-com ♪ ♪ free-credit-score ♪ you won't regret it at all! ♪ check the legal y'all. >>offer applies with enrollment in triple advantage.® 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. the man's show is stacked. "cnn newsroom" continues right now with ali velshi. >> thank you, stacked with a lot of the same stuff you were talking about including the chilean miners whose rescue is just hour as way. i'm ali velshi and for the next

two hours and every weekday i'll guide you through the maze of information coming your way. together we'll learn what's going on at home and around the world and get access to folks who can best explain what it means and the impact it'll have. we'll showcase the best ideas in innovation, and innovation and what's going on around you fits into your life. let's get started. here's what i've got. supporters say it makes sense financially and socially. opponents say it would open the door to crime and drug addiction, the battle to legalize pot 21 days ahead of the midterm election. plus, air bags, e-readers, wireless mesh networks, the on septembers for all of them came out of one lab, what are they working on now? we'll talk to the guy in charge. trapped deep underground for 68 days now those 33 chilean miners are just hours away from fresh air and sunlight. their ordeal is only beginning.

that's where we'll start and it is just hours from the start. that's the word we're hearing from chile's pinster of mines on when the rescue will get underway. beside me here is a basic model we've built of the steel capsule used to hoist them from the rock cavern where they survived half a mile underground for more than two months now. a graphic. it shows you what happened when the cave-in occurred. it happened over here on the left. you can see the miners tried to get out. they couldn't. so they went back down into an area underneath sort of the size of a living room. the little line that you can see there, that's where -- that was a supply tube. about four inches wide. that's how they got food and water and medicine and communicated. the big one is the one that was drilled. that one is the one that is where they're getting rescued from. if everything goes according to plan in a few moments from now the capsule like the one that you were seeing, we'll show you

in these pictures, they're going to lower a rescuer down to the miners to start the process of bringing them to the surface one by one. officials are testing the capsule and lowering it into the rescue shaft, pulling it back. the minister of mines says it will not tart until they're sure everything is working properly. last we checked they were talking about 11:00 eastern tonight. now, this gives you -- let me give you an animation that gives you a rough idea how it will work. they get in. it goes in up to the top and take 10 to 15 minutes for the capsule to travel to the surface. it's going to take longer to get it down. about 25 minutes to get it down because it's pulled up mechanically with a winch and comes back down with gravity. ch chad will talk about it. for purposes of efficient of getting that hole drilled quickly they made a decision it's going to be about 22 inches, right? >> the hole itself about 28.

and then this structure will fit inside it. >> let's show people what that's about. there are wheels on this one. >> right. >> to help it go along the roadway a little bit better. that's pretty small. >> i'm a little shrugged in here. if you're any bigger than me you'll be shrugged in pretty close. they've been feeding these guys -- they've been trying to get them on a lower calorie diet and get them to exercise a lot so they can fit into here and that's going to help them. they're also ingesting particular foods. they don't want them getting nauseous in here because they're giving them anti-anxiety drugs. >> wouldn't this be great if it went up without any bump. >> and on the side of the real module there are little wheels and things that will help them. >> doesn't go straight up. the hole doesn't go straight down so it will have to go down at an angle and bouncing with all their weight on one side which is why it rotates. >> so you're not discuss at one an sdmrl they think this will

take about 20 minutes. i was texting back with some guys from tiss and krupp elevator. they go between 50 feet per second or up to about 500 feet per minute and so -- so if you're going to go from one floor to the next you go slowly and don't lose your lunch. if you're going from floor 1 to 20, it can go much faster. this will go one mile an hour. the fastest elevator i can find goes 19 miles per hour. >> so it's going to be slow. >> and they're giving them drugs to help them. here's how it's going to happen. when they give the go-ahead for the mission to start one rescuers will go down in the first shuttle and he's going to get out there then pulled out. a miner will get in. that will happen three times. >> i think two guys will go down first. >> in fact, i think it's three. after the third guy reaches the bottom then it's just lifting these guys out. the first few to come out will be the ones with the expertise

to handle any possible technical problems as this thing goes up so the guys who might be able to do something bit. there's an escape hatch. if it doesn't work they can be lowered back to the ground while the top of the thing stays sdmrup that scares me -- >> most of the way up and something goes wrong. >> i thought the escape hatch would be like this so you could open it. that's as big as the hole is. how will you get out of that hole down the bottom. exactly. you can pull a lever, the whole bottom falls out. >> that will happen then by the way after the guys with the technical experience are brought to the top they will lift the guys up who have medical problems. some who have heart conditions, things like that. they're going to be lifted up to the top first. now, they have received cds of their favorite music, photos and videos of their loved ones and have clean clothes, they are going to be wearing jumpers, green overalls sort of as they come up.

this whole operation, start to finish, if it takes 25 minutes to lower and 20 up it could 36, 48 hours from the time it starts. they've got coveralls with their names embroidered on it. that's what they'll look like. that's what the coveralls will look like. they're designed to resist moisture and wear a special belt to register their vital signs. six hours before the mission begins which is about six hours from now, so in about six hours from now they'll switch to a diet of just liquids, vitamins and minerals in an attempt to mitigate their possible dizziness and of course panic. this is like a coffin. >> and, of course, if it's a liquid diet and if someone does get sick it's a lot easier to clean up. they were thinking about that, as well. and the process, do you remember the one that the men that came out of quecreek mine. >> this is a similar concept. >> we loved seeing the pictures. we are americans, we are

journalists and believe and have been told by the government this will be a private event. that they will cover this up. we will not be able to see this. so maybe there will be one pool camera where everybody gets to see one picture but it may be very anti-climactic for us because they may not let us see the men coming up. >> either way we'll be on it. chad, thanks very much. we'll show our viewers a lot more through the course of the show. even if it goes exactly as planned, the ordeal for these miners is far from over. life on the ras is going to be harder than imagined. we'll take a look when this is all over.

we've been talking i lot about these miners as they are rescued from the mine and can only wonder what they are thinking about as they get ready to leave that cramp, dark world they've been in for 68 days. before they ride up they asked for shampoo and clean clothes, even shoe polish. they're worried about looking their best when they get to see and touch their families but their reunions and return to life as they know it will be tougher than even they know. they could face separation anxiety from the men they bonded with in their long bat toll survive and stay sane and they're all going to be instant celebrities.

on cnn's "american morning" john roberts discussed the difficult transition with dennis o'dell who is the safety and health administrator for the united mine workers of america. >> they have become immediate heroes throughout the world and so that's something they'll have to deal with and be tough to reunite with families and all this notoriety and attention they'll get is sometimes it's tough to deal with. s that a going to be tough for them to blend back in then you got to think about, too, you know, weeks from now they got to figure out, this is how i provided for my family. this is what i did for, you know, and do i really want to go back in a mine? they don't want to go back underground, a lot of them. >> there's not a whole lot of employment around other than the mine, way up high in the desert. not a whole lot else around. unless they want to move to a bigger town or maybe, you know,

santiago or something like that, they would have to go back in the mine if they wanted to continue to poi for their family that would have to be a tough decision. >> it will be a tough decision and some of them won't be able to handle that. some of them may be able to go back underground and then i'm sure a majority of them may not want to. they may have pressure from their family members to not go under too because you got to realize the emotions they put their loved ones through so they'll get pressure from them don't go, don't go. >> now, o'dell dealt with a number of u.s. mine disasters including the 2003 accident in pennsylvania where nine miners were rescued with a capsule that served as a prototype for the one we showed you, the one they'll use in chile. we've been talking about jobs all week because we got our big number last week. not all the teents job possibilities out there are for folks with college degrees. i talked about it a little yesterday. we'll prove it to you now.

