circumstance. call balls and strikes. it was -- by the way, we keep pointing out this morning that it was almost a perfect game. it was a no-hitter. >> i know! that's amazing. no-hitter. a lot of credit goes to the fielders, too. the catcher. they were just great. >> carlos ruiz is an excellent defensive catcher. made a nice play on a throw to first base. >> that saved him. >> this, by the way, incidentally, halladay's second no-hitter of the season. >> he's phenom. >> yep. >> stay healthy. stay healthy. thanks. that's going to wrap it up for us. see you again tomorrow. good morning, kyra. >> good morning, guys. thanks so much. good morning, everybody. for a couple of hours we'll explore the afghan war from several angles. the war's toll on terrorists and

the threat that's still alive, still out there and lethal. also, the war's toll on the military and their families. heroes coming home like this. for nine years now. and this morning, the fighting doesn't stop. neither do the attempts at peace talks. president hamid karzai meeting with a group of prominent afghans to discuss ways to talk to the taliban. however, a taliban spokesperson says that peace talks won't happen until u.s. and nato troops withdraw. militants keep targeting nato convoys. there have been at least six attacks in pakistan in a week. at least six people killed. dozens of trucks destroyed. let's get one more attempt to talk about this peace initiative that's on the table. ivan watson live in kabul. what do you think, ivan? can it happen? >> reporter: well, hi there, kyra. what we have seen from the

karzai government for years is aa an atempt to try to convince taliban commanders to put down the weapons and those efforts largely failed an enwhat we saw here today was his creation, first meeting of basically a counsel of tribal elders and religious leaders, some former warlords with very bad human rights records of past wars and they're going to be tasked with trying to reach out to the taliban, try to negotiate a settlement. i talked to one of those members of this high peace counsel. he says there will be conditions if some deal will ever be made. >> what kind of peace, an honorable peace we want. not accept all wishes of tali n taliban. they should accept our constitution, our values like freedom of press, like gender, like these things. >> reporter: now, kyra, there

have been a lot of swirling reports in the media that the karzai government having high-level contacts with the taliban. his aides continue to deny those reports. kyra? >> well, now, the pentagon, what is it saying about this peace counsel initiative meeting and does it have any hope? >> reporter: well, this is very interesting. our own chris lawrence, a senior defense official, told him that there are, in fact, some kind of talks taking place between hamid karzai and some high-level taliban leaders but they went on to say, quote, we don't assess that the talks resulted in practical reconciliation or the resolution of many issues. and in fact, going on to say that the military side of this, putting more pressure on the taliban militants whose insurgency raging across the country, that still needs more time to put more pressure on the taliban before they're in any

position of strength to negotiate a settlement. >> all right. ivan watson there live in kabul, thanks. yesterday i had a chance to talk with the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff about the afghanistan war and asked admiral mike mullen about pakistan's place in this conflict. >> it's not just afghanistan. it's afghanistan and pakistan. you know, i've been to pakistan a lot. engaged with them. that's a country that's critical to the region and the strategy that we re-establish a relationship that we abandoned for almost a dozen years, and re-established trust that we had and no longer do. and we're trying to rebuild that, as well. that's -- that border area is the epicenter of terrorism in the world. not just in the region but in the world right now. and more and more of those organizations are reaching out globally, threatening us globally, talking about doing or

executing the kinds of terrorist activities that we saw in detroit, we saw recently in times square. so, that's why that region is so important and this mission is so important. >> i have to ask you this. every couple of years it seems like we bring this question up in the media. do we need to find and kill osama bin laden to finally feel like we're gaining an edge? >> well, actually, we've gained an edge on al qaeda. and it would certainly be significant if we were to find and kill bin laden or zawahiri. we are seeking to do that. i actually believe that some point in time it will happen. and i think it would be a very important step in the overall campaign plan, if you will. so, i do think it's an important outcome. but al qaeda has been significantly diminished over the course of the last two or

three years but by no means are they no longer lethal. they still plan to kill as many americans as they possibly can. and we know that for a fact. so, the pressure we want to continue to raise the pressure and certainly seek to kill or capture the top two in al qaeda. >> mental and physical anguish of war ahead. dr. sanjay gupta gives us his insight on the impacts on our soldiers from the front lines. and there are just 267 days remaining until the all-important midterm elections and the clock is ticking loudly in several battleground states from nevada to connecticut, new york to missouri. to contests heating up and cnn is breaking them down. let's turn to the best political team in television for the polls. for that, deputy political director mark preston and bring us up to date, guys.

>> hey, kyra. you're right. we are heading into the final days of the election season. let's start out in nevada where senate majority leader harry reid in the fight for his life and spending $25 million to try to keep his seat. cnn, "time" opinion research corporation did a poll. released it late yesterday, kyra. this is right off the presses. it shows that reid is losing right now to sharron angle. she is that tea party favorite. where the tea party movement came in and helped fund that campaign. that poll shows reid at 40%. angle at 42%. there is a third party candidate, scott ashjian. he draws 7% in that poll. when we pull scott ashjian out of the equation, though, it's still showing that sharron angle has a two-point lead. president obama is heading out to las vegas later this month for a big rally for harry reid and he is a few democrat who's not trying to distance himself

from president obama. to paul. >> i tell you, kyra, another state where the republicans if they win back the senate, a big, if they do it, one of the states is connecticut. this is a seat that chris dodd had for 30 years and not running for re-election. in the contest, the long-time attorney general, richard blumenthal according to our polls of just yesterday he's up by 13 points over linda mcmahon, the former pro-wrestling executive. when you break down the numbers, look at independents. he is winning by double digits, as well. we have a bigger lead than other polls in the last month. we'll keep an eye on connecticut. back the you, mark. >> missouri, kyra. a race without national attention but a race that democrats thought they could pick up the seat, seat for kit bond. robin carnahan is the democrat. our poll shows right now that roy blunt with a commanding

13-point lead at 53%. carnahan at 40%. i have to say, in just a few hours or just even later on this evening, senator -- rather, vice president joe biden is heading to missouri to do an event. paul? >> you are right. joe biden was a senator for a long time. hey, one other thing. governors for a second, kyra. there's a crazy race in new york state, right? between cuomo and paladino. we have all been talking about him later. buffalo developer, backed by the people in the tea party movement and our brand-new poll of cnn/"time" indicated that cuomo has that advantage. interesting story up there in new york. kyra, back to you. >> all right. guys, appreciate it. amazing sight in northern arizona. four tornadoes sweep through overturning trucks, cars, a freight train. we'll take you there, right, rob? >> yes, we are. that is very, very rare. not only that to happen in the

morning and tremendous amount of damage with only a handful of not so serious injuries and good news there. that storm is weakening and we have this otto character in the charact. stay there. breathe in, breathe out.

as volatile as markets have been lately, having the security of a strong financial partner certainly lets you breathe easier. for more than 140 years, pacific life has helped millions of americans build a secure financial future wouldn't it be nice to take a deep breath and relax? ask a financial professional about pacific life. the power to help you succeed. sometimes i would get rewards, sometimes i wouldn't. this one card i had -- there were all these rules. rules and restrictions. oh, and limits.

