apart a school right outside of dallas. we always hear that it sounds like a freight train when these things come through, well, you can hear it and see it for yourself this morning. >> unbelievable video. back on the road for president obama, he'll be campaigning in rhode island today with midrm elections just eight days away now. one more critical road trip remains for the president. what happens in the next eight days will, of course, impact your future. cnn has the best

a rainbow in the distance. a funnel cloud coming right at you. this i-report came in from a second-year med student who took shelter in the freezer in the back of a gas station and tended to some people that were injured in a sonic drive-thru. >> these severe storms are heading east. on alert right now for heavy rains and hail and possible tornadoes. >> also going to touch through maybe the northeast corner, northwest corner rather of georgia and maybe on into atlanta. at a difficult time of day, rush hour. our reynolds wolf in the extreme weather center this morning tracking it all.

so you expecting some bad weather there in atlanta today? >> absolutely. with that, of course, we'll have the cumulative effect of other delays around the country. let's start off with the video you showed moments ago, especially the video from rice, texas, where we saw the massive tornado. winds well in excess of 100 miles per hour. i would say at a glance, this is at least ef-3, perhaps even 4. one thing to consider is thank heavens this storm did not strike on a monday when that school was filled with kids. we're very fortunate, again, hard to believe we're saying something fortunate about a tornado, but that's a positive thing to look at. in a school filled with a bunch of people, that's not the scenario you want playing out. what's playing right now, again, a line of storms going through parts of alabama. let's go right to radar if we can. and as we zoom in on a couple of locations, i want you to notice a red line painted throughout parts of alabama into georgia. those are your tornado watches, in effect until about 10:00 eastern time. now, along that line, it's

pushing through parts of northeast alabama along the i-59 corridor. things are getting very rough, strong winds, hail, and of course, the possibility. meanwhile, another system may get things ramped up across parts of the corn belt perhaps even into chicago and milwaukee before the day is out. meanwhile, back in the rockies, we're not talking about rain, we're talking about snow. some places up towards steam boat springs, and utah, could see heavy snow before the day is out. we also have issues in terms of the tropics. we'll be talking to that later on this morning. but one of the big components for the severe weather we have today. warm temperatures scattered across parts of the southern plains and southeast, that combined with the frontal boundary moving through. the recipe for strong storms, storms that will be felt at least the midday and afternoon hours. guys, we've got more coming up straight ahead. let's kick it back to you in new york. >> thanks so much. coming up in our next hour

here on "american morning," we'll talk with eric myers. and he shot that incredible tornado video. so we'll talk to him about what it was like to be so close to the center of it. >> just amazing to see it. and as reynolds points out, lucky it happened on a weekend because that school could have been filled with kids and teachers. >> all you hear is eric saying over and over again is we're right in the tornado. and he was. they were so close. merry halloween. the peak in the season for some resort owners who started making their own snow. not much of a breather for president obama. no day in the slopes for him. fresh off a five-day campaign swing. back on the road again this morning. just eight days left now until the midterm elections and the president is hitting the trail again. there's a stop in rhode island today and then it's one final push with the weekend blitz

covering pennsylvania, ohio, and illinois. >> cnn has the best political team ready to go for you this morning. we have suzanne malveaux as well as candy crowley. our chief national correspondent john king and our senior political editor mark preston. all of them reporting for us throughout the morning on the issues in this election that will impact your future. we kick things off with suzanne. she's at the white house this morning. so i know they're all busy out there on the campaign trail. what is the strategy behind these final campaigning stops for the president this week? >> well, kiran, everybody's packing a bag. we're all going to be on the road for the next week or so. obviously the president, first lady, the vice president. the strategy is really get these folks out to the polls. the people that are really going to make a difference here. who are those folks? talking about female voters, african-american voters, young voters trying to build momentum in these next couple of days or so. the president very quickly going to rhode island for a fundraiser.

as well as philadelphia, pennsylvania. pennsylvania, you know, very important state. there's an important senate race there. neither one of them incumbent. it's going to be an interesting test to see how does this whole thing with voter anger, frustration, unemployment play out in that particular state. he's then traveling on to chicago, illinois. as we know, very important symbolically for the president. because who is going to fill his senate seat? the senate seat he once occupied. quietly, white house officials tell us, look, you know, this is going to be important because you don't want to give the republicans bragging rights if they end up capturing president obama's old senate seat. so they want to keep that democratic. and finally he's heading off to ohio. very important governor's race there, as well as a couple house seats that are on the line. and one of the things you're going to see in ohio is the whole issue of unemployment.

