bad guys way bad mevg and you delink it from religion. that's where i was going with this. >> help us understand this. you kind of helped there. you talked about negativity directed towards islam. towards your religion, but the same time, the book, as you say, certainly doesn't hit on religion.

how does it help make the connection and help people see muslims or islams in a better light when the book, as you say, the comic series doesn't necessarily hit on islam? >> another great question i can answer simply with this. i'm in studios in manhattan on 60th street. 12 blocks away, mark david chapman killed john lennon and told police novel to kill. a year later, hinckley tried to kill president reagan, referred to the same book. who's fault is that the book or the deranged lunatic? the idea being if the koran or my faith can inspire very positive stuff no two parents can disagreed wanting to share with their children, i've achieved my objective. >> called "the 99." several different languages, all over the country, been around a while.

sir, we printer having you on. enjoy the rest of your day. >> thank you so much. coming up on the bottom of the hour. we knew this election season would be a bumpy ride. now come as new bus tour. this one called "the fire pelosi" bus tour. stay with us for some literally rolling coverage.

we told you it wouldn't be the day after the election if we didn't still have an unresolved race. we might have resolution now? >> plab. here's what's going on in new hampshire. the race you were talking about earlier. kelly ayotte, the establishment

candidate up there new hampshire on the republican side for the senate nomination. ovide lafontaine, basically deadlock deadlocked. certified, ayotte the winner. ahead right now t.j. by 1,667 votes. but wait, there's more. lamontagne has until 5:00 today to contest this because it's such a close margin. jut got off the phone with lamontagne's campaign adviser. learned of the news and told me, stay tuned. >> ah what you mean by maybe. we have some resolution maybe. >> quickly, t.j., one interesting thing here, sarah palin weighed in on this race but endorsed and supported ayotte. establishment pick. no lafontaine. >> appreciate you. another 2 1/2, 3 1/2 hours before he has to possibly give an answer whether or not he'll challenge. wouldn't be an election if we didn't have an election,

recount -- don't want to get ahead of myself. we'll check in with you again. thanks, paul. no doubt what republicans hoped to do in november midterms. in case anybody's wondering, check out the big red bus that's probably going to roll through their town somewhere in the next few weeks. see this big thing? the gop's "fire pelosi" bus tour. pelosi, democratic house speaker, nancy pelosi, covering a lot of ground. 117 cities between now and november 2nd. senior political editor mark preston has a window seat for the first few stops. mark, hello to you. i believe, i'm told, you're in fake fas right now, and the first question should have been what are they hoping to do with the bus tour? it was plastered over the side of the bus what they plan to do. >> reporter: yeah. no question, t.j. in fact, it's a little quiet here now. in fact, you missed the bus, t.j. it's already pulled out. it's on to the second leg of its tour. you're right. i'm about 20 miles outside of washington, d.c. right now. virginia, a democratic state in

2008. president obama took it back, however, in 2009, t.j., we saw republicans take back the governorship. republicans are hoping to pick up a couple seats in this state in their quest for at least 39 seats. the number, t.j., that they need to take back the house of representatives. you're right i got to spend about a half hour with republican national committee chairman michael steele, t.j., as we grove out here, very interesting things to say to me. >> we have watched as this government has ignored the people. and has acted in a way in which they have dismissed, they have name called, and they have just put out of their minds what's important. what's important to america. well, guess what? we take the country back by firing pelosi. we take the country back by retiring harry reid. >> reporter: there you go.

there's michael steele in washington, d.c. right before he left to head into virginia, t.j. let me tell you, a couple things he had to say to me on the way out here to fairfax, 20 mimes outside washington, d.c. he's instructed the republican national committee staff to help christine o'donnell raise money and instructed them to figure out what kind of resources she needs for that campaign in delaware. a lot of talk national republicans would not rally around this. michael steele tells me the national committee will do so and told me that for all the critics that have been throwing arrows at him, throwing rocks at him during his tenure, all he ever wanted to do, a chance to do his job. if you look at the electoral scoreboard, he's done a good job. picked up the virginia's governor's race, massachusetts senator's race, new jersey governor's race, krit sim on him on raising money. he says he's doing a good job. >> we'll see how good of a job he does election day is right around the corner.

all right. mark preston with the "fire pelosi" bus tour. still don't have anything on our cnn election express bus. give it a shot. coming up, american sarah shourd making her way home. two other americans including her fiance still being charged with spying. they're still behind bars. we'll hear from their mothers when we glow trekking nap is next. i was a bookkeeper for 34 years. when i went on medicare, i did the numbers. that was the moment of truth. medicare by itself doesn't cover everything. we'd need more than that. i don't want to spend my life worrying about what would happen if one of us got sick. [ male announcer ] now more than ever, you may be wondering: do i have the right medicare coverage? don't spend your life worrying.

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all right. time to do globe trekking. american sarah shourd is spending her first full day of freedom in oman after her release from an iranian prison. her freedom came after 14 months behind bars and a half million dollar bail paid by amani sources. with her family resting and a medical check before returning home. the main concern, the two other americans including her fiance still in that iranian prison. >> today is the day my work begins and and all of my efforts going into helping procure the same freedom for my fiance shane bauer and for my friend josh fattal, because i can't enjoy my freedom without them.