[ scoffs ] forget about it. but i love this card. bankamericard cash rewards credit card. 1% cash back on everything i buy. period. no limit to the amount of cash back i can get. no hoops to jump through. simple. [ male announcer ] the refreshingly simple bankamericard cash rewards credit card. apply online or at a bank of america near you. no calorie sweetener granulated with fiber. sweet! [ female announcer ] tastes like sugar and has 3 grams of fiber per tablespoon. use it almost anywhere you use sugar. even in cooking and baking. sweet! [ female announcer ] splenda® granulated with fiber.

big mess in northern arizona a. lot to clean up this morning. rubble, debris everywhere after four tornadoes ripped through the town of bellemont yesterday. we have this video. you can see the mess left behind in the community. the winds so strong it caused a train to derail. county sheriff said the twisters left behind, quote, a mile of destruction. rob marciano, you were saying that's rare. >> well, yeah. arizona the state gets about four tornadoes a year. let alone getting four in one day in basically the same area. so -- and all in the morning. actually, one getting into the

early afternoon but nonetheless it was a phenomenal day as far as the atmosphere goes and how the things were shaping up in it. things are beginning to qui yoet down here. this is the low that produced it. it's shifted further to the north and east and weakened somewhat. and this low which is brought dreary conditions to the northeast and mid-atlantic, now slowly is beginning to move north and east. the folks here are done with the damp weather a. couple of showers across new york and fairfield county, connecticut. new haven and then boston again. eastern mass with a decent amount of rain yesterday. a couple of inches in total and getting this out of here today, the weekend looks okay. nights are longer so temperatures in the 40s which are records in austin yesterday. louisiana got to 39 degrees yesterday morning. here's the forecast weather map for today. blue "hs" dominate towards the weekend with the exception of

the pacific northwest. as far as what's going on in the tropics, this is subtropical storm otto named yesterday. it is so large a circulation and now starting to see a little bit more tightening of the circulation and may very well become a fully tropical storm through today. what is it doing after that? above puerto rico. kind of hovering there. we have a strong jet stream and so it's difficult for these storms when they're out in the atlantic to make the way towards the u.s. and this is the forecast track from the national hurricane center. keeps it as a strong tropical storm. and then shoots it way out there in through the atlantic. just an idea of the temperatures you can expect today. we are warming up across the mid section. 86 degrees in memphis. leaves won't be falling there just yet. 64 degrees in los angeles. 88, much more calm day in phoenix after the turbulent weather this week. most of the folks this weekend not looking too shabby and this

week has been a little bit on the rough side. kyra, back over to you. >> thanks, rob. clean-up crews in hungary face a challenge of stopping the river of toxic mud before other european countries suffer, too. 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. ♪

america's longest running war has taken a toll on our troops. dr. sanjay gupta spent time on the front lines both in afghanistan and iraq and he's seen firsthand the war's devastating effect. the one thing we have talked about are the suicides when

these guys come back, even overseas, men and women and so much more that they're dealing with. you know the brain injuries, as well. >> we talk about how that's become the signature injury of the war and amputations of previous wars and the impact of mental health people didn't know how to approach this or the significant toll. certainly not nine years ago and as things have gone along it's become one of the things you simply cannot ignore at any level. if you look at the numbers, most striking. 2009, for example, the hospitalizations, if you classify them by physical and mental injuries, look at the numbers. there are more u.s. troops hospitalized last year for mental health issues than physical injuries. that should say a lot. let me add to, that as you know, kyra, a lot of people don't go to get help. >> a lot of them don't want to

admit to it. a lot of it's pride. >> that's right or stigma and the inanlt to move forward if they think they come forward with this sort of thing. >> might lose their job and reputation. >> that's right. >> so many of the men and women have multiple deployments. today. we're covering the funeral of a young man killed a week ago. 12 deployments. >> i have spent so much time at the av hospitals when i haven't been in iraq or afghanistan looking at how the troops are cared for here. i was struck by a couple of things. it is incredibly hard to see a mental health counselor here. at ft. hood, for example, which we talked a lot about. >> why is it so hard? >> there's not enough resources in part because i think everyone underestimated how significant a toll this is going to be. at ft. hood, for example, 4,000 patients a month, imagine that. even the biggest hospitals in the country can't take that kind of led of patients, certainly not ft. hood and part of the problem.

also, the criteria for whether or not someone can go back and be redeployed w. a mental health issue, they have to document they have seen an activity to give them ptsd and official diagnosis, otherwise they can be redeployed and if you're redeployed, you're two and a half times more likely to develop some of the ssymptoms. it is related to deployment. the suicide rate higher than among the civilian population. that's documented. the hospitalizations, obviously, higher, as well. >> if you have an issue and haven't dealt with it and go back overseas that is one of the leading causes of the suicide rate on the rise. definitely an emergency situation and top commanders have said that. >> they have said it and to be fair, some things are starting to be done about this. they're starting to, for example, put more mental health counselors in field in afghanistan and iraq to try and deal with some of the issues directly. and sort of relationship to this lack of manpower they talk about

things like tele-medicine with counselor and counsel an individual or groups of individuals from overseas. you have some strategies coming into play but i try to forecast ten years, 15 years down the line for troops and i think unless more is done now, these problems aren't going to go away. in fact, they'll get magnified as people realize they didn't get the help they need. >> i had a chance to sit down with mike mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and said we have hundreds of programs and we have to figure out how to implement them and get people checked into the programs. >> and get rid of the stigma so people want to do it. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> all right. more straight ahead.

all right. pretty amazing pictures out of hungary. and it's not just muddy water. it is toxic sludge. 1 million cubic meters released when a containment reservoir burst. four people died when the river of toxic mud water washed away homes and cars and now reached danube river and could spread the pollution to other countries. our chief international correspondent nic robertson has a look at what's being done to try to clean up the mess. >> reporter: in its wake, death and destruction. a vivid red toxic trail engulfing at least three villages leading back to a slurry pit at an aluminum works where it burst its banks late

monday. the starlet torrent killed four people, two of them children. more than 100 others have been hurt. the most serious and to the capital, the treatment. the government was quick to react. chemical hazard teams sent to the site. a state of emergency declared. but it's taken two days to get answers to some of the most basic and troubling questions. how dangerous is the red sludge? >> translator: in order to avoid further disaster we have established a guard on the walls of the 10th segment of the reservoir. that will be operating 24 hours a day with firemen and police in the villages and if another break might occur sirens will sound and people will be sure they can run to safety. i want to emphasize there was not a natural disaster in the area. and if it was not a natural disaster we have to find the person responsible for the catastrophe. for that reason, the chief of police has ordered the national

investigation office to investigate the reason for the break. >> reporter: but as the red river dries out at its source fresh fears surfacing. could the harmful toxins go airborne and how far might they spread? >> it forced many people to evacuate and don't know when they can get back home. his love of country sent him to war. the love of his family brings him home. this hour, in georgia, the home coming of fallen soldier, his story right after the break. [ female announcer ] you use the healing power of touch every day.