at least half, i understand at least half of the counties in ohio have unemployment rates of more than 11%. that's much higher than the national average. so jobs is a very big deal in ohio, and john, kiran, the the bottom line here is that if you like the president's policies, you want to keep the house and the senate in the democratic hands. if you don't like the policies, you want to see that changed. whether or not, whatever side you're on, this midterm election has been a huge difference in everybody's lives. because you could see those policies actually repealed or reversed. >> suzanne, you're actually traveling with the first lady this week and she's going to be focusing in on a number of key races. where she at? >> well, i packed a bag a. we're going to los angeles, california. obviously very important races in california, heading to washington state as well as

nevada. we're going to end up in las vegas, senate majority leader harry reid obviously fighting for his political life in trying to keep the majority there as well as keep his own job. so we've got a huge, busy week ahead. everybody's going to be traveling. the first lady, the vice president, the president. this is a hugely important midterm election. >> the time difference is going to be fun for you, as well. all right. hang in there, susan. thank you. >> coming up in the next hour of "american morning," the insights and analysis you've come to expect from cnn. we'll be joined by hilary rosen and ed rollins, 7:40 eastern time here. also new this morning, the world of competitive swimming is mourning the death of a top american swimmer. 26-year-old fran crippen died saturday in the last leg of his 10-k race in the united arab emirates. a lot complained the water

temperatures being too high, upwards of 86 degrees. that he outside was in the triple digits, as well. crippen's former coach said he had a conversation with the swimmer 12 hours before the race and was told the water was 87 degrees. authorities in the united arab emirates say that severe fatigue was the cause of death. the race is on to contain a growing epidemic in haiti. more than 250 people have daddy from a cholera outbreak there. for now the epidemic is concentrated in the rural areas of haiti. north and northwest of the capital city. but there are at least five cases reported in port-au-prince. this latest challenge comes as haiti continues to recover from january's devastating earthquake. in just a little more than ten minute's time, we're going to get a live update. jason erb is trying to help contain this cholera. >> and months and months after the earthquake, there's no drinkable water. >> very little has changed.

>> yes. well, also, piles of garbage lying in the streets of naples. there's been rioting. look at these pictures. the italian government stopped construction after a clash over the weekend. three people were injured and five others were arrested after throwing fire bombs. still ahead, thousands of classified military documents out on the web yet again. claims of widespread abuse, even torture of civilians by iraqi security forces. chris lawrence live from the pentagon with the latest on the wikileaks fallout.

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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. 13 minutes past the hour. things may look a little different to the viewers this morning because we have opened up the glass doors we used to have, and now you can check out the entire newsroom right behind us. >> as we're getting set for the election a week from tomorrow. the best political team on television is going to be inhabiting our studio here and we're going to be going on the air very early on wednesday morning, 3:00 a.m. >> 3:00 a.m. to noon. >> for those of you who are still up or want to get up early and find out what happened. this has turned into the cnn election center as it did two

years ago. >> yeah, we had to open up the doors to have room for everyone, all the analysts. >> looks good, though. >> i think it looks nice. well, welcome back, by the way to the most news in the morning. the obama administration is facing mounting pressure to investigate reports of widespread torture and prisoner abuse during the war in iraq. these reports came to light friday when wikileaks published classified military documents. >> those include evidence that iraqi soldiers tortured detainees. chris lawrence live for us at the pentagon this morning. just the sheer volume of the documents is pretty stunning, chris. >> yeah, john. you're talking anywhere around the area of nearly 400,000 documents. and, you know, when you talk about some of these allegations, these aren't just like fringe groups calling for investigation. the british prime minister says these are serious allegations and they need to be looked at. on the other hand, the u.s.

military very much furious at wikileaks for releasing these documents. one official called it a treasure-trove of information of classified information that makes the u.s. military more vulnerable today than it was six months ago. he also said it put iraqis at risk who cooperated with the united states. the thing is, they claimed the same thing back in july when the documents were released from u.s. field reports in afghanistan. >> and yet both a nato official and someone in the pentagon have told us that there is not one case of an afghan being identified by wiki leaks being harmed. are you demonizing them for no reason? >> i don't think so. remember, this is an organization that induces people to break the law, leak classified information, and then exposes that information to the world for everyone to potentially take advantage of,

including our enemies. those we're currently fighting, and those we may one day be in conflict with. >> again, the u.s. military very critical saying this sort of gives not only today's enemies, but future enemies sort of a manual on how to fight the u.s. military. john, kiran? >> chris lawrence for us in the pentagon this morning. thanks so much. we're obviously going to be following this story today, as well. well, it's 16 minutes past the hour. our christine romans has good tips on how to manage what could be tens of thousands of dollars in loans, especially as you're out there searching for a job in a tough market. we're minding your business in just a moment. formation was gathered together in one place. [ printer whirs ] done. ♪ thanks. do you work here? not yet. from tax info to debunking myths,