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if you were watching yesterday we talked with mike rowe. he hosts america's "dirtiest jobs." he said part of it is understanding and respecting the work that's out there. we really do get very tied up in talking about college degrees being the only thing that matters. heyers listen, i'm not going to tell you not to get a college degree. it definitely reduces your channels of being unemployed but you can do well and earn a lot of money if a number of jobs that don't require college degrees. christine has written about this in her new book "smart is the new rimpf" available today. rhys teen, you and i talked

about this a lot and think it's our role to steer people in the direction of jobs that are available to them. you focused on jobs you don't need a four-year college degree for. >> right, because you'll hear over and over people say if you want to be successful you need this job that pays $190,000 a year and take six more years of training and not everyone wants to be an anesthesiologist or or emergency room physician or mechanical engineer so we put together the list about the really good pay, but no degree. now, i want to be clear, a lot of these are ladder jobs so it means you have to keep out with the training and probably have to do continuing education but doesn't take a four-year degree. radiation therapist, median pay, 77 grand. the top, top earners are well over six figures. construction superintendent, a general sales manager, look, if you can sell it and you are good, i mean, if you can make a living in sales and become a

sales manager, you can do well. fashion designer, also on this list, although i would probably say there aren't a lot of fashion designer jobs to be going for. >> you need to have some very specific skills for that too that you don't learn in school. >> that is's absolutely true. senior charge nurse and health care jobs are on this. there are lots of different jobs in nursing that take an associate's degree. two years or maybe you're adding up the education over the course of the career but in nursing there are ladder jobs, as well. icu, registered nurse, semiconductor field service engineer, that's if you're a technical person and work with your hands, 71 grand. these are median pay. i mean, you're probably midcareer making money like this but areas where you can match your skills without necessarily matching $40,000 a student loan -- >> the radiation therapist, they do require some training. you do have to go -- you got to take courses. some of them don't and, again, i mean i think we need to

underscore you and i are still proponents if you have a college degree your chance of being unemployed in this changing dynamic mi is greater but there really are great options for you. >> there are and, you know, if you have an advanced degree the unemployment rate is something like 2.9%. people with a lot of skills coupled with the big fancy education, they're doing just fine in this economy but the question is, ali, the millions of people who respect and what are they going to do in the near term? there is a bigger question about this pay gap or this jobs gap rather and i wanted to bring you this economic policy institute chart that a lot of people have been talking about today. this is a graphic representation of how far behind we are. that red line, if we were just to stay steady and add the right number of jobs to absorb new people into the labor market, that's where we should be. the red line is where we should be and the yellow line is where we are. in that september jobs report we know we lost 330,000 jobs more

in the recession than we thought we did. for those who kept saying it feels worse than you're saying it is, the numbers are now bearing out there were another 336,000 jobs eliminated over the course of the recession. any discussion of jobs i think is important to show something like that to show you how much work we have to do. >> we will continue to talk about it as we have for years together. but read the book. christine's book available now. find this information in her book. it's called "smart is the new rich" available today and watch us every weekend saturdays 1 p.m., sundays, 3:00 p.m. christine will have segments about "smart is the new rich." the politics of pot. 21 days ahead of the midterm election, the battle over legalizing it is as heated as ever. both sides in this argument coming up. but what if there were a different story? of one financial company that grew stronger through the crisis.

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we do our best to make that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke. we are 21 days away from the midterm elections. one of the hot button issues in four states is marijuana. proposition 19 in california as an example would make it legal to possess pot for recreational use. let's break this down called the regulate, control and tax cannabis act of 2010. got three major points to it. calls proposition 19 is what it's called. it calls for regulating and controlling pot much the same as alcohol. the legislation claims the u.s. is the world's largest cannabis consumer and one-third of americans have smoked pot. prop 19 also claims that pot is healthier than alcohol and cigarettes. the proposition also wants to rethink police priorities according to the people who put it forward. supporters say laws

criminalizing marijuana aren't working so they say legalizing it would put dangerous dealers out of business. the:30 point is that it's money. the measure would tax pot like alcohol and tobacco saying that california is missing out on millions of dollars of revenue. proposition 19 would also create a legal regulatory framework for cultivation, distribution and sales. okay? those are the folks who want proposition 19 to pass. let's talk about the other side. the people fighting against this legislation. public safety is a concern. opponents say train operators could potentially smoke marijuana on the job. there's also the argument that employers would not be able to test for marijuana use and that employees would be able to take pot breaks like smoke breaks. critics also argue that potentially advertising pot near schools, library, parks things like that would send a dangerous message and a fear of schools using grants due to violating federal drug-free workplace laws. and the fear that pot could be grown in people's front or

backyards thanks to the vagueness of the term residents in proposition 19. okay, so now we've got both sides. now i want to talk to some people. dan newman is with the organization yes on prop 19. roger salazar is with the organization no on prop 19. thank you to both of you for at least having names that make sense on the topic. dan, let's start with you. who are the groups in support of proposition 19 right now? >> well, some the leaders in the campaign have been the law enforcement community. retired police chief, sheriffs, people that have been on the front lines of california's failed war on marijuana and seen it firsthand and seen that the status quo isn't working that california's war on marijuana has failed. it is easier for teenagers to buy pot than beer right now and that marijuana has usually passed through the hands of an illegal drug cartel who profits from it. what prop 19 will do is allow local communities to control and tax mar juan in in a manner

similar to alcohol and tobacco so police can focus on violent crime and generate billions of dollars for local communities. >> roger, you were shaking your head when he said who is supporting it. >> it's because, you know, they claim that the law enforcement is supporting it. basically they've got a couple of retired judges and retired district attorneys and a couple of retired folks but the folks who are actually online, the law enforcement officers in california oppose it. the california police chiefs association, the california district attorneys, the california highway patrol, all of these folks understand there are tremendous risks involved especially with the way it's wren and a lot of loopholes written in that allow for people to basically smoke marijuana before they get behind the wheel, they don't set any limits or standard for what constitutes under the influence and if you're an employer you're concerned about it because especially if you run a transportation type of operation because people can get stoned before they come to work and drive in vehicles that you own

or that they're transporting goods up and down the state. >> now dan is shaking his head. what's a safety issue? how do you deal with what rogge ser talking about? >> well, you know, there's always been a lot of scare tactics and fearmongering on the issue but i'm astonished what i think i hear my friend advocating for is beer. by the same logic a bus driver could have six beers before he went to work, of course, driving under the influence -- >> and dui is still a problem here in california. >> absolutely and therefore should we ban beer? >> no, again, but i'm -- why compound the problem is the point? but i also think there are other things -- >> these -- >> that we're concerned about. there are other things we're concerned about, for example, you know, again, the proponents of this initiative claim it'll bring, you know, millions and billions of dollars to the state when that's actually not the case. the state board of equalization did an analysis of this and if this were passed the way it's written right now there is

nothing in there that would allow for -- there's nothing in there that would bring a single dime to city, state or local governments unless some additional action is taken. so -- but what would be legal is the possession, the use, the transportation, the growing of 25 square feet of marijuana in your yard. and we wouldn't collect any taxes until we take additional action. >> you're saying, roger, you might actually be able to support something like this. it seems that it doesn't -- it's not meaty enough. could you support the legalization of marijuana if there were all these safeguards in place. >> yeah, i think there are folks that are part of our coalition that run the gamut. that are anti-legalization and some that say we would do it if this is the right way to do it. it's not just me saying this. every single major daily newspaper in california -- >> let me ask dan for a quick response to that. quick answer to the issue, you

might get more supporters if it were structured differently. >> it's very meticulous being crafted. the marijuana market exists in california. it's a $14 billion market. california's largest cash crop yet all that have revenue and all of those jobs goes to illegal drug cartels and violent drug gangs. let's take those jobs and money away from the criminal and give them to california families and communities. >> i appreciate the respectful debate you've had with each other in helping my viewers understand it better. dan newman with yes on prop 19 live from san francisco, roger salazar, no on prop 19, live from sacramento, thanks, guys. talk to you again. >> thank you. mind your own business, usually that's a teenage comeback not a career goal. we'll meet a student entrepreneur who is taking her plan to the oval office.