>> shourd and the other two were arrested and charged with spying after allegedly straying into iran while hiking in neighboring iraq. the parents of the two young men still held in tehran the past 14 moss and particularly the last few days a time of emotional highs and lowsthey spoke with candy crowley and jim acosta on "american morning." bottom line, it's time for iran to release their sons. >> i'm happy sarah's out. she's my daughter-in-law to be, i love her very much, but i want shane home. i want slain and josh home, connecteded with their families an the biggest thing for me at that moment, what was it like for shane and sarah to separate along with josh, because they're very close right now. >> and what are your hopes right now? i mean what do you know about their condition and how soon they might be able to come home? >> okay. well we don't have any new information, but cindy and i have not talked to nor heard from josh or shane for four months, on tuesday.

from the time we left tehran may 21st until today, we have not had a letter or phone call from josh or shane and, of course, we're more than eager to, but what we really want, of course, is their release. it is almost 14 months of detention. we're so happy that sarah's home with nora, but it's our turn. it's our turn to have our kids back with us. >> do you know anything more recent about their condition? their state of mind, since you saw them four months ago? >> it does sound like sarah did get to say good-bye to shane and josh, which kept me awake at night thinking. oh hope she gets to say good-bye and they don't just wonder where she went. as far as their condition, i'm not sure. i'm anxious to talk to sarah so she can give us those details. >> 14 months almost of detention, the mental 57d psychological stress of detention in both shane and josh together, they're isolated from the whole world in a very big way, and that's stress, and that

prolonged and protracted detention, it doesn't do well by anyone, and so we need them out. and the it's not like a long distance race. we're here to end it. we want it over. and we just are hoping as cindy said that the humanitarian and compassionate nature of the islamic republic of iran will work in our favor as it has for sarah. >> the obama administration has call for the immediate release of josh bauer and shane fat tta the political update next. of things to talk about... and during endless shrimp at red lobster, you can keep the conversation going over endless servings of your favorite shrimp. from classics like garlic shrimp scampi and decadent shrimp pasta... to new creations, like crunchy parmesan shrimp. our best value of the year,

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taking a look now at some of the stories making headlines -- she won the primary. now maybe time for the real test. can christine o'donnell win vice president joe biden's old senate seat in november? the tea party favorite defeated senator castle in delaware without the republican establishment support. as democrats, they're more optimistic about retaining the seat saving their majority in the senate. also tracking three, count them, three named storms. first up, tropical storm karl, up to five inches of rain, in the atlantic, hurricane igor and julia. still a long way from land. both category 4 storms with winds topping 135 miles per

hour. also, an fda decision could come by friday on whether to revoke avasten as a treatment for breast cancer. an advisory panel says after two trials the drug didn't help patients live any longer. if the fda agree, insurers could drop coverage. it cost nearly $8,000 a month. coming up, we're excited to show this to you. a revolution way to make music. imagine being able to let your fingers learn to play on their own while you're busy possibly doing other things? that is today's "big i." we have got a big, old, live demonstration for you. that's next. [ woman ] nine iron, it's almost tee-time... time to face the pollen that used to make me sneeze... my eyes water. but now zyrtec®, the fastest 24-hour allergy relief, comes in a liquid gel. zyrtec® liquid gels work fast, so i can love the air®.

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in today's "big i" segment, technology to help you learn to play music just by touch. t.j. and the pips here today. researchers at georgia tech have developed a glove that connects to your cell phone, mp3 player or laptop. as the music plays the gloves vibrate to correspond with the fingers you use to play the song. it can also be used as a re habilitation device for people that have lost use of their hands. it will be highlighted at a future media vest in atlanta next month. thad thorner, associate professor at georgia tech. i have chad because he's been practicing the past hour or so so we'll put it to a test in a

second. initially explain what this is to lay people, p if you will. >> if you're like me, you would like to learn to play a musical instrument like a piano but don't have the time to do the practice. wouldn't it be great if you could rehearse songs you want to learn without paying attention to them. we have discovered this effect of pass tiv learning where it seems possible to do that. we've made this glove called the mobile music touch. it's a wireless device that hooks into your cell phone or laptop. so while reading e-mail or watching a video or doing what you normally would do, the system plays the song you want to learn. in this case, we're doing amazing grace. and as each note is played, vibrators in the fingerless glove vibrate to correspond to that note on the piano. what's amazing, in about a haf hour you can learn the muscle

memory. >> wait mant. you're saying all you do is put on a couple of gloves and pay this for a half hour or somewhere and i can put on a concert somewhere? >> i'm not sure about a concert but pick it out easier than before. not only for learning a new song but also for rehearsal. so if you're a musician and have problem with repetitive stress injuries, you could have the gloves give you that muscle injury, that feeling of the song and you concentrate on the expressiveness. >> is someone using this for the application yet? you just developed this. it's not in use. >> we've done four studies on it so we know this effect works pretty well. as you see it's relatively small. you can run it off a normal cell phone with bluetooth connection. it's still in the laboratory but one of things we got excited about is not just learning -- having people learn it for music but also for rehabilitation. let me introduce tonya marco here.