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coming up now 20 minutes after the hour. christine romans is with us this morning minding your business. talking social security and whether it's going to be there for us. >> well, look, the younger you are, the least likely you are to get the full extent of the benefits. that's according to the congressional budget office and a lot of people who look at these numbers. the older you are, the more likely you are to get benefits. you talk about social security and people get very upset. this is the kind of thing -- some say it's the easiest and hardest thing to fix in the whole world, right? you raise the retirement age or index benefits to how much money you make. you cut out some of the inflation benefits. you can start to make some money back in the social security system. but it makes people very

unhappy, the thought of people touching it. the cbo analyzed five different situations and found that looking at all of these different variables. for people born in the 1940s, basically you're going to get everything. you're going to get everything you were promised and you shouldn't have to worry. people born in the '60s, though, and beyond, your chances of getting everything under all of these different scenarios they analyzed go down dramatically. people born in the '80s, you've got about a 13% chance. people born in the 2000s, you've got about a 6% chance. so social security is something incredibly important here because it means you're probably not going to meet your retirement goals. so you need to right now be saving if you're young, go for it, make as much of a contribution in your other 401(k)s and outside of social security. raise the contribution amount every year if you can. and you might have to work longer. >> so the bottom line is at least they're giving them notice now. so these are the same, you're

not going to get social security and you're going to graduate with a mountain of debt. >> just last year in 2009, kids had 6% more student debt than the year before. it's a 6% annual increase in the amount of student dead you've had. why is that? because the schools have had to give you more loans to go to school because your parents aren't able to pick up so much of the bill. $24,000 on average now for 2009 students having in student debt. you've got to always borrow federal first, live like -- this is according to the student loan guru, live like a monk in college so you're not having to live look a monk when you pay off your student loans. manage that debt, maybe go to a community college or a public university instead of a private four-year school. people going to private fo four-year schools are spending a fortune. if you get on the wrong degree path and want to switch at the end, it's going to cost you an

awful lot of money. >> start your 401(k) when you're 1 years old. just pretend it's not even there. just whatever you can. >> yep. i'll try and do that for the kids. it's hard. getting harder. thanks, christine. >> you're welcome. cholera outbreak in haiti seems to be growing. it's now showing up in the capital city of port-au-prince where hundreds of thousands of people still living in tent cities since the earthquake. it's a huge concern if it gets into the city, the outbreak will spread like wildfire. up next, we're going to talk with jason erb from medical corps about the possibility of port-au-prince becoming the next target for cholera. credit card rewards are always good in theory. 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.

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25 1/2 minutes after the hour. new killers stalking the island of haiti, cholera. the fast-moving disease has killed more than 250 people and sickened thousands more. it's now in the crowded capital of port-au-prince where officials fear the disease could strike thousands of earthquake survivors who are still living in crowded tent camps. and if it gets in there, it could spread like wildfire. joining me on the phone now from st. marc, haiti, is jason erb. so how troubling is it to you, jason, that five cases have showed up in the capital city? >> it's definitely very worrying. at this point the cases have been of people who have traveled down from the region. it's a case of people carrying it with them, not of the disease spreading through a water

source. and that's a big threat. the cholera won't spread generally from person to person. really when it gets into a large water source it starts to affect a large number of people and becomes a major public health danger. but it's definitely worrying -- >> i was just going to say, it gets into the water source through, you know, human feces, other contaminated matter. the people who have it in port-au-prince, have they been put in isolation to the best of your knowledge? >> they're being treated, basically. and you really -- you have to have quite a large number of people contaminating a body of water. one or two people, you know, defecating into a river isn't going to contaminate it. you need a whole village that does a habitual act over a period of years or months or something. it's not just going to be one or two cases. that'll be something that's quite controllable. it's not good. it's a danger to the people around if there's individuals who carry the bacteria with them. but it's not going to lead to a massive outbreak. >> so the majority of cases so