with jobs in short supply folks are having to get creative. getting into the entrepreneurial mind-set early could be invaluable. how early is too early? well, you'll find out. there's something -- this is something that the network for teaching entrepreneurship short form nifty has been pushing for over 20 years bringing entrepreneurship education into u.s. schools with a focus on lower income communities. a brilliant idea. some of those students really blossom and they take part in an annual challenge that nifty co-sponsors. this year's finalists are about to present their business plans to president obama in the oval office. they are about to present them to the president. joining us from the white house north lawn right now, nia froom winner of the nifty national youth entrepreneurship challenge and with her is its president

and ceo amy rosen, congratulations to both of you. and to you, nia, tell us about your business, about what you did. >> thanks. my business is a bakery and i bake vegan organic great tasting cookies. >> i don't know how you can put vegan, organic and great tasting in the same place but you've made clearly a business out of it. how did you get the idea to do this? >> my parents have been vegan for ten years. after my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and when i started to bake, i always had to modify my recipes to make them vegan and so they could eat them. so i love cookies and that became my favorite thing to bake. >> so you saw a cause out there. who buys these vegan nifty tasting cookies. >> everybody buys them. my friends, my family. strangers have been buying them. health conscious people, people who love them for the taste.

they seem to be really popular. >> what a fantastic lesson. you saw a need because of something in your personal life. amy, tell me what nifty does. tell me about this and tell me about what this can do for our economy and for our young people. >> well, first of all the cookies are really delicious. i personally can swear to that and they're online. anybody can buy them. mayor bloomberg bought them for his staff being ordered by anybody. nia beat out 24,000 young people all over america who did business plans and presented them in the classrooms in the regions and citywide and finally the top 32 kids come to new york and have a final competition and nia was number one and what we basically do is we take what kids have -- from these neighborhoods innately have the street smarts and turn them into biz smarts and academic smarts and kids who are given an opportunity to start seeing opportunity and being able to see what you can actually do if you make a plan with your life

do it. every one of our kids does a business plan, every one of our kids presents to entrepreneurs, to big business people, they get coaching, they get mentoring, and the most important thing probably today as we deal with this dropout crisis, the vast majority, 80% of the kids that are dropping out of school say that if they learned something relevant they would stay in school. and if you take kids and, you know, from low-income communities and start talking about how to make money, you can teach them -- you can't learn a return on investment without learning how to multiply fractions. >> you'll talk to the president. what will you tell him? >> i'm going to tell him about my business. i'm going to ask him if sashay and malia want to order some cookies and tell him what i great president i think he is. >> close the deal. make a sale. nia, great to see you. only 17. makes organic vegan delicious cookies. the name of the company is mama mia's vegan bakery, winner of

the 2010 oppenheimer challge. amy and nia, thanks to both of you. good luck. like i said, close that deal. the whole world is watching hours from now rescuers will start pulling the chilean miners from the underground chamber where they have survived for more than two months. the latest from the site of the mine. our real national pastime?

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i saved because they insure my home too. [ chuckles ] with 40 million fans out there, you're bound to know one of them. so talk to your neighbors, then call a state farm agent at 1-800-state-farm or visit discountdoublecheck.com. ♪ good hot dog. time now for globe trekking. northern chile trapped a half a mile underground those 33 miners may only be a few hours from their rescue.

karl penhaul has been there for a long time. unbelievable the day arrived. when is the latest estimate when that gets under way and that is the latest news on that? >> reporter: i mean, you can just tell from the pace of things -- pace that things are moving here that that rescue is imminent now. what the mine's minister laurence golberne said in the last quarter of the day i guess that could mean any time after about 6:00 p.m. local time. that would put it about 3 1/2 hours from now that the rescue attempt could get under way. and what he did say, although it takes a little bit of time to get a rescue cage down, they've also got to get five rescue personnel down to sort out the miners and give them the preliminary medical check and see who comes up first. this is a bit of procedure and all of this, but the mine's minister says the first miner could be back on the surface by midnight tonight, ali. >> wow, that's got to be

fascinating. we will keep a close eye on it. karl, we have been demonstrating what that capsule is like. it will be remarkable. we'll come back to you and your colleagues at the mine. i think the entire world will be watching this rescue. karl penhaul in northern chile for us. keep in mind we will be on top of this story at every point. you'll want to tune in to watch the rescuers in their triumphant moment more than two months after getting trapped underground. hey, former president bill clinton has been hitting the campaign trail in the last few days. his popularity till there. he's helping candidates. he is heading to las vegas. wolf blitzer tells us why a political update, up next. ♪ [ upbeat instrumental ]

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three weeks left, 21 days

until the midterm elections. tonight former president clinton will be in nevada. that and more now from cnn's wolf blitzer who is not just part of the best political team on television, he's kind of the heart and soul of the best political team on television. hey, wolf. >> and it is the best political team on television. we say it because it also has the added advantage, ali, of being true. the former president of the united states, bill clinton, heading to nevada to helperry reed try to beat sharron angle. a very competitive contest. the senate majority leader is in deep trouble. sharron angle is actually just a little bit ahead. she's the favorite, of course, of the tea party movement. bill clinton will try to generate that democratic base, still popular out in nevada. we'll see how he does. another story we're covering on the political ticker over at cnnpolitics.com is a new autobiography by the former secretary of state condoleezza rice. here it is, ali. this is the book.