♪ now the healing power of touch just got more powerful. introducing precise from the makers of tylenol. precise pain relieving heat patch activates sensory receptors. it helps block pain signals for deep penetrating relief you can feel precisely where you need it most. precise. only from the makers of tylenol.

i'd get this tightness in my chest. so i went back to my doctor again. we chose symbicort to help control my asthma symptoms all day and night. [ man ] symbicort improves my lung function, starting within 15 minutes. symbicort will not replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. it is a combination of two medicines and should not be taken more often than prescribed. symbicort contains formoterol. medicines like formoterol increase the risk of death from asthma problems, and children and adolescents may have an increased risk of being hospitalized for asthma problems. symbicort is not for people whose asthma is well controlled

with a long-term asthma control medicine like inhaled corticosteroids. once your asthma is well controlled, your doctor will decide if you can stop symbicort without loss of control, and prescribe a long-term asthma control medicine. be sure to see your doctor if your asthma does not improve or gets worse. symbicort is a good choice to help control my asthma all day and night. [ inhales ] [ exhales ] ask your doctor if symbicort is a good choice for you. [ male announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. you do? your medicare card. [ laughing ] but don't let me or anyone see it except your doctor or their staff. and don't tell anyone your card or social security number over the phone. guard your card. [ woman 2 ] i hear unauthorized card use is a big source of fraud. the new healthcare law lets us crack down on criminals and win against fraud. making medicare stronger. and speaking of winning... [ man 2 ] not again! [ man ] learn more at stopmedicarefraud.gov.

the dow came close to 11,000 yesterday. but fell short because of some pretty disappointing job numbers and today jobs once again the focus and that's what carter evans is talking about at the new york stock exchange. carter, tell us more. >> you can hear the opening bell behind me right now and hoping for a boost. futures higher today following the morning jobs report. new claims for unemployment claims fell and wall street expected an increase and in the right direction. stock market gains probably not too big. here's why. jobless claims are still really high. they came in at 445,000. that level doesn't suggest that there's a hiring going on right now. but we do have some more good news about retail and very important. retail sales are looking better. retailers reporting that september sales are looking pretty good and the reporting sales throughout the morning.

the early results basically are showing positive numbers. it's a positive sign for consumer spending and economic growth so let's take a look at the opening numbers right now. the dow currently on the rise up about 24 points. nasdaq up about 11 1/2 right now. kyra, we got to revisit a rumor that apple may be making an iphone for verizon because this is getting pretty -- the buzz is getting pretty significant right now. as you know, the iphone currently only works on at&t but "the wall street journal" reporting it could be on store shelves next year for verizon. many analysts are questioning the validity of this but basically what we are hearing is that the company that makes the types of chips that are used by verizon is ramping up production and it's making those chips for the iphone right now and this is sounding better than some of the other rumors sounded in the past. put it that way. >> for the techie geeks that

understand the talk, they know why it's such a big deal because i'm clueless. >> okay. >> you want to put it in -- give me a layman's term. what does that mean? >> it could be coming to verizon soon and looks like they're making the parts for it. >> are the parts incredible an unique? >> okay. now back to the techie stuff. it is a different type of frequent. at&t uses one type of chip for the towers. verizon uses another. totally different. different chips. now they're making the cdma chips for the iphone. >> got you. i'm still totally lost. >> will be a quiz later. >> thanks, carter. all right. just minutes from now the heart-wrenching reality of our war. fallen soldiers an enwhen they return home, and today on this ninth anniversary of the afghanistan war, it's sergeant first class lance vogeler served an astonishing 12 combat tours

in iraq and afghanistan and cow ray jous and dedicated but today his family wants you to know he was more than just a warrior. he was a beloved son and brother. martin savage joins us? >> reporter: good morning. we are getting notice it looks about 9:45. roughly 15 minutes from now that the body of lance voeggler will arrive here. you can see there's honor guard that's in place to meet the plane when it gets here. there is also a contingent of army rangers standing by from the battalion that did not deploy. and then, the casket will be loaded in the hearse and driven to the funeral home. what's interesting is the route that the vehicle will take is published in the newspaper and as is tradition, it's expected that people in this military community will come out and pay their respects as it goes by. yesterday, i had the opportunity to talk with the vogeler family and as you can imagine it's an

extremely emotional time. in fact, as his father put it, his heart is bursting with pride and breaking at the very same time. >> heart breaks. >> reporter: ask tim what kind of son his son is, younger son chris translates. >> wish the world could meet him. just amazing. thinks his son's really awesome. >> reporter: he and his wife donna are deaf and they certainly can tell you how proud they are. >> translator: love to help people. very joyful man. a great son. >> reporter: 29-year-old sergeant first class lance vogeler was an army ranger, a special breed of soldier.

he put himself in harm's way a number of times. he did four rotations in iraq and eight in afghanistan. a dozen combat tours overall. hugh williams served alongside him for four years. >> he led by example. the man, the man led by example. he was not going to ask you to do something he himself was not willing to do. >> reporter: growing up, vogeler was a boy scout, loved roller skating and god and the latter that helped the family through since his death in combat last friday. >> translator: it's very hard, very hard. we cope because of our faith. god's blessed us a lot. >> reporter: but along with the grief is moments of laughter as chris remembers. >> both being children of deaf parents, we got away with a lot. >> reporter: but there was no

escaping the danger of so many rotations, even after being wounded in the leg, he came home, healed and went back. i asked his mom if she ever thought he went back too many times. >> translator: yeah. she felt it was a lot and yet expected more, too. that was his wish. >> reporter: did you ever think this day would come? >> translator: no. >> reporter: and that's when our conversation ended and you didn't need words or hand to understand why. sergeant vogeler is also married and has two children. with a third baby on the way. kyra? >> wow. martin savage, appreciate that report and we'll be following the funeral procession as soon as his body arrives. i understand there's a pretty amazing hometown welcome for this hero. we'll be there. marty, thanks so much.

well, a father fighting for the right to bury his son his way in private with dignity. it's a case that's now testing the limits of free speech before the u.s. supreme court. the question is, is this protected free speech or personal attack? this is what the grieving family of lance corporal matthew snyder had to endure at his funeral in 2006. these protesters are from the tiny but loud westboro baptist church in kansas. their claim to infamy denouncing homosexuality at military funerals. members are the extended family of the pastor fred phelps. his daughter spoke after arguing before the supreme court. >> when you have a public funeral, and you broadcast to the nation that that dead soldier is a hero, and that god is blessing america, we will be there and tell you god is cursing america.

it is a curse for your young men and women to be coming home in body bags f. you want that to stop, stop sinning. >> well, many families have endured the attacks over the year but corporal snyder's dad's lawsuit is before the highest court of the land. john roberts talked to him this morning and tough to deal with this this morning, john. >> it is tough. you can imagine, you'd lose your son, 20-year-old lance corporal in the marines, matthew snyder. married in 2006. protesters show up like that with signs outside the funeral. al said it was like being kicked in the gut. they sued a. lower court awarded the family $5 million and that was overturned by an appeals court which is now it's before the supreme court of the united states. it is a very important case pitting family privacy against

freedom of speech and it seems to be that the supreme court is wanting to come down on the side of the family and may have their hands dtied. route bader ginsburg said nothing the church members appeared to be illegal and said this of the church. why should the first amendment tolerate exploiting this bereaved family when you have so many other forums for getting across your message? and i said to al snyder this morning, okay, it might have been very, very offensive. was it legal? here's what he told me. >> it might not have been illegal but it did cause emotional stress and emotional damage, and, you know, you have to look at this as tort law, too. there's a lot involved in this, just other than free speech. you know, it gets me so much, john, hearing the people say, well, this is what your son died for. you know, you didn't know my son so don't tell me what he died for, first of all.

no soldier or veteran goes into the military and takes an oath that it's okay to target an innocent family and harass them. and it wasn't just about them showing up at the funeral. it was about what they did before and after the funeral. two days before that funeral, they sent out notices to press and to, you know, the authorities and this notice had matt's picture on it. it had a military kofb. underneath it burial of an ass and then it went on to say we'll be protesting at st. johns catholic dog kennel. i knew they were going to be there. they stood 30 feet from the main vehicle entrance of the church and when the funeral procession had to be rerouted we came within 200 to 300 feet at the church. >> so you can imagine what a family goes through, kyra. dealing with the tragedy that they had to deal with and then that on top of it all.