far has been contained to the area north and northwest of port-au-prince. and we've got a map to show some of the cities up there. >> yeah. >> in the northwestern part of the country. the government and doctors and relief organizations like yours are urgently trying to keep cholera out of the capital city. do you think it's going to be possible? >> it should be possible. again, i mean, there's an awful lot of monitoring going on, what they call surveillance. and so when those cases do show up, and it becomes very clear, it's severe and acute diarrhea, these cases generally don't go unnoticed. and so people are isolated and treated. it's really about the water source. if the bacteria is able to seep into one of the major water sources for port-au-prince, that's when the danger is. again, it's something all the agencies are doing a lot of training. we're in the camps. it is a danger because the camps are so crowded and the conditions are so unhygienic. so we're doing a lot of

education for people to, you know, maintain good hygiene, good hand washing, clean water, storage, and treatment practices. we're doing a lot of education for recognizing the symptoms and what to do if somebody appears with the symptoms. and so, again, we'll be, i think, able to contain it fairly well. but it is a risk. it's a major risk, something we're all very concerned about. >> the number of deaths has gone past 250 now. and i think the number of infections is above 3,000. but the rate of infection according to some reports appears to be slowing. could the tide potentially be turning here? >> that's what we're hoping. and like you said. it is -- it's uncertain at this point. it does appear to be stabilizing so far. hopefully the work that the government and the united nations and local and international agencies are doing up here in st. marc and north of here is having an effect. but again, some of the areas, some of the more remote areas that are not so accessible where

we don't exactly know what's happening yet. we don't know the number of cases out there. and that's something we're trying to get a better handle on at this point. and again, the government's trying to do a comprehensive needs assessment for the entire region. that hasn't been done yet. that's something that takes a bit of time to ramp up. and we've only been really aware of this for the past maybe five days or so. and that's taking place right now. the hope is that the tide is turning. but, again, it's sort of we're on the edge. it could either turn and stabilize or it could -- it could become worse. that's what we're all sort of trying to make sure doesn't happen. >> well, it's tremendous work that you and your colleagues in the international medical corps and the relief organizations are doing to try to get a handle on this. jason erb, thanks so much for and good luck in the days and weeks ahead. it's half past the hour now. we want to get you caught up on other stories. unbelievable video captured on a cell phone. you hear the words "we are in a tornado."

a driver getting incredible footage as this twister roared across navarro county, texas. no one was killed. typhoon megi, sections of a scenic highway perched along a cliff came crashing down. family members of missing chinese tourists are headed there now. megi killed at least 13 people and injured nearly 100 others in taiwan last week. a jury is now seated in the chandra levy murder trial. an illegal immigrant from el salvador who allegedly killed the intern back in 2001 while she was djogging in a popular d.c. park. it's been a bitter battle for the u.s. senate seat in florida. and the contentious battle spilled over into yesterday's debate seen here on cnn.

>> things got really heated when charlie crist, running as an independent took on the bush tax cuts. >> and we have five senate democrats saying we've got to vote on this thing and say the taxes are extended for everybody. it's not just me. >> adam, adam, adam -- let me just say this. let me just say this. >> not figuring out what to do. ideological arguments without common sense compromising to do what's right for the people. you're seeing it right here, right now. that's why i'm running as an independent. >> well, our senior political editor mark preston live in tampa this morning. mark, this is not really your typical political campaign, there's a long back story between these candidates, as well. >> reporter: a lot of personal politics, kiran, no question about that. in fact, you know, later on, kiran, in that debate, marco rubio turned and described

charlie crist as a heckler because he kept on interrupting him. what we saw here on the stage here at the university of south florida was really a long, bitter campaign coming toward an end. right now marco rubio, the republican has a double-digit lead over charlie crist and kendrick meek. charlie crist is the republican who was supposed to win the senate seat, however, marco rubio was pushed by the tea party and forced charlie crist to run the gop party. and he's running as an independent, he was siphoning votes against kendrick meek. a lot of personal frustration, i think was played out on the stage here in florida, kiran. >> and florida voters are going to see another debate tonight, mark. this one will be in a much closer election. the race for governor there. this one will be really interesting. >> reporter: yeah, it really would. and talk about flash points we saw on the stage. yesterday, i suspect that there's going to be a lot of tension in this debate.