i've been going through it. condoleezza rice's new book called "extraordinary ordinary people: a memoir of family." not a story of her years as the national security advisers to president bush or secretary of state, it's the story of her growing up in the segregated south in the united states in alabama specifically how her parents struggled to give her an education, what it was like. it's really an amazing story. she'll be in "the situation room," by the way, on friday. we'll go in-depth with condoleezza rice. her memoir coming out this week. finally we're all getting ready, as you know, ali for the big debate tomorrow night in delaware at the university of delaware. the republican candidate christine o'donnell, the democratic candidate chris coons, they'll be face-to-face and i'll be co-moderating that debate. we have a lot of really good questions on substantive issues, the economy, jobs, some of the social issues, national security issues, two wars under way right now in afghanistan and iraq, a

war on terrorism, tension with north korea, iran, there's no shortage of stuff to ask. we'll go through it, a 90-minute debate and see it here on cnn, 7:30 p.m. eastern, ali, tomorrow night. >> all right, that is going to be something -- one of those races, there are several across the country that are more than the races in their states. they're of national interest. we'll be watching you closely on that, wolf. my old friend, wolf blitzer, for our next political update, an hour away on cnn as wolf says, the home of the best political team on television. this election campaign is reviving the debate over who was responsible for the 2008 financial meltdown. that meltdown is also the topic of a new documentary called "inside job." cnn's kathleen parker and eliot spitzer talked about it last night. >> what i really loved about the movie it helped me understand the complex series of events but what struck me was and you just can't blame only republicans, you can't blame just democrats either. you can't put it on president

bush or president clinton and didn't matter would controlled congress. it's really just a story of runaway greed, of a relatively small number of people who nearly destroyed our financial system. >> the only thing i'd say it's all of the above, it was president bush and president clinton and the folks around him, the fed, the s.e.c., congress sitting there, everybody bought into this notion that wall street could just make everybody rich but you know what they did, they made themselves rich and we are poor. this is one big ponzi scheme because we had to bail them out and they kept all the money and they gave nothing back to us. that's what is outrageous and has people really angry. >> don't meet "parker spitzer" tonight at 8:00 p.m. quiz time for you. what do guitar hero, the kindle and airbags all have in common? let me sea it again, guitar hero, the kindle and airbags have in common? i'll tell you after the break.

every day we bring you "the big i." "i" stands for ideas. we're not talking about the future today but in the past. taking you back to 1985. personal computers just becoming popular. the internet didn't really exist for any of us but existed for other uses. we had cell phones the size of bricks. music was on cassette tapes. before the break i asked what

guitar hero, the kindle and air bags have in common. what they have in common is the m.i.t. media lab. the folks in that lab spent the last 25 years developing the technology and science of the future. they are connected to everything that keeps you connected in the world. we're talking about the latest in cell phones, photography, the internet, medicine, computers, software, robotics, social networking, education, music. they have their hands on every part of our lives. let me introduce you to the director of the famous m.i.t. media lab, frank moss. he's the executive director joining me from cambridge. frank, good to have you on the show. we love talking to you folks but i think i want my viewers to understand what you people do. you are the ultimate egg heads. you guys are the smartest of the smart and devising the future for us. before you tell us what you're making for us -- because that's going to be a treat for you -- i want you to talk about some of the things i just talked about. air bags. what did you guys have to do about air bags? >> that's a great story. i wish we could show this from

our brand new shiny glass and aluminum building on the other side of campus because what's so important about the media lab is how we do our research. it's completely undirected. our students research according to their passions the things that really move them and things that really inspire them. that's what the media lab was all about from the beginning. in 1985, it was not heard of to bring together creativity in computers. computers were all about computation as you mentioned before. and just beginning to be about communications but people didn't bring together the idea of creativity in computers. you mentioned air bags and the story i'll give you very, very quickly. professor todd mackover one of the lead and most famous digital composers of our generation was early at the lab and wanted to enable everyone to create music and began instrumenting professionals like yo yo ma, his bow on a cello to see how it was

created. moving from there to instruments he created to something everyone could use. penn and teller actually saw this and said we'd like you to use the same gesture mechanism to create music in a chair we can use in our las vegas show and sure enough they used the spirit chair in which they could actually gesture and conjure up spirits and electronic music. when this chair was brought back to the media lab, a representative of one of our sponsors who was thinking about the problem of how air bags can hurt or injure small adults and children in the passenger side of an automobile and when he saw that, he actually moved forward and licensed the technology that was actually used for yo yo ma's performance as well as the spiritual chair. >> you're talking about a lab we only read about these days. they used to exist, the bell labs where you would just hire smart creative minds to come up and invent things and some of

them would be commercialized and some would not end up with the use that they were designed for. they were almost accidental discoveries. frank, i want you to wait right there. i want to take a break and come back and you tell me about the future, about the things you're working on that could hold opportunities for viewers in the future. things they can buy and invest in and go to school and study and why they want to be working at the m.i.t. lab one of these days. i'll have more after this break.

okay, back to today's "big i." we're talking to frank moss, the executive director of the m.i.t. media lab. before the break we talked about big inventions from the last 25

years that have come from that lab. let's talk about the next 25 years. i understand you're working on a foldable car. >> we sure are, ali. before i do, i want to mention one more thing about that story. the very same technology that led to the sensor to cut off air bags in automobiles actually was being studied by students who actually went on to form the company called harmonics and today of course they're a provider of guitar hero and rock band. >> of course. that's right. because we talked about that in our quiz that that's what air bags and guitar hero have in company. >> that's serendipity. one thing leads to another and you never know where it's going to lead. >> let's talk about cars. >> okay. let's talk about cars. one of our groups called smart cities about ten years ago asked the question what kind of city would you like to live in? and then design a car for that city. the amazing thing is none of the students in this group were car designers. they were architects.

they were doctors, computer scientists, visual and graphic designers and asked what would a car look like that you would have in the city. the first thing was a robotic wheel where all the mechanical components of the cars them service -- the electric motor, steering, brakes, are contained within the wheel. when you do this if you look at this little model, simple prototype model, you can actually move the central transmission. so the car can fold up in this fashion. this is simply an engineering model for design purposes. where the distance from back to front is about five feet. so you can either drive it directly into the curb where the passengers can exit and enter from the front of the car or in this position -- and i think all of us would love to do this -- the wheels can turn 90 degrees and the car can pull into a five food space. this is going to change parallel parking.

>> i don't need to be a scientist to understand how that will be beneficial. >> i think we'd all enjoy that. but i think what we're looking forward to is a world where we don't own the cars but lease them. they move from one part of the city to the next on a one-way rental system just like the bikes in cities now in paris and elsewhere. when we do this we can cut down on pollution, noise, congestion, simply by beginning with the question what kind of city would we like to live in and then designing a wheel and a car that could fit into that kind of city and into our lifestyle. >> okay, frank. i know you have another thing there but i don't know if i have enough time for it. that little foot on the right. can you show me that in 30 seconds. >> professor hugh hair aims to restore mobility to amputees and anyone. this is a robotdic foot. he wears two of these regularly. it contains about five computers, 12 sensors. this actually was designed to duplicate the motion, the dynamics, the biomechanics of a human foot. the ultimate goal is not only to

restore motion to amputees but older people to allow them to maintain mobility late into life by perhaps not this kind of foot but an exoskeleton they can pull on in the morning and enable them to be mobile the entire day. that's the goal of the media lab to enable everybody to unleash their own powers, whether creative powers, mobility, the ability to move around a city, controlling our own health, our own wellness. this is what we're trying to do with the media lab. >> if i could do it all over again i'd make it my goal to somehow get to work there one day. congratulations for 25 great years and our thanks and gratitude to the folks at the media lab who invent things that make our lives better. we'll check in on a regular basis. frank moss executive director. to check out all the research at the lab go to my blog at cnn.com/ali. we've posted the top 25 ideas and products that have been putt out by the media lab's research over the last 25 years. it's a brand new hour and a

new rundown. foreclosures are under the microscope right now. the latest disturbing question, did lenders simply make up certain details so they could shortcut the system and foreclose on people more quickly? we'll investigate that. plus, the polls say she's got a high approval rating. people just like her. that's why the white house is putting michelle obama on the campaign trail. we're in chicago ahead of her visit to that yaetd. google is launching a massive project aimed at harnessing wind power and meeting needs of 200 american homes. first it's our big story. it is exciting that we're actually here. the first -- the rescue of those 33 miners trapped in northern chile for more than two months now is about to begin. just a short while ago the minister of mines said the first trapped miner could be back above ground around 11:00 p.m. eastern. he said the rescue operation could get under way three hours