>> no. i can't imagine it. it's just straight out wrong. it's frustrating. it's hard for me to see families like that go through this. we'll follow the case, john. thanks so much. the questions keep coming in for former senator edwards. now the subpoenas. investigators want to know if he used campaign funds to support his mistress. [ advisor 1 ] what do you see yourself doing one week, one month, five years after you do retire? ♪ client comes in and they have a box. and inside that box is their financial life. people wake up and realize i better start doing something. we open up that box. we organize it. and we make decisions. we really are here to help you. they look back and think, "wow. i never thought i could do this." but we've actually done it.

[ male announcer ] visit ameriprise.com and put a confident retirement more within reach. [ deb ] people don't just come to ge capital for money. they come to us for help. at ge capital, we've been financing taylor guitars for over eight years, helping them build a strong dealer network. bringing music to people... i like that. ♪ ♪ [ bob ] i didn't know you could play. i didn't either. ♪ we need directions to go to... pearblossom highway? it's just outside of lancaster. sure, i can download directions for you now. we got it. thank you very much! check it out. i can like, see everything that's going on with the car. here's the gas level. i can check on the oil. i can unlock it from anywhere. i've received a signal there was a crash. some guy just cut me off. i'll get an ambulance to you right away. safely connecting you in ways you never thought possible.

onstar. live on. no calorie sweetener granulated with fiber. sweet! [ female announcer ] tastes like sugar and has 3 grams of fiber per tablespoon. use it almost anywhere you use sugar. even in cooking and baking. sweet! [ female announcer ] splenda® granulated with fiber. checking top stories. look at what happened in arizona. tornadoes slammed an area near flagstaff. you're seeing some of the damage here. seven people hurt. the twisters so powerful ablew a train off the tracks. number of people filing for first-time unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level in almost four months. 445,000 people filed for jobless insurance last week. that's down 11,000 from the week before. and there are more questions and subpoenas for former senator john edwards. north carolina federal grand

jury has been looking into payments that were made to edwards' mistress from his campaign fund. edwards' attorney says he doesn't know who issued the subpoenas and not sure what investigators want but maintain that edwards is innocent.

26 days ago until an election that could change our political landscape. our deputy political director paul steinhauser in washington. paul, what you got for us? >> let's talk about the campaigner and fund-raiser in chief, kyra. president obama doing two things today among the regular presidential duties, going over to maryland in a couple of hours at a rally.

the whole idea here for the president to try to get out the base in maryland, heavily democratic state and then going back to chicago. back to his old home state there and helping the democratic senatorial candidate there. remember, this is barack obama's old senate seat and the democrats love to keep it in party hands. hey, another thing right here. our cameraman, zoom in here to the ticker. brand new this morning. guess what? election's under way in ten states. you don't have to wait until november 2nd. arizona the tenth state to kick off early voting. a lot more states than the last cycles and changing the equation. another thing on the ticker. meg whitman and millions and millions of dollars, the nominee out in california running against jerry brown and a billionaire and the former ebay ceo. she spent $140 million, kyra, so far in the campaign. guess what?

$119 million of that donated to the campaign. that is a record. break it is previous record of a single campaign by michael bloomberg. back to you. >> paul, thanks. a reminder for all the latest political news go to cnnpolitics.com. the new prime time show "parker swi eer spitzer" taking issues. two criticisms of the president, lacks empathy and is just not tough enough. >> he should have started firing people. he's loyal to a fault. doesn't understand that americans actually respect people with the guts to fire people. >> right, right, right. >> he should have done that then. michael's quite right. >> who would you have fired? >> axelrod. sweet guy. i said to rahm emanuel -- >> the ax is coming down. >> they had a mistake about

waiting to be tough. whether the machine will work. it worked in congress and did the job it was supposed to. >> for more opinions, ideas and analysis, you can catch the newest show here on cnn "parker switser" at 8:00 p.m. eastern every night. there were all thes. rules and restrictions. oh, and limits. [ scoffs ] forget about it. but i love this card. bankamericard cash rewards credit card. 1% cash back on everything i buy. period. no limit to the amount of cash back i can get. no hoops to jump through. simple. [ male announcer ] the refreshingly simple bankamericard cash rewards credit card. apply online or at a bank of america near you.

how smart is the new ford edge? well, it can show you the most fuel-efficient route to where you're going. it can find the best price on gas. show fuel prices. and now its v6 gets the best highway fuel economy in its class. say hello to the new ford edge. quite possibly the world's smartest crossover.

our warriors fight and die serving our country and defending our freedom. some of them are fortunate enough to come back home to their families, but they're damaged mentally, physical. from lost limbs to depression and ptsd. some survive the battlefield to take their own lives later. military suicides are at a disturbing and high rate. joint chiefs of staff chiefs chairman mike mullen told me addressing suicide within the ranks is a top priority. one way to stop it is to stop sending troops back into war zones before their minds and bodies heal. it's hard to believe it's happening but a veterans group says it's happening and has happened to some of them and is

an invitation to hopelessness and sues side and has to stop. they're going to hold a rally in washington, d.c. today, meeting at walter reed now and marching on washington, d.c. later. sending someone back into battle who hasn't had the chance to heal is just inexcusable. they put their lives on the line to protect us. protecting them should be a much, much higher priority. i want to take you live to savannah, georgia, right now. you are about to see the body of one of those young soldiers that died in the line of duty. he fought and died defending all of our freedom in afghanistan. i'm talking about army ranger sergeant first class lance vogeler, a husband, son and father of two kids, actually expecting a third child. he was killed in action last week. his brother, his parents both there on the tarmac waiting to

greet their son and their brother as he finally comes home. his brother said to us and told our martin savidge yesterday that his number one priority is to make sure that his unborn son will know how amazing his father was. this is the way the family describes sergeant vogeler who you are about to see who is finally arriving home, that he was a man who loved his children, his wife, a man who respected a loved his parents, a man who led soldiers into battle. a number of his fellow rangers are also there at this site there on the tarmac lined up. you'll see actually as the camera moves across. there we go. those are fellow army rangers that will see that that casket makes it into the hearse without any problems as it moves its way to the funeral home. you can see members of his family off to the right and a number of friend has have shown

up to greet this young hero. that's his parents. you see his dad in the ranger sweatshirt and his mom next to his father. a fellow ranger also there, hugh williams had a very powerful quote about his comrade. his said, this man led by example. he was not going to ask you to do something that he himself was not willing to do, and he would always take the time to do it, to show you that it was possible any time. now, vogeler -- this is another part that makes this story so unique and as we were talking to our dr. sanjay gupta the about so many of the men and women in the uniform that are suffering from mental battles, not just the physical battles, but ptsd, brain injuries, depression, dying by suicide, that it's because of multiple deployments, and the young man you're seeing here coming home right now

actually served 12 deployments, both in iraq and afghanistan. he went to afghanistan seven times. he went to iraq four times, and he actually joined the military back in 2001, just prior to 9/11, and family and friends said when 9/11 happened, he knew he had actually done the right thing joining the military. right now the body of army ranger sergeant first class lance vogeler, soldier, husband and father actually expecting his third child any day now. killed last week in action. we will follow this young man and hero as his casket makes its way to the hearse, and we are told he will have an amazing homecoming there in his hometown. we are going to take a quick break. more from the cnn newsroom straight ahead. ♪