you have alex sink the democrat running against rick scott, the republican. these two do not get along personally. in fact, some of their debates up to this date have been pretty contentious. right now, the race is evenly tied. 49 to 46, that's within the cnn margin of error. alex sink is having a little trouble with women, john. she is only up five points on rick scott in this race. she needs to perform better with women. throughout the state, she's doing well in miami and southern florida. however, rick scott is running the tables everywhere else in the state. one person we haven't seen here, john, for this campaign is president obama. alex sink has not linked herself with president obama. however, i wouldn't be surprised to see president clinton come in the closing days here. he's still very popular, of course, in florida. >> he's the closer all over the place, right? >> that's interesting to see. the president's not going down there, but the former president is. >> yeah. >> mark preston for us. thanks so much. and be sure to watch cnn tonight 7:00 eastern, john king usa, the

florida governor's debate. the candidates will be duking it out. john king moderates. and he'll also be joining us this morning at 8:00 eastern. and of course, for the latest political news, go to our website 24/7 cnn politics.com. how much do you know about the tea party? still ahead, amy gardner shares her six-month survey of the tea party talking to groups all across the country. you might be surprised by what she found out. it's 36 minutes past the hour. k, i want to do it right... tdd# 1-800-345-2550 [ male announcer ] serious about trading options? tdd# 1-800-345-2550 schwab has a serious range of tools and resources. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 you don't just wing options. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 for a start, i want specialized tools... tdd# 1-800-345-2550 [ male announcer ] get a quicker read tdd# 1-800-345-2550 on where a stock could be heading tdd# 1-800-345-2550 using our advanced charting tdd# 1-800-345-2550 with implied volatility and put/call ratio studies. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 scan the market in real-time for potential opportunities tdd# 1-800-345-2550 with our customizable option screeners. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 options can be tricky. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 even a guy like me might need a little help now and then. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 [ male announcer ] talk to a schwab options specialist tdd# 1-800-345-2550 or take our seminars free -- tdd# 1-800-345-2550 online or in person.

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38 minutes past the hour

now. welcome back to the most news in the morning. eight days until the midterm elections, and you probably heard a lot about the tea party movement. it's undoubtedly the breakout story of this year's election. what do we really know about the tea party movement? our next guest says less than you think and maybe some surprises out there. amy gardner completed a six-month survey of tea party groups from across the nation. thanks so much for being with us this morning. >> my pleasure, thanks. >> the article's fascinating because we heard so much about the tea party. tea party-backed candidate. there's a perception that they're everywhere and that they're really going to have an impact on many, many elections across the country. but still, it's somewhat of a mystery. what were the big surprises to you that came out of your survey? >> there were two interesting statistics we found. one was that 86% of group leaders said that most of their members are new to politics. so that sort of confirms what you're saying, that this is a potentially powerful new grass

roots army of activists who can make an impact on the elections. >> right. these are people who may not have been interested in politics before? or just didn't feel the need to get together with a group that are now energized in 2010? >> these are folks who voted but weren't necessarily active. and activism is important to bring others out to the polls. that's how candidates and parties and movements get people to vote and get the elections to be swayed their way. >> right. >> however, there's this contradictory statistic we found, which is that 70% of the group leaders we interviewed say they're not coordinating political action at the local level. so it's -- it's bizarre. it sort of suggests there is this potential grass roots army, but it's still not coherent and coordinated enough to be a clear and sort of concrete force. that we know of. >> and that is interesting. because you actually said you reached out to some 647 different groups. were you able to sort of paint a

picture about who tea party members are, what is important to them? >> well, we certainly found that a principal focus as we already surmised is fiscal issues, government spending. but it was pretty interesting to find that fewer than half of groups cited those issues as their top issue. so there's also a lack of coherence in terms of the single issue that they're focused on. >> this was interesting, though, that i saw in your reporting. you said that there was as much dissatisfaction, nearly as much dissatisfaction with mainstream republicans among the tea party members as there was with the obama administration. 92% said they're in opposition to democratic party policies, 87% were dissatisfied with the mainstream gop. what does that potentially translate into at the ballot box in eight days? >> that is a very good question. i mean, i think that clearly the sensibility of the tea party gives advantage to republican candidates. but there's no question that many of the members of this sort

of movement don't believe in the two-party system as it exists right now and want to operate outside of that. they don't want to operate as a third party. what many of them told us is that they want to do voter education. they want to talk about the issues. and then they want their members to make the decision on their own about who they support in the elections. clearly the issues they're talking about, fiscal conservatism, low taxes, reducing government spending is a message that is going to give advantage to republican candidates towards next tuesday. >> here's the other thing that's confounded a lot of people, myself included when we take a look at this. you wrote that social issues did not register as concern. >> right. >> it sounds a little hard to believe because there are so many tea party-backed candidates out there who have gotten a lot of attention on their stances on social issues, conservative