this is her ph.d. work and doing work on this. >> interesting work because a lot of people would like to play musical instruments but you're talking about other applications. >> we're looking at a form of hand rehabilitation so we're looking at people designated as quadriplegics. due to a break in the neck they've lost the ability to work with four limbs. one thing that's really neat about it is they get to play the piano which is a form of rehab in and of itself because you're doing fine dexterous movements with the hand. but we've had interesting comments about the vibration that it kind of reminded them where their fingers were because many have lost the ability to sense with their hands. if they touch an object they don't get the feedback of touching something. we're trying to improve ability to perceive with their hands and also the ability to use their hands, fine motor skills. >> that is amazing. an application there. i'm certainly amazed as well that you could put a glove on and 30 minutes later be able to

play the song. chad has had this glove on for how long now? >> about 45 minutes. >> what was the song? >> this is what the song would have sounded like. that is my musical repertoire. that's how good i can do it. >> he's had the song on for 45 minutes. >> it's beethoven's ode to joy. >> this ought to be good. all right, chad. >> okay. this thing buzzed and all i did -- all i did was i played on my mouse. i did my hurricane stuff. and it was buzzing on my fingers. >> you were working. >> let's see if i can do it. ♪ >> oh, you got to be kidding me. are you kidding me? now, did you have any talent or background in music? ever play the piano? and you didn't know that song, correct? >> no. i've heard it but wouldn't know what fingers to use and i always thought i had to go back and

forth. i was hoping for this will i be rach yee cam. watch. it just buzzed. middle middle up up down. >> okay. you guys are going to eliminate the need for piano teachers. >> i don't think so. there's still a lot of -- >> subtbtleties you have to practice with a teacher. what's great with the folks at shepard center is that you're not just rehabbing your hands but learning a new skill set. >> chad has never seen this before, done it before. says it works. these are the good folks from georgia tech here. this technology will be highlighted at the future media fest right here in atlanta, georgia, early october. to get more information on the mobile music touch and future media fest, just go to our blog cnn.com/tj. congratulations. that's amazing. i'm having a party around christmastime. can you give me a couple so i

can impress my guests? quick break and we're right back. stay with us.

all right. now for a few "odds & ends." one of the most powerful people in the porn industry larry flynt founded hustler magazine has spoken out for women's rights. in the op-ed in huffington post he makes the case for passing equal rights amendment. that measure based on discrimination of sex has been floating around without getting passed for nearly a century. on average right now women make a lot less than doing the same thing men do. in flynt's word a country that discriminates against half its population cannot be held up as

a great democracy. another guy in the porn business has sold his twitter account to israel for six figures we're told. his name is israel melendez, the guy who runs an adult website. he created the handle at seaat israel when twitter was getting up and going. now twitter doesn't allow selling actual accounts. they call it username squatting. so twitter itself actually told israel, the country, about a loophole. it bought the password to the account and is now tweeting at twitter.com/israel. also, just in time to take advantage of some twitter tweets, the sites rolled out a re-engineered version that it says provides an easier, faster and richer experience. in plain english more streamlined look and allow embedded media and detailed

context alongside those 140 characters. that was a little odd. let's get back to the top of the rundown here. new hour, new rundown. t.j. holmes sitting in for my friend ali velshi. coming up this hour, the first living medal of honor winner since the vietnam war. you're going to hear from him. we'll tell you what he did to make history. also the first ever twitter celebrity auction for haiti launched just last hour. it has 150 celebrities on board and it's getting millions of hits and you'll meet the man behind it, shaun king. he made his mission very possible. also reggie bush gives up his heisman trophy? how do you feel about that? i'll tell you how i feel about it coming up in my "xyz." but first for a tiny state of new hampshire passed a mighty big shadow on politics right now, so we shouldn't be surprised that it's still our lead story one of day after a slate of primaries in seven states and the district of

columbia. minutes ago the new hampshire secretary of state certified that kelly ayotte, a former state attorney general, the winner of new hampshire's senate primary. however, the second place finisher, he has about three more hours to contest that or forever hold his peace. he's backed by the party and the state's biggest party while ayotte is backed by national republicans as well as sarah palin. other big winners delaware. talking about tiny states today making big headlines. delaware, the tea party darling christine o'donnell captures the republican senate race. in new york city democratic congressman charlie rangel easily fends off five opponents to win the right to seek a 21st term. normally that wouldn't be a big story. he's won for 40 years now. but he's facing an ethics trial back in washington. in washington as well the city council chairman vincent gray upset the incumbent adrian fenty

in the mayoral race. and carl paladino within the millionaire from buffalo in the new york republican race for governor. the delaware race is one people kept an eye on as the marquee matchup. o'donnell backed by money and sarah palin's blessing easily turned away the nine-term congressman mike castle to seek the senate seat once held by joe biden who held it for 36 years. republican leaders backed castle in a major way and until a short time ago it seemed they still weren't going to be backing o'donnell. a top gop official told cnn -- and i'm quoting here -- until she demonstrates some viability in the polls, we are not going to have any money for her. strong language there. but later came this statement from the republican senator john cornyn. he says and i'm quoting as well -- the national republican senatorial committee and i as the committee's chairman