[ man ] i thought our family business would always be boots. until one day, my daughter showed me a designer handbag. and like that, we had a new side to our business. [ male announcer ] when the martinez family saw an opportunity, the hartford was there. protecting their employees and property, and helping them prepare for the future. nice boots. nice bag. [ male announcer ] see how the hartford helps businesses at achievewhatsahead.com. "be careful out there. "as you know, we have more standard safety features

"than you. "10 airbags... daytime running lamps... "onstar automatic crash response. "in case ya didn't see it, that's probably why "msn autos called the cruze "the class of its class right now. that seems pretty clear, doesn't it?" the all-new chevrolet cruze. starting under $17,000. get used to more. ♪

live pictures, once again, from savannah, georgia, where you're seeing the casket of sergeant first class lance

vogeler, army ranger, husband, father, finally coming home to his family and his brother. they're waiting there on the tarmac along with other army rangers. why are we carrying this live and telling you about this particular story today? because we are entering our tenth year of combat in afghanistan, and this is something that we see not very often. we hear about the deaths. we hear about how our men and women die in battle. but today we wanted to tell you specifically about this unique young man. 12 tours of duty. he served in iraq and afghanistan. four times in iraq, seven times in afghanistan. he joined the military just prior to 9/11. his comrades said that he realized for sure he had done the right thing once the twin towers came down in new york and he knew exactly what his destiny was supposed to be. right now, that casket will be carried to the hearse, and an

incredibly warm welcome will happen along his hometown there as he makes his way to the funeral home and then finally his resting place. you know, i told you, we're marking nine years that the u.s. has carried out combat operations in afghanistan, and it's a long measure, not only for the military personnel risking their lives, but the families back home dealing with the sacrifices of their own. our jason carroll is going to take you inside one such home where loved ones struggle for words. boy, we've heard that a number of types, jason. >> reporter: i know, kyra. you've seen it many, many times. it is a hard part of deployment for soldiers. sergeant first class randy shorter has had to say good-bye many times because he served on multiple deployments but saying it doesn't mean it gets any easier.

. >> hey, sweetie. sergeant first class randy shorter is having his last night at home, but his daughters aren't ready to say good-bye before dad leaves on his third deployment to afghanistan. >> i know it's difficult for you. >> i just don't want him to go. >> reporter: you can see the emotion on your daughters' faces. i'm sure you have been through this before. >> you think each deployment you know what you're going to tell your kids, you know, to smooth things over, but you can't. >> say cheese! >> reporter: the next morning -- i know this is tough for you guys now that we're down to minutes before you have to say good-bye. >> you can't explain the emotions. you can't convey the feelings we're going through. it's hard to explain it. you can't put it in words.

>> whether one week or one day, it doesn't matter. saying good-bye is hard. >> reporter: before saying good-bye, the family makes sure they have their special keep sakes. >> my daddy doll. >> and we're going to put what in here? >> my dad's picture. >> reporter: for shorter, words from his wife give him the most comfort. >> there's a note i always keep. my wife gives it to me every deployment. when types are rough, i sit back and read the letter. it's inspirational words and brings a sense of home and actually brings peace. >> reporter: finally, last embraces as sergeant shorter and others in the flat toon say their good-byes. the separation is real as the unit's one-year deployment is about to begin. >> and, jason, while i have you here, just watching your piece and talking about the good-byes that these families have to endure when their loved one goes off into battle, at the same time, jason, we're seeing these

live pictures out of savannah, georgia, where the vogeler parents walked up to their son's casket, kissed it, and now getting trod watch what we hope families that you just profiled won't have to go through, says son. >> reporter: absolutely, kyra. this is one of the harsh realities of enduring a war that laughed this long. it's the saying good-byes, and whenever you say the good-bye, being there at home while your loved one is away and hoping you don't ever get that knock at the door telling them that something like this has happened. it's something that they deal with every single day. spoke to another man, a father, actually, kyra, whose son is serving with sergeant shorter's unit and he told me every morning he gets down on his knees and prays that his son survives. >> this is one family that did not get to experience that

survival, and we're telling the stories both -- the good stories and all the ones that are really hard to swallow when you see live pictures like this. jason carroll, we appreciate the series you have been doing following these families going off into battle, and at the same time we want to continue also the grim reality of how many of our heroes do not come home alive, and this is one of them and we are going to tell you more about army ranger sergeant first class lance vogeler throughout the morning this morning as we follow his funeral procession. you know, right now, nearly 100,000 pairs of u.s. boots are on the ground in afghanistan, almost three times as many as when president obama took office, and those americans are engaged in the fiercest fighting of that war. the militants not just attack our troops but their life line as well. at least six attacks on nato

convoys this week alone in pakistan. i had a chance to staug to admiral mike mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff about the security there. >> it's not just afghanistan and it's afghanistan and pakistan. i have been to pakistan a lot, engaged with them. that's a count that's critical to the region and the strategy that we re-establish a relationship that we abandoned for almost a dozen years, and re-establish trust that we had and no longer do, and we're trying to rebuild that as well. and that, that border area, is the epicenter of terrorism in the world, not just in the region, but in the world right now, and more and more of those organizations are reaching out globally, threatening us globally, talking about doing or executing the kinds of terrorist activities that we saw in detroit, we saw recently in

times squire. so that's why that region is oh important, and this mission is so important. >> cnn's ivan watson is live in kabul. you have been covering this war for nine years. you were there on october 7th, 2001 when the first shots were fired in this war on terror. >> reporter: there is right, the first shots, and it began with a series of u.s. air strikes against taliban positions here in afghanistan. i recall that in 2001, the taliban controlled more than 90% of this country, and the way this war was fought then was with air strikes. boots on the ground consisted of basically covert u.s. special forces, and mostly washington was relying on anti-taliban northern alliance rebels, and within a month's time, this combined campaign was able to overthrow the taliban.

basically, it collapsed and went running and fleeing the country. kyra. >> and now we're having discussions about a possible peace initiative. president hamid karzai may be talking with members of the taliban. how effective could this be? >> reporter: well, it's a very good question right now. we've seen since those initial days and we thought the taliban was history, the movement regroup and incrementally get more and more stronger, the violence spread across this country to the point now that this is, without question, the bloodiest year yet for u.s. troops, more than 1300 americans have died over the course of this nine-year war. very deadly for afghan civilians. they're bearing the brunt of this. more than 1,100 killed in the last six months. they are exhausted by war.

basically there's been a conflict here nonstop since 1980. what president karzai has been trying to do for years is try to convince taliban commanders to put down their weapons and top this war. he stormed a council of elders. he calls it a high peace council. they are supposed to talk and try to reach out to the taliban. we have a lot of messages, including from the pentagon today, that there are high-level talks between karzai and the taliban, but his aides, presidential spokesmen, is denying this in direct conversations with cnn. so a multi pronged process under way to try to break this cycle of violence that seems to only be getting worse. >> ivan watson, we will continue to cover every angle of it. everyone was sure that the taliban would be defeated when president obama launched that invasion. nine years later, american

service men and women are fighting the war, being wounded and being killed. september 11th, 2001, attacks on the world trade center and the pentagon. the u.s. blames osama bin laden. december 2001, a bid to capture bin laden fails. he slips away, apparently into pakistan. 2003, nato takes command as u.s. forces shift to iraq and the taliban regroups. by 2006, heavy fighting erupts in areas under taliban control. last year barack obama was sworn in as president, boosting troop levels to where they are now. general david petraeus takes over forces, but that fight continues.