before that around 8:00 p.m. eastern. by side me is a basic model of the capsule that will be used to hoist the miners from the rock cavern where they survived a half mile underground. this will show you what happened when the cave-in trapped the miners on august ath. they were trapped on the left where the rock pile was. they tried to get out and couldn't. they went back down and got into a shelter about the size of a living room. since then they've received food, water, medicine and other supplies through a narrow four inch shaft that was drilled down to them. if everything goes according to plan, the capsule like the one that you see here is going to lower a rescuer down to the miners to start the process of bringing them up to the surface one by one. right now officials are testing the capsule, lowering it down the rescue shaft, pulling it back up, making sure it's not stuck. previous tests were conducted without problems. but the minister of mines stressed that the operation is not going to start until they're sure that everything is working properly. now, let me show you what that

should look like. here's an animation showing a miner in that tube in the capsule called phoenix, by the way, going up to the top. that ride took about three seconds. in real life it's going to take 10 to 15 minutes to go to the top. lowering it is going to take about 25 minutes. going up, it gets pulled up by winch. it's mechanical. going down it's gravity so it's going to take longer. here's a mockup that our great folks here at cnn have designed. the actual one is about 900 pounds but these are the proportions. i just want to just -- let's move this around so we can get the door. >> the front is kind of a chicken wire, mesh, in the real one so it doesn't feel as claustrophobic if you can look through it. >> but the problem is they're going into a tunnel which is about three inches bigger than this thing is going to be. this is 22 inches. they've been giving them food to thin them down and physical activities because they don't want them too big. why did it have to be this narrow? close it up and see what it feels like. >> the entire borehole was 28

inches around. they wanted it to have wheels on the outside for a smooth ride up. it is going to be crooked. >> it's not going straight. it's going to be at an angle. >> catywampus. >> why didn't they drill a bigger hole? is that because how big the drill bits are? >> that's how big the drill bits are. this is the 130. you can google the size. this is -- >> they traded off the fact they can drill the hole fast with this size a bit. bigger thing more danger and longer drill time. >> already the second one down. the first one was only a foot. they couldn't do anything with that one but that was the guide -- to me, i find this 3,000, 2500 feet down they found the room with the first bit without missing it the first time. then they used that as a guide -- >> to open it up. >> of course they could probably get a bigger, larger bit and make it 30 but what's the point? this could take another two

months. >> this will get these guys out. here's what happens when the operation begins. one rescuer gets in and goes down. gets out, miner inside, pulled up. happens two more times. this is a fluid situation and keeps changing but at this point three rescuers down there, the three miners will have gone up and then move the miners up one at a time. the first miner will be the most technically experienced guy so if it gets stuck in between he knows enough he's going to try and do that. they'll send a few experts up. after that it starts to become the weaker in the group. >> there are men with diabetes and other problems, men with skin infections. it's been a warm, damp -- it's not good for your skin to never see the sunshine. obviously, a vitamin d deficiencies. there are other things dr. gupta talked about, they're not as physically strong as they were. >> other than the technical smart guy the first couple of guys then these guys go up to get treatment.

>> can you imagine being the last guy out? i know captain goes down with the ship and he's the last to get off the boat but let me tell you -- this is the guy we think that there has been some leaks from the family members -- the man who took over and said -- and everybody said, you're in charge. he's -- >> he's the captain. >> he's the last one out. >> these guys are said to be in good shape but considering what they've been through, they've received cds of their favorite music, photos, videos of loved ones, clean clothes. take a look at this green outfit that they're going to be wearing. it's a cover-all. this could take 48 hours from the time it starts. wearing these green over-alls embroidered with their names. the outfits are made of a material to resist moisture. they're going to wear a special belt that the monitor vital signs and have a communication -- way of communicating -- have a headset basically. >> it goes up one-mile-per-hour. and in emergencies because they will be monitoring all the blood pressure and everything -- at least the heart rate and breathing.

they'll monitor that. if it has to it can go up three miles per hour but still a long ride up. >> we just got a signal from the government of chile now as preparations for this rescue begins. let's put it up. that will come up in a second. our control room is working on putting that up. there we go. that's the picture. this is the official picture now. they are going to monitor as you said earlier -- we're not going to have free access with hundreds of television crews crowding around the hole. the government is going to decide what we're seeing and how. we don't know what that is going to be. i don't have bad words for the chilean government right now. i think they've handled the situation very well. >> re union with the family a private time. >> what we have been hearing -- it keeps changing but we're told that signal we're looking at would go up about seven hours before the rels cue is set to begin. so which means we're moving ahead of schedule at the moment. they continue to caution us to safe things could go wrong. things haven't which is great other than that mine collapse.

six hours before it starts miners are going to switch to a diet of just liquids and vitamins and minerals. doctors are trying to mitigate the feelings of dizziness they're going to have. let's explain. this isn't going up like this as you said. >> on its side bouncing along on its side a nonperfect hoehl. they did not case it all the way down. >> just 50 fete. >> they didn't metal all the way down. they said this could take ten days. plus at some point there is a kink in where the thing was drilling so they didn't think they could get the casing in properly. they didn't want to jam the hole. we just made it and let's not jam it up so they stopped. >> this thing will rotate. guys will get dizzy and giving them medication for that and anxiety medication. they're all evaluated. hopefully it will work smoothly. we'll be on top of it. i'm going to be glued to it and cheering for every last one of them and i would be surprised if i had dry eyes when i watch it happen. thanks, chad. nice to have a good story to

report on every now and then. faking documents to speed up the foreclosure process. believe it or not in the cnn exclusive allan chernoff tracks down the banks allegedly breaking the lau to put people on the street faster. to challenge ourselves on the most demanding track in the world. with us, in spirit, was every great car that we'd ever competed with. the bmw m5. and the mercedes-benz e63. for it was their amazing abilities that pushed us to refine, improve and, ultimately, develop the world's fastest production sedan. [ engine revving ] the cts-v, from cadillac. the new standard of the world. [ evan ] ah it's cool. ah... ah. ah. ah. ah. ah. ah. ah. ah. ah! ah! whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what is that?

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t adththod it's dif - alcium crhea foreclosures have already been under great scrutiny. several large lenders have frozen foreclosures or foreclosure sales, the sales of the home on which they have foreclosed while they sort this all out. now a cnn exclusive reveals another problem with the mortgage industry's foreclosure process. not only are the signatures on legal documents in question. in many cases some of the details in those documents have

allegedly been made up to kick people out of their homes faster. cnn's senior correspondent allan chernoff is investigating. >> oh, man. >> reporter: this woman brought her dream home in wapinger's falls in new york. hard times hit and she fell into default. this foreclosure. how portant is it to hold on to this home? >> outside of my children and my family there's nothing more important. >> reporter: the threat looms from citi mortgage even though it doesn't own the mortgage. fannie mae owns it along with millions of other home loans. yet fannie mae's name is nowhere to be found on the mortgage document it produced in the case. instead the document states the mortgage was assigned to citimortgage. her lawyer says the bankers are

not following proper legal procedure. >> this is improper assignment of mortgage that's meant to shortcut the system. it's less about the truth and more about how fast to get this property foreclosed on. >> reporter: citimortgage which collected her monthly payments as the servicer of the loan says there's no foul play here. it's normal procedure. and fannie mae agrees, pointing out, this is how it operates all the time. in fact, citimortgage owned the loan very briefly, for only a couple of months back in 2006. the original lender, home loan center, sold the mortgage to citimortgage on november 3rd, 2006, the very day she borrowed the money. less than two months later citimortgage turned around and sold that loan as an investment to fannie mae on january 1st, 2007. yet the assignment of mortgage document stating citimortgage still owns her loan is dated june 24th, 2010.