strongly stand by all of our republican nominees, including christine o'donnell in delaware, whose support includes a check for $42,000, the maximum allowable donation that we have provided to all of our nominees which the nrsc will send to her campaign today. that is just getting us started. now, paul steinhauser, get up off that desk. i know you had a long night. i know you've been working hard. >> all right. >> i know, man. you deserved to take a little seat there. just giving you a hard time. our deputy political director of course has been up all night following the races. can we start with new hampshire even though it seems like we have some kind of a resolution now? not necessarily. >> yeah. close but no cigar yet. here's the deal. the new hampshire secretary of state's office say they've counted all the votes according to their official results. she's ahead. she's won. ahead by 1,670 votes being kelly ayotte the former attorney

general and the establishment candidate also endorsed by sarah palin interestingly. but the guy in second play lamontade still has until 5:00 to call for a new count. stay tuned. this isn't over yet. >> it wouldn't be an election see on or election day if it didn't go into overtime. tea party certainly looking at last night as a victory for them. but can this really translate down the road in november? because of course they're still all republicans, tea party or republican party or whatever, still republicans. easier to do in the primary when you're appealing to fellow republicans and conservatives. >> no doubt. the tea party pretty new, less than two years old and a real power player in the primaries. big victories last night and throughout this primary season. lisa mruczkowski of alaska, republican senator ousted by tea party candidate. bob bennet also lost dew to support from the tea party.

big players in the primaries but what happens november 2nd. democrats are almost rejoicing about this. after o'donnell won in delaware, the chairman of the democratic senatorial candidate said tonight mike castle became the eighth republican establishment candidate to be upset by a party in complete turmoil. instead delaware republicans chose an ultra right extremist out of step with delaware voters. they'll try to paint these candidates backed by the tea party too out of the mainstream for those moderate and independent voters. those in the middle who off determine howe elections are decided. >> paul, we appreciate you as always, buddy. way to keep going strong. know it's been a long night for you. thanks so much. one minute a normal quiet day, the next a huge explosion triggers a raging inferno. at first there was total confusion for firefighters who were rushing to last week's natural gas fueled blaze in san bruno, california, right outside

san francisco. they had no idea what they were facing. and it's our sound effect today. >> call for a fourth alarm for this. look, it appears that we have a plane down in the neighborhood. multiple structures on fire. and we have a fireball still coming out. >> stop that engine. we have no water in this hydrant. we need them to lay into us. >> copy that. >> we think we've got a broken water main down here so they need to lay in from the corner of san bruno avenue. >> this is north branch on 31, go. >> it does not appear that this is an aircraft down. it appears that this is some sort of natural gas explosion. >> quick thinking helped fire fighters overcome the destroyed water mains in the area. they improvised and stretched hose lines from another water grid. in all 400 first responders battled the fire. four people were killed, three still missing. 37 homes were destroyed. coming up, denzel washington

is going back to school. but this time he's going to help at risk kids graduate. you're going to hear from him. that's next. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] every business day, bank of america lends billions of dollars, to individuals, institutions, schools, organizations and businesses. ♪

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an initiative to help stop the number of high school dropouts. actor denzel washington is the face of it. it's the latest effort launched by the boys and girls clubs to help fix our schools. be great, graduate. identify at risk kids and help them stay in school. check out some of the numbers.

30% of students in this country do not graduate from high school and the number is even more startling for black men. 53%. a little more than half of black male students don't get high school diplomas. a huge problem. that's why a huge hollywood star is stepping up to help. denzel washington is a spokesman for the boys and girls clubs and is in washington to launch the program. he spoke to tony harris about the program and his own childhood struggles. >> in the boys and girls clubs one of the mentors talked to me about the smarts i had. evidently i was a good actor even then. but he just said to me that you can go as far as you want to go. you can do anything you want to do. and that's what the boys and girls club is all about, not just, as they say, swim and gym. but the volunteers and workers that instill these positives in the lives and in the minds of young people. you know, they talk about role

models and they talk about athletes or actors or all of that. but in my community, in my town, the role models were the people that i could see every day and see how they operate. and i would emulate the way that they function. >> about 90% of the kids who have been through the boys and girls club have high school diplomas. coming up, he is the first living recipient of the medal of honor since the vietnam war. i'll introduce you to him and tell you how he made history.

the medal of honor.

it celebrates valor on the battlefield. it's the highest honor for american troops. and now another american service member is getting that honor. his name army staff sergeant salvatore guygiunta. he'll be the first living recipient since the vietnam war. he spoke about the honor for the first time a short time ago. >> as far as emotions after finding out about -- that i'm going to receive the medal of honor, it's very -- it's bittersweet because it's such a huge, huge honor. and right now the 173rd is deployed and they're doing the same thing they did, everything that's asked for them in afghanistan all over again. that's where a lot of my friends are right now. so for me to fully accept this, i have to have everyone who has

been by me every time i needed them. and that's really my brothers in arms. and some of them are out of the army now and some of them are in afghanistan now. it's emotional and it's great. all of this is great. but it does break back then a lot of memories of all the people that i would love to share this moment with. and i'm just not going to have that opportunity because they're no longer with us. and they gave everything for their country. and in doing that, we're not going to be able to enjoy this together. >> giunta was a specialist at the time in 2007 when his squad was ambushed by taliban fighters. he helped get several of his wounded brothers out of harm's way while being hit twice himself. the sergeant, though, says it was nothing heroic. >> there was no fear in my mind. the fear was the same. everyone's getting shot at. everyone is in the same boat.