[ technician ] are you busy? management just sent over these new technical manuals. they need you to translate them into portuguese. by tomorrow. [ male announcer ] ducati knows it's better for xerox to manage their global publications. so they can focus on building amazing bikes. with xerox, you're ready for real business.

let's raise a glass to cookies just out of the oven. to the morning bowl of cereal. and to lactaid® milk.

easy to digest and with all the calcium and vitamin d of regular milk. [ female announcer ] lactaid®. the original lactose-free milk.

the gulf oil disaster, the leak is fixed but the political damage may be rippling to the white house, and some of it is coming from the very commission that the president created. cnn senior white house correspondent ed henry joining us. rf this a commission started by the president to investigate what went wrong in the gulf oil spill and prevent another disaster like that, so this panel has some credibility. they have now put together a series of really blistering reports suggesting that the administration was overly enthusiastic and overly optimistic about how much oil was still in the gulf near the end of this crisis, and also that at the very beginning, they are charging that basically the administration was hiding from the public some key information about worst case scenarios, and basically in private, just two weeks after the well exploded, there were government scientists who had worst case scenarios about how much oil was flowing into the gulf and wanted to

share it to the public and the administration didn't twhant information to come out. quote the federal government created the impression that they were not fully confident to handle the spill or fully candid with the public about the scope of the problem. obviously, as you suggested, administration not agreeing with these findings, but this now suggests that this commission appointed by the president -- these are just preliminary findings we should note. they're going to come out with a final report down the road and we'll see if it is as harsh or they'll change their findings. it's not going away. >> how is the white house responding to that report? or than that specific charge that two weeks after the well exploded he basically hid information about worst case scenarios, the administration is insisting those were preliminary, not fully vetted and fully reviewed and that they

wanted to spend more time analyzing it to make sure it was accurate and say quote senior government officials were clear with the public what the worst case flow rate could be as directed by the president, the response was based on science even when that pitted us against bp and state or local officials, and the response pushed bp every step of the way. the significant part of the statement is they mention bp everly times, not so subtle message from the white house that while the commission is attacking the administration, the white house believes the focus should be on bp and what they said to the public throughout this crisis. >> ed henry from the white house. what can brown do for you? it might be able to get you back into the workforce. ups adding thousands of jobs.

for most people, linchpin of this economy is the job market and we all know that it's not a pretty picture but today we do have a rare bit of good news and carter evans is bringing it to us. >> it comes from ups, hiring 50,000 seasonal workers for the holidays and it starts this month. they're also saying that a significant number of these positions will lead to permanent jobs. here are the jobs available, package sorters and driver helpers. let me talk about other recent announcements we have heard from retailers. i feel like i need a white board to detail it. macy's is hiring 65,000 holiday workers, toys "r" us, 45,000. this is normal.

stores generally hire extra workers during the holiday season but they are touting it right now because of the horrible job market. there is a glimmer of hope that it does appear that most of the stores are hiring more than they did in previous years but we got another reminder of the weak job market. 445,000 people joined the unemployment lines. in a healthy economy it would be in the 300,000 range. new claims actually fell by 11,000 last week. it could be a sign that layoffs are slowing, but it doesn't look like investors are thinking that. let's look at the early numbers here at the new york stock exchange. back to you. >> thanks. one lady's job hunt grabbed our attention. too bad it hasn't grabbed an employer's attention yet. we are talking about denise reese jennings. she put her resumé on a big board and started walking around

detroit's business district. so far she's gotten on the news but not a job. she's been out of work for 18 months now. we're going to give it a try and ask her to do a 30-second pitch. first, though, denise. tell us about this board and what gave you this idea. >> well, i have been searching for a job online for about a year and a half. then i decided to go -- i looked in the yellow pages and went and joined a lot of temporary agencies trying to seek employment, and i try to stay positive, and every couple of days, if no one's responded, then i decided to take my resumés, caught the bus downtown and went to several businesses like door to door, trying to seek employment, but most people would say, go online. so i just -- >> go ahead, i'm sorry. >> i'm sorry, what made me do

that is you see the people that's homeless and people wanting handouts. i thought to myself, i don't want any handouts. i'm capable and able to and ready to work. i thought, i wonder if anybody ever put their resumé on a poster. i went to kinko's and said would you be able to put my resumé as tall as i am, and they said, yeah. >> that's a first. sure, denise, we'll do that for you. >> yeah. i kept trying to convince myself, this seems positive, so i'm going to do it. i just went for it. i got up at 8:00, went there and got it done. they went able to put it on the board i saw. it cost more money than i wanted to. so i went down to arts and crafts, and a lady there helped me. she gave me cardboard. i got a glue stick, took it home, had my son help me.

i had my mom and son drop me off downtown and i went between 12:00 and 3:00 and i figured people are going to lunch, and maybe a ceo or someone from a business would see me and say, okay, she's serious, and that's truly what i am. i was serious. >> bless your heart. how have people responded? do they honk at you, wave, stop? do they read the resumé? anybody give you any bites? >> yes, they did. >> yes? >> they were giving me the thumb's up. a few people said if i had a business, i would give you a job today. i had a pastor to give me some information, and channel four's rob maloney did a story on me and helped me out quite a bit. >> that's how we found out about you. >> yes. i mean, i was very happy that he took me serious, and by him doing that the goodwill responded, and i sent a resumé

there. i sent a resumé to channel 4, and i was waiting for maybe an interview to get a job. >> let's get down to business. are you ready for your 30-second pitch? >> wonderful. >> take it away, denise reese jennings. >> my name is denise reese jennings. i have 15 years of executive level experience. i possess skilled assets that would be beneficial to your company. i'm a great multi tasker and have a very positive attitude. i will bring uncanny dedication to your job each day. i am a very personalable -- i can take orders and carry out orsd with little instruction, and i'm a very good team player and can take leadership if i need to. >> you are extremely creative. denise reece one word atia who

dot woman. send us a resumé. if you want to hire one of our 30-second pitchers like denise reece, all of our info and e-mails are there. mexican police tell you u.s. they're going to ramp up their search for american david hartley but it's not clear when they're going to do it. last night they called off the search after they were threatened with an ambush. david's wife says pirates shot her husband in the head. in 102 years, police corruption was never cracked down like this. 750 agents sent to puerto rico to bust law officers who might and protected drug dealers.

133 people have been charged in that sting. 89 of them cops. today, more questions and more subpoenas for john edwards. the former senator and presidential candidate already under a grand jury investigation. now they're looking at payments made to his mistress from his campaign fund. new subpoenas have been issued but he's not sure what the investigates want. the case has been called corruption on steroids. the guy at the center of it finally out of jail for now. st . introducing precise pain relieving cream. it blocks pain signals fast for relief precisely where you need it most. precise. only from the makers of tylenol. [ gasps ] no! [ bottle two ] can we even clean a leather shoe? what do you mean? what is a shooee? he's cleaning things that we don't even know what they are. [ male announcer ] effortlessly removes more grime per swipe. with the mr. clean magic eraser extra power.