stances. christine o'donnell got a lot of attention, but here in new york, carl paladino, issues about gay marriage, about abortion, sharron angle about her comments about whether or not in any case an abortion should be okay. why does it seem that we're hearing so much from the tea party candidates about social issues? >> i think there's a couple of things going on there. the first thing is that this movement was born in the early days of the obama administration. pretty narrowly to, you know, give expression to the anxiety that folks were feeling about some of the fiscal policies that were coming out of the administration. and i also think that there has been a very coordinated effort by some of the national political groups that have been helping organize the tea party. big groups of, you know, seasoned political operatives like freedom works and americans for prosperity to keep the message focused on fiscal issues. and there's a good reason for that strategically. social issues divide our

country, divide the nation. and there are -- and the, you know, the big prize of most elections are independent, fiscally conservative voters who get turned off when things get, you know, when the topic turns too sharply to social issues. >> that's why i'm confused. you're saying when you interviewed, all of these people said that social issues are not their top concerns. then, of course, the national parties, the tea party express and others don't want the focus on social issues. why are so many candidates socially conservative? >> i guess the candidates have less discipline than some of the groups. i think the message for me is that these groups are created with a purpose that was narrow and the folks that we talked to who represent those groups are letting us know that they're trying to stick to that message discipline. the candidates, i guess, are another story. >> that is what is sort of proving to be divisive. >> exactly.

>> some of the candidates' social issues, and you're saying that's not what the tea party was about. very fascinating. we're going to link it up with our blog, as well. thanks so much. >> my pleasure. there's a lot you haven't seen or heard about the the tea party movement and we're also looking into it here at cnn. "boiling point: inside the tea party" saturday and sunday night here on cnn. we've got reynolds wolf tracking the weather for you. some severe weather down south. he's also got the travel forecast right after the break. 45 minutes after the hour. [ j. weissman ] it was 1975. my professor at berkeley asked me if i wanted to change the world. i said "sure." "well, let's grow some algae." and that's what started it. exxonmobil and synthetic genomics have built a new facility to identify the most productive strains of algae.

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68 degrees right now as we take a look at atlanta, georgia, this morning. a little bit later, a high of 75. but there are some strong storms that are actually moving in right now. could be making their way, unfortunately, into the city just in time for rush hour. these are the same severe storm systems that spawned tornadoes we saw. >> we'll be paying for the beautiful weekend we had in atlanta. let's get a check of the morning's weather headlines. >> payback is going to begin in about 90 minutes here in atlanta. we can expect that potent storm system producing strong winds, hail, possibly a little bit of flash flooding back here and, of course, the threat of tornadoes. a couple of areas that are shaded you'll notice. those happen to be your tornado watches. both of these areas in effect until about 10:00 eastern. we had strong storms.

atlanta, about an hour and a half before the main source comes through. but this is not really the only bulls eye we've been watching. we have the rough weather possible in parts of the southeast. but let's not forget what may happen later on today across parts of the midwest. iowa, maybe even into wisconsin before the day is over. illinois could have strong storms, including places like rockford, perhaps chicago and maybe milwaukee into the afternoon. the frontal boundary, the daytime heating, and plenty of moisture from the gulf of mexico. your high temperatures across the nation. well, we can expect highs of about 72 degrees in new york, sunshine and clouds, possibly some storms in the afternoon. that's kind of deceiving as that front comes in, the rain comes through. we'll see the temperatures drop a bit. 89 in dallas, 59 in san francisco. 79 your high in kansas city, 56 in denver, and 48 in salt lake city. 75 in washington, d.c. you're up to speed. got a lot of weather to share with you. more coming up straight ahead, including a look at the tropics.

back to you in new york. >> reynolds, thanks so much. well, we're still talking about the weather. we are in a tornado, that's what the man who shot this video you're about to see said as he was watching this and taping it for all of us. he'll be joining us live to explain what it was like as this tornado tore through navarro county, texas. can a hacker steal the election? eight days away from the midterms, we take an up close look at electronic voting machines in a new series "does your vote count?" record players and floppy disks, bye-bye, sony walkman. ...authentic... ...pure... and also delicious. ♪ like nature valley. granola bars made with crunchy oats and pure honey. because natural is not only good, it also tastes good.