no sense leaving five people there. i'll keep on going. i'm out of bullets anyway, out of grenades. the direction was forward but that was the direction we were all going. >> now, you see there his wife jenny is there with him. she talked about the moment the two of them got the call from president obama, letting them know about the honor. >> when the call came through, i was really, really proud. i was proud to know sal and proud to be with him and proud to be his wife, proud of what he went through. >> the date of the ceremony hasn't been scheduled just yet. giunta is stationed in italy right now. they'll be the fourth medal of honor recipient from the war in afghanistan. there were also four honored in iraq. overall 3,446 service members have received the medal of honor since it was established in the early 1960s. near half of the recipients come from the civil war. there are only 87 living recipients from world war ii, korea, and now afghanistan.

delaware's christine o'donnell leads the list of winners in the final big round of primaries. she got a boost from the tea party movement to defeat republican veteran mike castle. also of note congressman charlie rangel defeated five challengers in his primary even though he faces ethics charges in the house. a bittersweet homecoming for one family. that san bruno neighborhood devastated by natural gas explosion last week tell cnn affiliate kron their house wasn't damaged in the fires but had been broken into while they were evacuated. jewelry, gift cards, passports and a checkbook all missing. police looking into this now. researchers believe they found some of the deepwater horizon oil on the floor of the gulf of mexico. they say it's about two inches thick in some places. the oil was found as far as 80 miles from the now capped well. the oil still has to be tested to see if it really did come from the bp well. some of hollywood's best and

brightest once secretly filmed nuclear bombs for the u.s. government. we've got the pictures to prove it. we're going to show them to you. e a different story? of one financial company that grew stronger through the crisis. when some lost their way, this company led the way. by protecting clients and turning uncertainty into confidence. what if that story were true? it is. ♪

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aspercreme breaks the grip, with maximum-strength medicine and no embarrassing odor. break the grip of pain with aspercreme. all right. a lot of storms have a lot of names. they're going to be a problem, though. >> if you're in the yucatan peninsula, yes. maybe over toward the tampico area for karl. that's a tropical storm. 55 miles per hour. not a big deal. i can deal with the 55-mile-per-hour wind. the problem here is igor and julia. julia up to a category 4 storm. i wanted to draw a 5 but never got there. 4 storm overnight and also igor at category 4. they are both forecast to turn up to the right.

remember what happened to earl. remember when it didn't turn, didn't turn, didn't turn and we waited and waited and waited? could it happen again? sure. the models aren't perfect out here. what happens is there's a big high pressure center called a bermuda high supposed to be over bermuda. it's kind of east of bermuda that allows when the high pressure spins this way. when it's going this way, that allows the storms to travel along, along, along. when the high pressure ends, all of a sudden there's a gap in it, it turns up to the north. >> am i hearing right earl was forecasted to do the same and then it didn't? >> here's earl's forecast by the computers. there and then there and then there and then, oh, you missed it. finally, it just barely brushed, didn't come on shore obviously north carolina and then the cape. so for days we watched this thing not turn, not turn, not turn. that's why we're so cautious this year whether these computer models are doing a very good job with this nonturning event. but so far so good.

all of them have -- the big storms have not hit any land. >> but that's why they still bare watching. >> that's why we don't believe in garbage in, garbage out models. when the models are perfect we'll all be perfect. right now we're not. yucatan peninsula right there. this is cancun. here is belize coming onshore here. not a very populated area plus only 55 miles per hour. not a big threat to here. this is what igor looks like. this model -- this map continues to do this. there you go. igor continues to turn to the right, turn to the right, turn to the right. the only problem, see that dot right there? that's bermuda. it goes right over the top of bermuda at about 105 miles per hour. so we will have to watch for those people there. basically get off the island if you can now especially if you're not from there, you want to batten down the hatches. if you're a tourist no reason to stay much longer. probably two more days of good weather. >> that's on the radar? are we going off the radar?

>> off the planet almost. >> okay. >> nuclear weapons. >> what was that nuke what -- >> nuclear. is that how he said it? nuclear weapons. and all the atomic bomb blasts that happened in nevada, remember some of the video you'd see like things getting blown apart? we only saw a tiny fraction of what was actually made. there was 6500 motion pictures made. of course all classified. we only saw just a few. now at least 100 of them declassified and available online. you can watch them online. there was a film studio five minutes from hollywood that did all of this work. all of this work was in a secret facility up in the hills. 2 1/2 acres. they made 6500 motion pictures in the time that they were there. it's a private residence now.

been knocked down. no indication that this film studio was ever there. but it was the largest motion picture self-contained film studio in hollywood for 20 years while they were blowing all these things up and making motion pictures of all these things getting blown up. >> why are we just seeing them now? >> because now they're declassified. >> what took so long? >> there's 6400 that are still classified. i guess they don't want to see things db you see things getting blown up. these are patriots. these men and women that were photographers are patriots and i think most or all of them are dead mostly from cancer because they were four miles away from filming it for the department of defense filming it for obviously the benefit of the country. so pate trot doesn't begin to safe what they were. >> it's amazing. i was reading about this the other day that they were so closed they were getting blown back away from their cameras they were so close to these things. chad, good stuff today. you have still play that song? still working?