♪ where'd you learn to do that so well. ♪ ♪ where'd you learn to do that so well. ♪ the new cadillac srx. the cadillac of crossovers. cadillac. the new standard of the world. it shattered his tissue with hurricane blows. no person or place was safe from the spray. but his mom had new puffs ultra soft & strong to save the day. with lotion-free pillows to cushion the force. puffs holds up better than value tissue of course. next time oliver blew his horn, he reached for puffs ultra soft & strong. a nose in need deserves new puffs ultra soft & strong indeed. when you prefer a lotion tissue, try puffs plus lotion.

these days, everyone seems to tell everyone everything. no shame, twitter, facebook and there is one group that says we're not as open about sexual issues as we should be. that's the nation's gynecologists. elizabeth cohen is here to tell

us why we should listen. >> you have to tell your doctor everything. >> we tell everybody else everything. we are in an open society, but gynecologists tell me they feel they often don't get the full picture from their patients because they're embarrassed or afraid they will be judged. this week, we talk about the top five secrets you should not keep from your gynecologist. >> tell us. >> let's starts with number three. you should always tell your gynecologist how many partners you have. if you are having affairs with five or six people, you need to say this and i'm sure i don't need to explain this. >> don't tell your mother. tell your gynecologist. >> you could have disease es and you need to get tested. number two, if you had abortions. this a loaded issue. many women don't like to talk about this. it's okay to keep it a secret from everyone except your gynecologists.

there could be scar tissue and that could come into play with your fertility and with having our surgeries. now we have the number one secret how is not keep from your gynecologist, and that is who the baby daddy is. gynecologists tell me that very respectable married women come in with their husbands, and they assume that the husband is the father and if the mother doesn't tell them, you know what, i had a little thing going on on the side and he's not the father, that's a problem. >> let's talk about why it's important to know who fathered the baby because everyone's got different genetics and issues, and you can prevent things that could be bad. >> right. depending upon the father's ethnicity and father's ethnicity, you may want to have tests done. the blood type of the father matters. if the father has a positive and the mom has a negative, that

mother has to take shots during the pregnancy. >> where do we go to learn more? >> cnnhealth.com. >> looks like you and i don't have to worry about that but this good advice for everybody else. let's start to look at cross country in bell, california, that tiny poor town that alleged corruption put on the map. rizzo is out of jail but has to wear an electronic monitoring device. he was making nearly $800,000 a year as city manager before fed up citizens ran him off. he was released after the judge was convinced that the bail money didn't come from shady activity. michael bloomberg wants to make it illegal for people to use food stamps to buy soda and

other sugary drinks. new york city has about 1.7 million people on food stamps. groups fighting for gay rights and against cyberbullying points to this website that attacks the openly gay university of michigan student for pushing a deeply homosexual agenda. chris armstrong, the target of that blog finally reacted to this attack with anderson 360. >> i this this is an opportunity, a chance to speak out and say something and give a message to other kids who might be facing something, obviously not as extreme, but something, you know, like being heckled in the classroom. i think honestly that's really what -- really the most positive thing i can make out of the situation. >> andrew chervelle created the

blog and has taken a leave of absence. a frightening site in northern arizona. >> have you seen anything like this? >> no. i came from the northeast with ice storms and hail storms and snowstorms. >> four tornadoes sweeped through overturning trucks, cars, and even a freight train. we have a live report. ♪ [ e. clark ] i'm an engineer. i love my job. i can see what it's doing for the community on a day-to-day basis.

natural gas is cleaner burning than most fossil fuels and it's vital to our energy needs. increasingly we're finding gas in hard to reach areas, but now we've developed new technology that enables us to access gas in hard rocks so we can bring more fuel to homes and help provide a reliable source of energy into the future. how smart is the new ford edge? well, it can show you the most fuel-efficient route to where you're going. it can find the best price on gas. show fuel prices. and now its v6 gets the best highway fuel economy in its class. say hello to the new ford edge. quite possibly the world's smartest crossover.

personal pricing now on brakes. tell us what you want to pay. we do our best to make that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke. pretty frightening day in northern arizona. at least four tornadoes swept through the town of belmont yesterday. seven people hurt. those twisters so powerful they even blew a train off the track. we have a reporter from belmont. mike, tell us what it was like. >> reporter: good morning, kyra. we have a glorious, clear, crisp day here. what a difference a day makes. yesterday this was arizona's version of tornado alley. i never thought i would say something like that. have been covering the news here for a long time. we don't see a lot of that weather phenomenon in the grand

canyon state. yesterday, as you said, we had four of them hit here in arizona's high country. two targeting this little town and when they raced through, they knocked over railroad cars and nearly 30 vehicles from the northern and santa fe railroad tossed about and also a big recreation developer and realtor here, tossed around, again, like children's toys, and then the tornado targeting a suburb here known as flagstaff meadows, 200 homes affected in that suburb, according to the sheriff here in coconino county. the miraculous story here, that only a handful of people, six or seven, sent to the hospital with minor injuries and no fatalities. you go through the neighborhood and it is complete devastation. several homes with roofs off, walls separated. it was really an extraordinary

day. we've had amazing weather here in arizona all week long, sheets of hail, rain, heavy winds and now this tornadic activity unprecedented for the grand canyon state. cleanup now under way. folks in that suburb have a lot of work ahead of them, and this area has had a lot of heavy weather during the last several months. we had some fires and flooding, and now these tornadoes. these folks are just sick of the weather, and now the cleanup is beginning. >> got it. rob marciano following the developments out of arizona for us as well. highly, highly usual. usually four in a year. this is four in a day? >> exactly. that's one point i wanted to echo from mike and the other is the extreme amount of damage you saw in the video and the fact that there were know fatalities, that was a lucky thing. the storm that created it is this thing. yesterday at this time, we had the tornadoes dropping out of the sky.

we had a flow coming up this way with energy under the jet stream. it is weakening, and now just showers across the sierras. the severe weather threat out west is over at least for now. this storm you would like it to be over if you live in the northeast. been there all week long, refusing to move. the we are getting some cooler, drier air but in through parts of southern new england, seeing rain that's quickly moving towards cape cod. we are now starting to dry out and folks who live in new york, filly and d.c. may say some sun. 42 yesterday in austin, texas, 40s, 30s in louisiana, and this morning record-breaking temperatures in florida, orlando, jacksonville, and daytona beach. the southern tier states will be seeing sunshine. we want to touch on watts going

on in the tropics. subtropical storm otto, subtropical because it's intertwined with a low. it's becoming a little bit more tropical. either way, it has a lot of heavy rain across puerto rico, and u.s. and british virgin islands have seen a lot of flooding. this will go away. we are protected by a strong jet stream this time of the year. it will not make it to the u.s. but may make it to europe as a tropical storm or hurricane before the day is done today with winds up close to 70 miles an an hour. we're getting close to the end of hurricane season but it ain't over yet. so far so good as far as getting hit by a hurricane in the united states. right now, a group of veterans getting ready for a march and rally in d.c. on the ninth anniversary of the afghan

war. they are saying stop sending wounded soldiers back into war zones.

this morning, reminder of the heart-wrenches reality of war. this is the homecoming of sergeant first class lance vogeler at hunter army airfield near savannah, georgia. he was killed just last week in iraq on his 12th tour of combat duty. that's right, 12 combat missions in iraq and afghanistan. you see, vogeler was an army ranger, and while their tours are shorter, they're also more numerous, but we're told that 12 is a pretty remarkable number and a lasting tribute to a man who loved serving his country. sergeant first class lance vogeler was only 29 years old. you know, when you think of lance vogeler, we think about our warriors that fight and die serving our country and defend

our freedom every single day, and some of the ones fortunate enough to return to their families are actually damaged mentally, physically, many times both from lost limbs to severe brain injuries to depression and ptsd. some survive the battlefield only to take their own lives later. as a matter of fact, military suicides are at an alarming high right now, and joint chiefs chairman admiral mike mullen told me addressing suicide in the ranks is his top priority. a number of vets are saying here's one way to stop it. stop sending wounded troops back into war zones before their minds and bodies actually heal. it's hard to believe that the military is doing it in the first place but a veterans group is saying it is happening and it happened to some of them and it's an invitation to suicide and it has to stop. they are holding a rally in d.c. they are meeting in walter reed and marching to capital hill.