that information on the document comes from a virginia company owned by citimortgage, fannie mae and other big mortgage players. mers, mortgage electronic registration systems. when banks sell mortgages, they use mers as an electronic repository to keep track of the real owners. mers has 64 million loans in its dada base. if a bank wants to foreclose, it simply turns to mers for the necessary documentation. much faster and cheaper than retrieving local title records. but the mers papers, like those for this woman's home sometimes don't reflect the true status of the mortgage. >> we're seeing forgeries. we're seeing back-datings. we're seeing post-datings largely because lenders are scrambling to come up with a chain of title that mers was ill-equipped from its inception to provide. >> and allan joins us now from new york.

allan? >> that's right, ali. mers does tell us that they're providing clarity, transparency, efficiency to the home finance systems. they say they're being very, very helpful. indeed, citimortgage says it relies on the mers database here in order to take action against people who are in default. but as we point out, lawyers for homeowners increasingly are attacking the way that mers does business. >> the woman you just spoke to in that story says mers was ill equipped from the beginning to handle this. why is that? because it wasn't expecting to a repository for all of these foreclosures? >> what they're saying is that mers serves as an electronic database. this allowed the banks to rapidly trade mortgages. they all become securitized. eventually fannie mae will buy into them. they want to do that without going through the painstaking effort of visiting each county

office, filling out the forms, paying the county fee, et cetera, et cetera. they just as soon as the mortgage is made, they throw it into the black box that is mers and then when they need a document at the time of foreclosure or sale, then they have the document produced. and the critics are saying, hey, the mortgage system never got legislative authority to do that. >> interesting story. all right, allan, thanks very much. could legalizing and taxing marijuana help pull california out of its budget crisis or open the door to more crime, greater addiction and safety issues? talking politics, money and marijuana up next.

three weeks to election day, 21 days. one of the hottest issues on any state ballot is california's proposition 19. it would legalize marijuana for recreational use. legal sales of marijuana for medical use are already a proven moneymaker in the state. supporters say recreational sales would only send state tax revenues higher. cnn's ted rowlands reports from oakland. >> reporter: oakland's harborside medical marijuana dispensary is the largest in california grossing more than $21 million in sales last year. >> our total tax payments last year were close to $3 million. that would include california sales tax, california income tax, u.s. federal income tax. and the city of oakland cannabis tax. >> reporter: the city of oakland has completely embraced the sale of medical marijuana with few if any problems according to officials. >> because of our partnership

with them and working with them instead of fighting with them we look at this as an opportunity not only for people with medical problems and a need but also an industry that has something to offer to us not only financially but to our community providing jobs. >> reporter: last year the city of oakland made $60,000 in just permits for the four dispensaries. they also have a 1.8% tax. add to that regular sales tax and the city pulled in about $800,000 in revenue over the sale of medical marijuana. but when you consider the overall budget in the city of oakland is more than $400 million, it's not a lot of money. >> when you buy cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine or marijuana part of what you're doing is compensating the drug dealer and everyone else along the supply chain for the risk of arrest and risk of incarceration. that goes away with legalization. we calculated after legalization we would expect the pre-tax price to drop more than 80%. >> reporter: the city of oakland

still thinks it will make good money. >> the medicinal side is about 20% of the total business out there. if the adult usage is 80% of that, that's about $80 million. so there's potential for significant financial growth for the city and for this community. >> i do think that we have the right pieces in place to allow us to be a barrier-breaking city. we're in the pole position ahead of the pack. >> while no one knows what legalizing pot would do to california there's a good bet if it's legal it will be for sale in oakland. ted rowlands, cnn, oakland, california. google has a new project, bringing power to the east coast through wind. and it's huge. we're going "off the radar" to tell you about it on the other side of this break.

time to go "off the radar" with chad. my view about windmills when i see them generate energy, i think it's beautiful. i've never been one of these guys who think they spoil the view or they're ugly but there are people who think they're an eye sore. >> we have this. this is the prop of the day. >> when it's 2,000 times as big and metal. >> you put them on the handlebars and drive drive down the road it's pretty. i'm kind of with you have on this. i went to a place where they have giant windmills. we drove our rental car underneath it and watched it go whoo, whoo. >> i see free energy is what i see. >> and they're making beer out of some of that energy too. >> google which has slowly taken over the world in a good way has decided to get in on the wind energy movement. >> when did google become an

energy company? pretty soon they're going to pay a dividend. the google wind farm. they are getting into the energy business. now, they're not just giving money away. they're buying part of a company that will put energy windmills offshore. >> on the east coast. >> offshore? oh, my goodness. it's going to ruin my sunrise. 15 miles offshore. you won't be able to see it. you might see a little -- but about six miles. if you're standing on water you can see six miles and not farther than that because the earth falls away. they'll be offshore and then because they're so smart they'll gather all the energy in one spot and send it to four different spots onshore. obviously new york city and down here probably near toms and this is about i would say ocean city but probably feed into washington, d.c. and go through the delmarva and then down here hampton roads. it's not going to cure the world. >> but this is an energy congestion area. >> 1.8 million homes will be

powered by this. you can't tell if you're getting green energy or not. it's just all in the xwrn in th. >> that will relieve some of the issue they have in the northeast which have sometimes contributes to brownouts and things like that. >> google won't make the kind of money on this that they make on other things but they're committed to power and green. >> buying a little more than a third. i love wind power. doesn't work anywhere. we've been full of good news today. miners getting rescued and wind power. the whole world is watching those miners who are about to get rescued in about 5 1/2 hours. rescuers are likely to start pulling the chilean miners from the undergrounds chamber they've lived in more than two months. we'll have the latest right after a break. does a former drit make a terrible therapist? patient: and that's why yellow makes me sad. i tnk. sarge: that's interesting. you know what makes me sad? you do! maybe we should chug on over to mambie pambie land

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okay. time now for "globetrekking." our destination northern chile. after 2 1/2 months being trapped a half mile underground the 33 miners might be soon to be rescued. take a look at the feed the chilean government provided. this is going to be their official feed because they don't want everybody crowding around the site during the rescue. karl penhaul is at the mine site. we were saying they're a few hours from the likely beginning of the rescue. that could mean 36, 48 hours from the completion of the rescue? this thing is going to take time. >> reporter: yeah, it is going to take time. incidentally that signal you just pointed out to viewers, the government said they would put that up six hours before the rescue started so looking at that, we could be looking at a rescue starting about 9:30 local time. but it is going to be a process.