>> i'll keep practicing. >> appreciate you as always buddy. take a quick break coming up but going to tell you after the break about a war that seldom xwrabs huge headlines but peacekeepers in somalia in an all-out battle with al qaeda-linked militants. [v:tv][c [panting] mark! anna! aah! aah! ha! ah! whoo! hee! heave! forgot your lunch.

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time for us now to go "globetrekking." outside of africa it's a war few people know about. you could argue few even care about it. but for americans it has all the makings of another iraq or afghanistan. pictures we're showing you here of militants linked to al qaeda in somalia. fighters from yemen and pakistan

and afghanistan and caught in the middle african peacekeepers who often find themselves in the thick of the fight. our jane ferguson joined a dangerous patrol and here now is her exclusive patrol. >> reporter: peacekeepers literally hit the ground running in mogadishu. it's so dangerous here that when these african union soldiers land they have to run for cover because of the threat of mortar fire and the airport is someone of the few areas that's supposed to be firmly in control of the government and au forces. the threat from islamist insurgents el shah bab, a link with al qaeda that controls much of central somalia. the government only controls a section of mogadishu and the au troops are here to protect it. they are not in reality peacekeepers but protecters. across mogadishu this summer, the fighting has been fiercer than ever. during the holy month of ramada, el shahbab increased attacks.

an intern despite heavy mortar fire they have gone into house by house by knocking holes in the walls of each home. a brutal slog to take the high ground. >> to make a mobile operation within the buildings here. then after they have moved into that tall building there, our forces will move into those buildings so that we continue pushing these people out, rushing them out of the region. >> reporter: the au largely made up of ugandan troops, shell el shahbab positions. back ira market in the distance is a strong hold and center. they say the area next to it is a scene of executions and torture. here at the new position that the african forces have taken further into mogadishu, the market is behind me. in between we have el shahbab

fighters. they're trying to clean them out of the area so they can continue to move deeper into the city. the mandate is to defend the government. but in mogadishu, the line between defense and offense is rarely clear and the two sides are often just meters apart. el shahbab fights back with roadside bombs, suicide attacks and mortars and also declared that it will take the fight to the home countries of the african troops deployed there and recently claimed responsibility for devastating bomb attacks in uganda. el shahbab have also been known to recruit child soldiers. shortly after i arrived in the city, reports circulated that up to 100 boys had been brought to mogadishu from the south and forced to fight. the au soldiers say they have no choice but to shoot them. >> it's unfortunate but we have no choice. >> reporter: are they very scared? >> very much. emaciated. they look so weak, so weak. >> reporter: and there are constant reports of foreign fighters joining el shahbab from

yemen across the gulf of aden but also from north america and elsewhere. >> we do see them and even when we kill them, we see them. yes. >> reporter: and what -- how many foreign fighters have you killed since july? >> i can't be certain, because we have had several encounters. at least -- in each encounter at least we do kill them. we kill them. because we get information. we get intelligence. mostly arabs, though we have also some africans, some from kenya, uganda, arabs from yemen, afghanistan, chechnya. >> reporter: chechnya? the force has opened three new -- to better protect the presidential palace from attacks. soldiers took me to what they call the dead zone where they pointed out el shahbab

positions. they said foreigners were often in charge of local fighters running posts and buildings just below the line of fire. >> that is a beauty. that is a market. and they it shall that's where you find foreigners. when we are fighting here, the foreigners are a little bit in their rear. >> reporter: this summer, the au's modest gains have taken them up to the seaport overlooked by the once grand aruba hotel. there's often take of a new offensive against them an they pledged more troops there. but this is a war of attrition fought in the ruins of a once grateful city where victory is as unlikely as surrender. jane ferguson for cnn, mogadishu, somalia. we're going to turn back to politics. lining up on christine o'donnell's side, another top republican throws his support behind a tea party upstart.

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wrel, well whereby you can just about do anything on facebook but what about preach to a congregation? i have the pastor shaun king. going to explain exactly what you're up to but you have found a way now. this auction is going on and you're using celebrities for a twitter auction to raise money for haiti. now, help folks -- maybe particularly those who are not so twitter and facebook inclined, understand how that's supposed to work. >> well, big thing we're trying

to do is just keep the light and keep attention on haiti. and so while the news cycle might not include it so much, we're trying to really use technology to keep people understanding how big the needs are. and so on twitter, you can see what celebrities and entertainers and actors are doing. and on twitter people kind of, in 140 letters, tell you what's going on in their life. so one of the things that everybody wants and never says they want, everybody wants to be followed by somebody famous. and it's like a dirty little secret, you know. everybody wishes that shaq or diddy or kim kardashian would follow them or tweet them. >> you're tapping into that? >> yeah. and so what we have tried to do is connect with those celebrities and fans are going to get a chance to bid to have eva longoria or shaquille owe