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coming up on six minutes now till the top of the hour. and here's some of the stories that had us chatting in the newsroom this morning. actor randy quaid says he's on a hollywood death list. quaid and his wife are seeking refuge in canada and fighting extradition. >> why do they run off to canada? >> blame canada, i guess. they claim that their friends were also on that list. well, elephants, tiger safari, and the love guru and the groom arriving. she and her fiance russell brand tied the knot. he reportedly gave the singer a bengal tiger and a ruby. it's a double boy joy for celine dion.

she gave birth to twins. doctors say the babies were healthy even though they were a little premature. twins typically are. she and her husband have a 9-year-old son. can you imagine twins? >> no way. my friend had triplets, and god bless her. >> god certainly did bless her. wow. >> exactly. well, it's time to retire the tapes. after 30 years, sony is saying sayonara to the walkman. well, according to the company, the last round of portable cassette players were produced back in april, 220 million sold and now they'll be collector's items. >> didn't we hear a couple weeks ago they're bringing back the cassette? >> maybe they didn't coordinate. >> may be a little premature in retirement. you might not want to play horse against these guys. the upper deck of a soccer stadium. here's the pitch and -- oh, yeah, look at that. it's in. lucky shot? no, let's do it again. oh, and there it goes in again.

and just to make sure, let's do it backwards. >> these guys have great aim. look -- >> this is unbelievable. it's amazing how they can do that. well, this, of course, is all the rage on youtube, but is it real? >> i got tricked once with the slip and slide. there's no way this is real, people. >> the slip and slide where the guy went 800 feet. >> and landed perfectly in a pool. >> right. they took it from several camera angles, but these days digital technology is such that you can manipulate anything that you want to. by the way, remember that 747 coming in over the golden gate bridge? >> yeah. >> check with the faa, it was 1/2 mile away. >> that was just amazing camera angles, right? >> it was the camera angle, what's called optical compression. when you zoom in on two things a long way away, it smushes them together. >> do you believe those basketball shots were real?

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we are in a tornado! we are in a tornado! we're in a tornado! we are in the tornado! >> you certainly are in the tornado. some of the most incredible footage we've ever seen of a twister. a driver coming way too close to a funnel cloud that tore apart a school outside of dallas, texas.

no one was there. we also hear it sounds like a freight train all the time, you'll be able to hear it for yourself and see it for yourself this morning. and good morning, thanks -- and good morning, thanks so much for being with us on this monday, october 25th, i'm kiran chetry. >> good morning to you, i'm john roberts. thanks so much for joining us. we're going to have more on that amazing tornado video in just a moment. but first, let's get you caught up with this morning's top stories. here's what happened overnight. president obama on the road again. he's going to be campaigning in rhode island. one more critical road trip remains for the president. what happens in the next eight days could very well impact your future. and cnn has the best political team on television covering it like no one else can. anger after the sudden death of a top american swimmer. he died on the final leg of a competition in the united arab emirates. the winner of the race now complaining that the water and air temperatures were too high. so did the water temperature play a part in fran crippen's

death? and a deadly shark attack off the coast of california. a teenager was boogie boarding on friday when a shark out of nowhere rose up and bit down on his leg. three beaches now shut down. will they reopen today? up first, though, extreme weather. an incredibly close encounter with a tornado. >> we are in a tornado! we are in a tornado! we're in the tornado! we are in the tornado! we are in the tornado! >> this was just outside of dallas. you can hear and see the raw power. this twister coming from the highway as it ripped apart a school, tore a seven-mile-long path through navarro county. thankfully, no one was killed. >> all that stuff coming

downright in front of his vehicle too. talk about the opposes forces of nature. watch this. a rainbow off in the distance. a funnel cloud coming right at you. this report came in from joey romero. he's a second-year med student who took shelter in the freezer in the back of a gas station and tended to some injured people in a nearby sonic fast food restaurant. these severe storms are heading east. here's a live look at radar right now. tornado watches up from alabama into georgia. >> reynolds wolf is in the extreme weather center for us this morning. aptly named today. and this no doubt is going to have a big effect on travel in and out of atlanta this morning, reynolds. >> absolutely. and one advantage you have in parts of texas and the southern plains you don't have in the southeast is things are relatively quiet in texas. here you've got a lot of hills. that same clear field of vision. it's going to be tough to see potential tornadoes. right now, there is certainly

that potential. we've got tornado watches in effect. let's go right to the maps. as we do so, we're going to zoom in, especially in the states of alabama, georgia, even into tennessee. you see the areas surrounded by red? that's your tornado watch that will be in effect until 10:00 eastern time. anyone making that drive from atlanta to birmingham along i-20, you're going to run into a wall of very, very heavy rain, driving winds, possibly some hail. could see flash flooding and poor drainage areas, low-lying areas. especially creeks, bridges will have some issues this morning. all the way into chattanooga, even into knoxville before the day is out. that's not the only area where we might be dealing with rough weather. there's the potential of that forming back across the midwest, western half of the great lakes. milwaukee, perhaps even st. louis and into des moines before the day is out. this morning, it's all the southeast, it's all in parts of the part of the panhandle, alabama, georgia, and the carolinas. it's certainly going to be a rough time. and guys, as you know very well,