each miner will take about one hour in total to get the cage down to him, get him in the cage and get him out. we could be talking about 33 hours for the whole process but the mines minister has said he believes the first miner will be back here on the surface by midnight tonight, ali. >> karl, at this point things have gone very well for them. the plan is that they are going to bring out the first -- they're going to send some rescuers down. so we're going to see about three rescuers go down as they're bringing people up? >> reporter: they've been changing the numbers around. the latest they've told us is they're going to send five rescuers down. that will include at least two paramedics. it will be them who then go down, give the miners a medical check and see which of the 33 comes up first, ali. >> and those determinations will be made in large part -- they want to after they get sort of people with some technical expertise up to make sure this thing doesn't get stuck halfway up send up the man most likely

in need of medical attention up first? >> reporter: yeah. well, no. the first five are going to be the fittest men that also have technical knowledge giving them feedback on how this phoenix rescue capsule is working and also feedback on any problems down in the mine. then another group of ten that we know have got minor medical problems, some more serious than others. one has die beatese. one has silocosi. my money on the shift foreman being the last out. he liken his role to captain on a sinking ship. he wants to make sure the men are out of the hole. once the miners are out here, the world is expecting to hear from them but in the last few moments i've seen a letter from one of the miners to his family member and he says very firmly that those 33 miners have taken a vow of silence.

they will never go fully into the details of what went on in that mine, ali. i'm not sure what it's about. but sounds a little bit sinister to me. >> maybe they just haven't seen the offers that they're going to get for the movie or the book rights or something. once they're out, we'll have lots of time to debate what they're going to do and say and talk about. does sound interesting, though. karl, what a great thing for you to witness this as it happens. what a great ending to such a frightening story. karl penhaul in northern chile. we will stay with this story until the very end. i'm going to introduce you to a mayor with unique insight and innovative idea to reach out to immigrants in her community. we'll meet her next. it's today's "mission possible." the turn will make you think. ♪ make you re-examine your approach. change your line. innovate. and create one of the world's fastest-reacting suspensions, reading the road 1,000 times per second.

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let me bring you upto speed on some of the top stories we're following here at cnn. the obama administration is moving toward lifting its moratorium on deepwater oil and gas drilling in the gulf of mexico. the moratorium was imposed after the gulf coast oil spill. interior secretary ken salazar says he's decided that deepwater drilling should resume but details have to be worked out before it's officially lifted. in hungary crews race to complete three emergency dams before toxic red sludge begins flowing around. the walls surrounding an industrial reservoir is failing. a leak last week killed eight people. officials say it's only a matter of time before another leak opens up. today marks the tenth anniversary of the "uss cole" attack. 17 sailors died. al qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack which came about one year before the 9/11

attacks. a memorial ceremony was conducted this morning at naval station norfolk in virginia. okay. it's time for "mission possible." every day we do this and try to highlight an innovative person or idea making a difference in the world, doing something that you could do in your community. today's guest is trying to make a difference in fitchburg, massachusetts in the north central part of the state closer to the new hampshire border than boston. the population about 41,000 these days and at least 10% are foreign born. language other than english is spoken in more than a quarter of all the city's household and the city's diversity both enriches it and costs it. many immigrants feel disconnected from their community. they avoid the mechanisms of government. they're not counted in the census. that costs fitchburg federal funds. they don't know or anticipate -- they don't know or participate in ises that save the city money. for instance recycling programs.

so fitchburg's mayor lisa wong joins us. she recently launched an all-volunteer program that aims to engage some of these folks in civic life. you recruited deputy mayors. i guess that's the best way to put what you've done. tell us viewers what you have done differently in fitchburg. >> sure. well, you had some statistics and i know those statistics have changed. the 2000 census was really what created a sense of urgency. knowing that the figures you stated have probably doubled in the last ten years, weep wanted to make sure we had a city government that was ready for the population that we serve. so we came up with a program that was essentially invitation for people to join hands with city government and knew we couldn't do it as a formal program or hang up a sign and tell people to come into city hall. we need to create trust. in order to do that we need to create mayors on the street, people living in the

neighborhoods who know what's happening 24/7 and invite them to talk to us about a pothole or talk to us about more serious issues such as the lack of esl classes available to families. so the program is really just an invitation and through that it really has grown because the demand is there. >> so how do you become -- what dow become the mayor of? is that kind of like being your street representative or block representative? what does this involve? >> well, being the mayor of a city, that's obviously the most visible government official. and i basically say that there are three main things that i have. and you can have that power too so you can trust what i do and i can trust what you do. that's that i have information and if i can share that information then people can feel empowered. i also have access and have access to city departments, city resources and i invite people to have access to that too. a third piece is action. and whatever action compels you. each mayor might come in with different opportunities, different issues, different

things that they feel are important and so do individual representative of their street and household and neighborhoods. we invite them to do the same. >> the reason why this is interesting to us is because what we're going through on a national level is a remarkable increase in distrust or mistrust of government. the fact is people don't trust their governments and don't go out even in muntion pal elections where things that happen in municipal government that affect people so directly voter turnout is very low. are you finding some degree of new engagement from your citizens as a result of this program? >> we are. actually, we see some numbers of voter turnout that are higher for municipal elections where there is no state or federal races on the ticket than we do for let's say the gubernatorial election that's coming up. or even a presidential election. i think that highlights the amount of grassroot work that we have done. and you have to invite people. they want to see you eye to eye. they want to shake your hand. they want to know that you're there and you're telling them in person that you're inviting them to be a part of city government.

and elections only come -- elections come every year. so we said there's 364 other days. how do we invite people 365 days of the year. and you know what, it could be inviting them to talk about a street light or a pothole or something that's happening in their school. and that then gets the trust in government such that they'll come out and vote. >> what a great idea. mayor lisa wong, thank you very much for joining us, the mayor of fitchburg, massachusetts. if you want to find out more about fitchburg or the mayor program we have links on my blog cnn.com/ali. when we come back he's our mayor of the white house. white house correspondent -- senior white house correspondent ed henry. he's not there, though, today. he's in chicago because the city is expecting a very special guest. "the stakeout" is next. [ male announcer ] this is rachel, a busy mom.

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our senior white house correspondent joins us every day at this time to talk about what's really going on with politics. what's really going on at the white house. today as you can see he is not at the white house. he is in chicago, which means somebody must be rolling into town, someone important. hello, ed. other than you. clearly you're already there. >> reporter: yeah, now that i've come into town. the first lady michelle obama will be here tomorrow coming home if you have will. it's kind of a big deal because this is her launching her first real sustained campaign swing here. as you've been noting three weeks out from the critical midterm elections. she is going to be here campaigning and fund-raising for alexi giannoulias, for example, who is the candidate in the open senate seat, her husband's old senate seat. the democrat are worried they might lose that and it would be pretty bad symbolically to lose

that. she'll be fighting for russ feingold in deep trouble in wisconsin and on to colorado. in the next few weeks going to california for barbara boxer, patti murray in washington state. a lot of female candidates because of her appeal to female voters. this is the her first foray in the rough-and-tumble world of campaigning. >> let's talk a little about what she's like as a campaigner. she's been a reluctant campaigner. she's popular and right now more popular than the president but reluctant campaigner in the past. >> you're right. she's the most popular obama, if you will. our polling has her at about 65% approval rating, her husband in the mid 40s depending on the poll. in part i saw the same thing play out when i was covering then president bush and went on the road in 2006 with first lady laura bush. she was 20, 25 points above her husband. what she told me at the time was everyone beats up on george