o'neal or others follow them. >> how did you get them on board? >> it was me. we started doing great things in haiti and eva longoria saw the work that we were doing. she was going to start a website for a project. so she called some friends of hers at microsoft. and they told her to work with us. and a lot of my friends tease me about working with eva longoria. but as a tech guy, i was excited about microsoft. and so i don't really watch "desperate housewives." so when she told us that microsoft said work with this group, we were over the moon. >> just in case you're not clear, let me know she's kind of a big deal. how much money can you possibly raise like this? how many celebrities, first of all, do you have? >> we have almost 150 celebrities on board, from all around the world. not just the united states. i mean, every day we're having like 1 1/2 to 2 million people

go to our website. and we have no idea what it will raise. we need to raise almost a million dollars for the project that we're working on. but we're trying to lower our expectations and just get surprised if it's a success. >> and they need -- i want to make sure people understand. they need to go to your website first to do the bidding. >> they can go to twitchange.com. >> we have it up right behind you and eva longoria featured prominently on front. >> she has a video on there and kind of breaks down what we're doing. and you can bid and 100% of your donation goes to charity. ebay donated their services and it's going to be a great thing. >> explain to people one more time here what exactly you're hoping to do. your mission necessarily in haiti. we know the needs are still great even though as you said it's not in the headlines every day. what is your mission and you're going to direct your money and all your efforts towards sn. >> i pastor a church here in atlanta and our church is helping to build the largest

home and orphanage and school for severely disabled children in haiti. and so i've been to haiti several times since the earthquake. and all of these donations are going to go to building that home. and right now in haiti, children with severe disabilities are most regularly orphans. and we have over 100 orphaned children that are going to be living in this home. and it's going to be great. we're really excited to be able to do something permanent for them. >> how much did you say you needed? >> need about a million dollars. and we'll see what the auction does. we'll keep on pushing. >> all right. the facebook pastor shaun king. that's says a lot about how tech savvy you are. more excited about microsoft than eva longoria. great work and clearly got the attention of a lot of people. >> appreciate it. >> thanks for coming in. good to have you in atlanta with us. to get more information on shaun king and his effort to help haiti we have it up right now.

cnn.com/tj. want to make sure you're able to hook up with pastor king. christine o'donnell, you've been hearing that name. if her name wasn't necessarily that well known before you'll certainty know it now. even the next coming days and weeks. the white house is weighing in on the republican candidate who won without the support of the gop establishment. ed henry on the steakout for us today.

well, time now for the "cnn equals politics update." cnn senior congressional correspondent dana bash is on the hill. what's crossing? >> reporter: what's crossing is the reverberation still from the election last night in delaware. first up, the head of the committee, the senate committee to elect republicans who backed the nominee's opponent mike castle, he is now sounding upbeat, really changing his tune about christine o'donnell saying that they are going to support any republican nominee. and i also interviewed him. this is coming up on the ticker. in addition momentarily he said he understands he doesn't necessarily have the greatest track record but says what is important is going to be his track record in november, getting republicans elected to

beat democrats. up next on this same issue, jim demint. he of course the conservative south carolina republican who has been backing these conservative candidates, much to the chagrin of the gop establishment. that includes christine o'donnell. many republicans still say she can't win in delaware. i asked him that question in an interview in his office. >> it will be tougher, but americans who live in delaware love their country and they're not stupid. they know we're at the edge of a cliff of financial disaster in our country. and i think the terms of moderate or conservative really trivialize something that the stakes are too high to use those terms. >> he also said that it's clear that americans don't want mushy candidates. and he really disspelled the idea that republicans still can't win the majority despite the fact that christine o'donnell and other conservative candidates are running against democrats in bluer purple

states. another question of whether what kind of tax cuts they're going to put. steny hoyer signaled to reporters today that he thinks it's possible they could discuss alternatives besides what they and the president really wants, which is just to extend tax cuts for the middle class and to let those for the wealthier americans expire. that is something that many democrats who are in tough re election campaigns do not like. so he said maybe there's word for compromise. >> wow, compromise on the ticker today. that is the big news. dana, we appreciate you as always. let me turn from dana bash to ed henry for the stakeout. good to see you as always. we've heard christine o'donnell's name everywhere. at the white house too? >> reporter: big time because they're saying in private that they believe that bottom line is that democrats have now taken back control of the senate seat. it hasn't happened yet, but they think they've -- it's in their

sights because basically if mike castle, the moderate, had won the republican primary -- democrats had all but given up that seat and realized that joe biden's old seat from delaware would go into republican hands. now they have a fighting chance with their candidate because they just believe that christine o'donnell is going to be too extreme and is not really going to have the backing of the republican party establishment when you have people like karl rove criticizing her saying she's not a great candidate, probably not going to win. that's deflating for republicans. i did speak to one senior adviser to the president this morning who said that maybe some of this is getting ahead of themselves and some democrats are too optimistic. you have to be careful for democrats because christine o'donnell, maybe she won't have all the money in the world or party establishment backing but that's not necessarily a bad thing in this political season right now because it's the people in both parties who are tied to the establishment, tied to washington who are not doing well. she may get a lot of money and support from tea party folks who