sending someone back into battle who hasn't had the chance to heal, well, that's just inexcusable. you know, they put their lives on the line every day to protect us. protecting them shoob much, much higher priority. the president's top adviser sizes up the 2012 white house field. he's handicapping ahead in our political ticker. they're disc, the first self-injectable r.a. medicine you take just once a month. taken with methotrexate, simponi® helps relieve the pain, stiffness and swelling of r.a. with one dose once a month. visit 4simponi.com to see if you qualify for a full year of cost support. simponi® can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious and sometimes fatal events can occur, such as infections, cancer in children and adults, heart failure, nervous system disorders, liver or blood problems, and allergic reactions. before starting simponi®, your doctor should test you for t.b. and assess your risk of infections,

including fungal infections and hepatitis b. ask your doctor if you've been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you're prone to infections, or develop symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough or sores. you should not start simponi® if you have an infection. [ woman ] ask your rheumatologist about simponi®. just one dose, once a month.

can you believe we are just 26 days away from an election that could change the balance of power in congress? we have been talking about that a lot in our political ticker. let's check in with mark preston in washington.

what's courthousing now 26 days before the big event? >> well, do you remember that famous beer summit that president obama and vice president joe biden had at the white house? well, michael steele might want to sit down and have a beer with president obama. i sat down with him a few weeks ago, and we talked about his future and politics and talked about him sitting down and having a discussion with president obama, not about politics but about being an african-american and achieving so much. michael steele first approached president obama in 1995 to have the meeting when president obama was a senator. he was rebufd at that time but steele says the offer is still on the table and you can see the full story on cnnpolitics.com. he says interesting things. not very good news for former senator john edwards. his the former north carolina democratic senator and we learned now a sizable number of

subpoenas have been issued in the investigation of john edwards centering around whether or not he made payments to his mistress riele hunter. john edwards and his wife elizabeth have legally separated. we'll wait to see more developments in this case. in closing, david axelrod the senior adviser to president obama was on the late show last night and had things to say about the potential 2012 field including sarah palin. he said he had a soft spot for her and said during one of the vice presidential debates she winked at him. moving on, he talked about donald trump and whether or not he was seriously considering running for president and axelrod says it requires a big ego to run for president and i don't think he can handle that. he talked about mike huckabee and several others. you can see it on cnnpolitics.com. >> donald trump, a big ego?

you don't say? it's just confidence. come on, mark. >> i'm all about confidence. >> the next political update in just about an hour. for all of the latest plot news, you can go to our website cnnpolitics.com. parker spitzer, our new primetime newscast, is taking up big issues of the day and last night got into the issue of why the president hasn't communicated more effectively, that he lacks empathy and is not tough enough. >> he should fire people. he's loyal to a fault. doesn't realize americans respect people who have the guts to fire people. >> right. >> he should have done that. michael is quite right about that. >> who would you fire? >> i'd have fired axelrod. sweet guy, wonderful, straight away. i would have said to rahm emanuel. >> the ax is coming down. >> firing geithner and now axelrod. >> they had a mistake about

where you are going to be tough and where the machine is going to work. it worked in congress be eventually did the job it was supposed to. >> don't miss cnn's newest show "parker spitzer" tonight, 8:00 p.m. eastern. add some insulation here. a little weather stripping there. maybe an energy star-rated appliance, or two. let's save money on the things that keep saving money. that way, we can turn a little energy into a lot of savings. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. we're lowering the cost of staying at room temperature with owens corning insulation -- just $10.44 per roll. for every pink lid you send in, yoplait will donate 10 cents to susan g. komen for the cure. with your help, we've donated $25 million over 12 years. so let's continue to make a difference one lid at a time.

♪ who's born to care this life was protected... ♪ seems you've always been right there ♪ this life was saved... ♪ soothing sadness ♪ healing pain and this life was made easier... ♪ making smiles appear again because of this life. nursing. at johnson & johnson, we salute all those who choose the life... that makes a difference. ♪ you're a nurse ♪ you make a difference save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance?really was abe lincoln honest? mary: does this dress make my backside look big? abe: perhaps... save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance?really host: is having a snowball fight with pitching great randy johnson a bad idea? man: yeah, i'm thinking maybe this was a bad idea.

karachi, pakistan. we're just getting word in as we monitor our international feeds. apparently there's been two explosions near a prominent shrine. 5 people killed, 20 injured. obviously, our international reporters are there trying to get more information. it's breaking right now out of karachi, pakistan, two explosions near a prominent shrine. 20 injured, 5 killed so far, and, of course, that death toll

could go up. don't know what's behind this attack, what led to the attack. we're working on it now and will bring you more information as soon as we get it. taking you over to washington, d.c., we've been telling you about this rally that's taking place in our nation's capital today. there are a number of war vets that have gathered there. they started at walter reed medical center and working their way down to the capital. these are iraqi and afghan war vets that are urging the pentagon to stop sending wounded troops back into the war zones. they say it's taking a tremendous toll on vets. one of those vets leading this rally, chantal bateman. tell me how you came together and organized this and what exactly you are trying to get

the pentagon to do. i was reading more of your efforts here, this launch of operation recovery. tell me about that. >> hi, kyra. good morning. operation recovery is to top the deployment of traumatized troops aims to gain compensation as well as support and care for troops who are currently dealing with trauma and also facing redeployment. we're asking for just those things and not just of the pentagon but the american public at large to support our troops in a real way. >> we have covered a lot of these issues here in our newscasts. we've talked about how our vets are coming home and we have this alarming rate of suicides that just continues to go up. clantal, you have traumatic brain injuries, you've got depression, ptsd. it's unbelievable what our vets are going through. and you mentioned something. i wasn't familiar with this. something called mst, military

sexual trauma. tell me about this and how many vets are dealing with this and what exactly does this mean, and you, as a female, did you deal with this when you were overseas. >> military sexual trauma, kyra, encompasses several things including sexual harassment, assault and rape, and virtually all women in the military are dealing with some form of military sexual trauma. i have not meat woman who has not been sexually harassed repeatedly, self-included. i have been harassed and assaulted as a woman in the military. this is an issue that's pretty rampant. 20% of the women using the va report instances of military sexual trauma. >> chantal, before i let you go, we have encovering live a funeral procession of a young man who died just last week in

afghanistan. he had been on 12 tours of duty. this is one of the points that you're trying to make that our men and women that are going overseas are coming back and going back, not always totally healthy, mentally and physically, and you say that should stop. what have you observed and why is that taking such a toll in your mind on our men and women in war? >> service members are not being afforded the opportunity to heal completely in between deployments. our care is being put second to the mission, and we're not even being told completely what that mission is, and as we continue on these deployments, trauma is compounding, and we're asking a lot of our troops and not give aggregate deal in return. and at the same time, healing is a basic human right, and we're denying that right of our service members, and asking them to fight for the rights of other people. how can we be expected to fight

for those rights if we're's not given the same? >> chantal baitman, we will follow up and see if the pentagon responds to your message and follow the rally. thanks for your time.

i'm kyra phillips, thanks for joining me. i'll see you back here tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. eastern time. the big stories for thursday, october 7th, the fbi calls it the largest police corruption case in its history. dozens of police officers rounded up in puerto rico accused of taking pa