about this but the fact of the matter is he's got all the responsibility. i've got the high approval ratings because people look at the first lady as this popular official -- >> -- stays out of controversial politics. whenever the first lady is on something it's getting kids to eat better and grow vegetables and read more books. she has largely stayed out of controversy. >> reporter: you are right. and that's why there's a risk here politically that as she gets down into the muckiness a little bit of politics, the hand-to-hand combat, if you will, that maybe her numbers will come down. frankly i don't think she cares if her numbers come down a little bit because she's going to come out here because she wants to fight for her husband and his agenda. and by the way, people close to her say she's not going to be into the hand-to-hand combat. she's not going to be delivering partisan speeches but obviously as laura bush was a very positive message defending her husband no doubt. but still talking about the initiatives you mentioned like healthy eating. she's had a big initiative on

standing up for military families, both spouses and children who have had fathers, mothers who have been in the battlefield, iraq and afghanistan, for a long time. but as you mentioned she's been reluctant before. 2004 senate campaign here, she was not into the campaigning. in 2008 early on she wasn't. she eventually got there. and she's getting in now and people close to her say that's largely for family. not that she didn't necessarily want to help out her husband but let's remember they still have two small daughters. back in the senate campaign they were especially young. she's been trying to find that balance. the last thing she's wanted to do previously was be out on the campaign trail full-time and leave her kids back here in chicago when it was the senate and a presidential run. now they're in the white house. her mom is there helping out. nevertheless, her people say that she'll only go out for basically a day, day and a half, only be out one night away from her kids because even though there's support structure there the last thing she wants to do is be campaigning four or five days. that whole balance she's worked

hard for would be thrown out of whack. >> i'm sad you're not at the white house because i interviewed a young woman, 17-year-old girl who must be meeting with the president now. she won an entrepreneurship contest because she started her own business and it was that she made organic vegan cookies. i thought hoo better than you to have tried one. she says they're quite tasty. >> reporter: i would love to try a vegan cookie. i thought you were going to say she grew green peppers. i remember the segment on "mission possible" where i followed a girl that grew a 40 pound bell pepper. >> it was 75 pound. it was a cabbage. >> reporter: by the way i was here -- >> go ahead. >> reporter: i was in chicago a couple weeks ago and don lemon was filling in and we were talking about what a great city this is. people here ask about you when they see me. they say how's ali. apparently you're a big city r. visitor here. >> i love chicago. i go for my birthday every year. >> when is your birthday? >> funny you should ask.

october 29th. thanks for asking. >> reporter: i just want to make sure. it's coming up right before the election. we'll have to make sure that's a special day. >> special stakeout. have one in one of my favorite cities. ed henry on "the stakeout." doesn't matter where he is he joins us. twunl days left until these midterm elections. that's what we're talking about. it's time for a look at the latest campaign developments including a brand new cnn poll. cnn senior political editor mark preston and deputy political director paul steinhauser, two of our closest friends and part of the best political team on television here now. what's the latest? >> let's take it away. you and ed were talking about the first lady michelle obama. let's talk about barack obama. brand new poll numbers this afternoon. national survey. it's interesting because we asked do you think that president barack obama has the personal qualities a president should have and you see right here a majority 59% say yes, he

does. only 4 in 10 say no. that's a pretty positive number for the president. go to the next board because this is fascinating. we also asked do you agree with obama on the issues that matter to you the most. 42% say yes they agree, 55% no. that's the number that could hurt. barack obama is not on the ballot november 2nd. here's why. the republicans are trying to make these elections a referendum on barack obama and tie democrats in congress to the president. so these numbers could be troubling for democrats as they run for re-election. that's what i've got. mr. preston, to you. >> let's talk about a good number for a democrat down in florida. rick scott is the republican. he's the health care executive who spent a lot of money to win that nomination, beat back the republican candidate. alex sink is the chief financial officer of the state and the democrat. polling showed sink was losing to scott except until today. this new poll from quinnipiac university shows that it is a

dead heat now, ali. just about two weeks ago, scott this a six-point lead. and where is she getting these votes? she's getting them from independent voters. we talk over and over again about the midterm elections. these elections are won by which party can get the indz pents to support them. democrats will go for democrats and republicans for republicans. it's the independents. good news for the democrats and alex sink at least 21 days before the election. this is brand new. we haven't finished writing it for the cnn political ticker. let's talk about the tea party express. on monday they start up their fourth cross country tour. of course they'll be attacking and targeting democrats and trying to support republican candidates. but the tea party organization is telling us today that they are also now going to add congressman barney frank of massachusetts to their target list. they're going to have a rally not in his district but nearby in worcester, massachusetts, on november 1st and say they'll target frank. we reached out.

i spoke to frank's spokesman. they're going to get back to us and i'm sure we'll get a colorful response from him. that's what we have. >> you are fantastic as always. you keep it real and interesting. good to see you. the next political update comes in about one hour right here on cnn, the home of the best political team on television. straight ahead "wordplay." it started as the base but became so much more. n last 12 h. and aleve was proven to work better on pain than tylenol 8 hour. so why am i still thinking about this? how are you? good, how are you? [ male announcer ] aleve. proven better on pain. pancakes! ♪ from dawn 'til sunset, i'll never walk away ♪ ♪ blueberry pancakes are so good ♪ [ male announcer ] bisquick. pancake lovers unite.

that new healthcare law sure sounds good for all of us on medicare. starting next year, we'll get free check-ups, cancer screenings, lower prescription costs. and better ways to protect us and medicare from fraud, so it will stay strong for our kids and grandkids. now, that's music to my ears. ♪

time now for "wordplay." today marks ten years since the deadliest al qaeda attack on american interests before 9/11. so our term today is al qaeda. literally translated from arabic

al qaeda means the base. it was formed by osama bin laden between 1988 and '89 to fight the soviet occupation of afghanistan. of course it became a lot more than that. among the attacks that cemented al qaeda as the deadliest foe of america was the suicide bombing of the "uss cole" destroyer in cemen october 12th, 2000. 17 american sailors were killed. this was the deadliest al qaeda attack on u.s. interests until september 11th, 2001. the attack that changed america forever. 19 al qaeda terrorists hijacked four planes, crashing two of them into the world trade center, one into the pentagon and another into a pennsylvania field, killing nearly 3,000 people. al qaeda was blamed just days after the attack. osama bin laden became the world's most wanted man and the u.s. launched the war on terror starting with the invasion of afghanistan. okay. remember those tough new tarmac delay rules that went into effect in this year? boy, are they having an impact. being the frequent flier i am i

have a lot more to say about them. [ commentator ] lindsey vonn! she stays tough!

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e that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke. time now for the "xyz." anyone that watches knows i'm a very frequent flier. sometimes i spend more time in airports and on airplanes than with my family and i have this weird relationship with the nation's airlines especially with the increased fees and excuses for poor service. you also know i give credit where credit is due and today it's due. looks like the tarmac delay rules imposed in april are having an effect. the u.s. department of transportation says there was only one delay that topped three hours in the entire month of august. this is the tarmac delay. last year 66 flights sat on the runway or tarmac at least three

hours in august. what a difference! now, you might recall when the government was about to impose these rules and the hefty finals that go with them, the airlines protested. they said the rules would lead to an overabundance of caution on their part leading them to cancel flights if there was any chance of them being off schedule. back then i said enough with the excuses. an airline's top priority is get us there safely and relatively on time. considering the latest delay numbers i'm glad i said that and the airlines focused on their priority. according to the department of transportation the new rules have had no impact on cancellation rates in august with the rate of 1% unchanged from last year. hats off to you hard working men and women of the airlines at all levels from baggage handlers to ticket counter workers to flight attendants to pilots to administrators. this is proof that you can focus on efficient business and on the bottom line and on your consumers. the results truly pay