may want to show the establishment -- send them a second message after this primary, t.j. >> and what a difference and an election makes. they had all but given up in delaware and now democrats just seem to be grinning from ear to ear today. are we expecting to hear from the president? he was going to speak to us at 4:30. what does he have to say? >> reporter: we weren't expecting it until a short time ago. he has a cabinet meeting in a few minutes. a chance for the last time before the election to get all his folks together and talk about the agenda and then come out to the rose garden 4:30 eastern time. what we're told he'll talk more about the economy and jobs. this is another outgrowth in part of what we saw in delaware yesterday. what people inside the white house is saying is, look, what this shows when you have somebody with tea party backing who wins in delaware, knocks off someone like mike castle who is all but assured to win for republicans and take that seat out of democratic hands, they think this shows more than anything that there's a real stark choice that the parties

are offering voters in november and they think it's crystal clear from delaware. they say the president you've heard him on the stump saying the same thing about it's a choice. the policies of the past the republicans want to give you how he frames it or the policies of the future trying to pull us out of the slump. they think the delaware thing is a gift. messagewise it makes the same point the president has been making and you can expect him to make it in a short time from now about the economic slump and what his administration is doing to try to fix it. >> 4:30 eastern time. we'll certainly cover it live. we expect the president to make a statement. not expected to take any questions. >> reporter: not expected to take questions. >> not expected to take questions but what question rough going to shout at the president as he turns and tries to walk out? >> reporter: something i asked robert gibbs a while ago is the fact that "the washington post" reported about a week ago that as we're talking about tax cuts and tax debates and talking about deficits and trying to get the government more money, there are about 41 white house aides according to tax records who

have back taxes that they have unpaid taxes totaling over $800,000, almost a million. i asked robert gibbs whether they're going to pay it, what's the deal. he basically said he's got to get more information on it. so we're going to stay on it and keep asking him about it because bottom line we keep hearing in washington both parties you have to deal with the deficit, people have to pay their taxes, everyone has to pay their fair share. you have people in the white house who apparently oh back taxes. that's something we'll press them about. >> 41 of them divided among the $800,000, that's a lot of money per person. >> reporter: and he is there's not that many white house aides. 41 is a significant percentage of a few hundred white house aides. in fairness -- that's part of the reason why we asked for the list and asked are people going to pay it, who owes the taxes. someone may owe $10. we doesn't know. we don't want to say all 41 owe a ton of money but when it adds up to $800,000 that's significant.

"the washington post" is reporting there's a lot of people on capitol hill, staffers in both parties, who also oh back taxes. you can bet this is something that will get attention. >> you're current, right? >> reporter: i've paid. i realize i'm fair game too. i pay my taxes. >> all right. ed, good to see you as always. i guess we'll wait to see what question you shout at the president at 4:30. we'll take him live, the president making comments about the economy later. good to see you as always. "wordplay" coming up next. an endangered specie out in the wild, maybe in washington too.

it's time for today's "wordplay." and actually we're working with an acronym that's masquerading as a mammal. talking about a rino. r-i-n-o. you won't find it in the dictionary with our special or in the wild. this rino stands for republican in name only. you might have heard this thrown around a bit out there. for some folks tagged as rinos, you're probably not going to find them in the running come november. it's a slam that cropped up in 1998 but taken off as of late in washington. member of the republican the conservatives feel has committed a party foul that haven't nailed every plank of the republican party platform. take mike castle that just lost the delaware senate primary after a republican dubbed him

king rino. we have a first in the history of the heisman trophy. a recipient sends it back with a tracking number. i tell you how i feel about that. that's coming your way in my "xyz." ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] every business day, bank of america lends billions of dollars, to individuals, institutions, schools, organizations and businesses. ♪ working to set opportunity in motion. bank of america.

the heisman trophy. it is the most prestigious award in all of sports. only 75 have been handed out since 1935. if you were one of the lucky ones in this fraternity of winners, can you imagine if somebody actually tried to take it from you? i imagine you'd adop the charlton heston attitude about it. you can have this heisman back when you take it out of my cold dead hand.

reggie bush didn't ato the that attitude. rather he's giving his heisman back voluntarily, the first thing that's ever happened. after an amazing 2005 year at usc he won the highest percentage of first place heisman votes ever. bush who is now with the new orleans saints says he's forfeiting the award because of media speculation regarding allegations dating back to his years at usc. if you're not up on this story here, not aware of what's going on a ncaa investigation found that bush and his family got hundreds of thousands of dollars in benefits from agents while he was in school. that's a big ncaa no-no. the heisman trust was investigating as well. but before they were able to possibly strip reggie of the award, he beat them to the punch and forfets it. one of the few criteria for getting the heisman is you have to be in compliance with ncaa rules to be eligible for the award so technically he wasn't

in compliance so technically he wasn't eligible to play, so technically he wasn't even on the field in 2005. but you and i know he was. you can't erase how he electrified college football that year. clearly the best player in the country. some are now arguing, though, that he shouldn't give it back and they're arguing that they shouldn't take it away. part of the argument here is whatever rule he violated, it didn't enhance his performance on the field. for example, like a pro baseball player who possibly took performance-enhancing drugs. sure, maybe their record should be wiped away because they did something illegal that affected them on the field but not reggie bush. but on the other hand, should reggie bush receive the most prestigious award in sports after violating ncaa rules? where's the punishment in that? some will argue out there that the shame of losing the heisman trophy is punishment enough. well, since leaving college, bush has become an nfl superstar, a mu