when you have the rough storms in a big hub like atlanta, you're going to see the add-on effect of connection. people trying to get to and from this area, it's going to stack up along the northeast corridor. back to you guys in new york. >> reynolds keeping an eye on a lot of severe weather today. thanks. coming up in ten minutes, we'll be talking to eric myers, the emergency management coordinator for navarro county. >> we are in the tornado. that's going to be his most famous words. we're in the home stretch now. a week to go before the midterm elections, and everything is on the line on the eight days remaining until america votes. and the president on the road again. the big push going to five states. >> cnn has the story covered like no one else. candy crowley as well as john king, our senior political editor mark preston, and political contributor hilary rosen and cnn's senior political analyst ed rollins will be joining us throughout the morning. we begin this morning in

florida where tax cuts and the economy were two themes that dominated yesterday's senate debate. front-running republican marco rubio holding a comfortable 14-point lead in the polls. kendrick meek is 26 points back of rubio. yesterday's debate featuring a lot of bickering with the bush-era tax cuts and how to extend them. a key point of contention. >> you have five senate democrats saying we've got to vote on this thing and extend -- so the taxes are extended for everybody. it's not just me saying. >> adam, will the me just say this. let me just say this. >> not agreeing back and forth, not figuring out what to do. ideological arguments without common sense compromising to do what's right for the people. you're seeing it right here, right now. that's why i'm running as an independent. >> joining us live from washington this morning, the host of "state of the union" and moderator of yesterday's debate, candy crowley. it's always interesting when there's three. there's even more back and forth

and talking over each other as everyone's trying to get their point across. >> and everyone jockeying for position. as you saw, there was a lot of tension in that room i have to tell you. i'm pretty sure they didn't go out and have a beer afterwards. it was heightened, and why? precisely because we are eight days out. they are getting down to the last chances to being seen and compared to each other in person. and that always heightens whatever's going on. and, in fact, when you are 26 points down as meek is or about 14 points down as charlie crist is, you got to take your shots when you can. and so we saw a lot of that, no matter what the subject matter was. but the target was always marco rubio. take a listen to this. >> my tax returns are public. i've gone well beyond the point of disclosure. the bottom line, if people want to focus on these issues because

they're wrong on the important issues. this country has a $13.5 trillion debt. >> he doesn't believe in transparency. i created the office of open government in the governor's office for the first time in the history of our state. >> what i'd like -- >> so -- and so it went. we covered a lot of topics. but very tense up there. and again, the target is always the front runner. in this case, it's republican marco rubio. >> interesting, the polling showing him so far ahead right now. it's a lot closer in many of these other senate races that, you know, they're within the margin of error. what do we expect tonight with that? >> alex sink, the democrat, rick scott, the republican, he's an health industry executive who came out of nowhere. he's one of those republicans that the mainstream republicans didn't, you know, didn't pick. he wasn't the candidate they

backed. and yet here he is now, he's the republican nominee. alex sink is the top financial executive in the state. so she's a government worker. i think you will hear certainly a lot of bickering tonight, a lot of differences on the issues. because they have been at each other from the very beginning. and partly that's because it is so close. but this has been a bitter race. and you talk about two people that definitely don't see each other after hours, it's these two candidates. it seems a little personal when you watch them. they clearly don't like each other, but they also clearly have huge, huge differences in policy and how they want to go forward in the state of florida. and one of the reasons, i think people forget why we watch these governor debates. why would you care about the governorship in florida or maryland or wherever you are if you're not in that state. what happens this year, is we had the census. all of these states are getting ready to redistrict. the population has changed.

and when you redistrict, you change the make-up of congress. so florida is gaining more seats, and the governor always has something to do with that. he or she does not have the final say. but certainly they can be quite influential in that. so these positions, governorships take on national implications. >> all right. candy crowley for us this morning. going to have a long day again with the governor's debate tonight. thanks, candy. here we are eight days away from the election. and latest polls, politico, george washington university battleground polls shows the republicans are leading democrats 14 points among independents. that could be a big factor in next tuesday's election. we're going to kick that around with hilary rosen and our senior political analyst ed rollins. we'll also talk about what will happen if the first time since 1930 we have one party occupying the white house, same party occupying the senate, and a different party occupying the house. which looks like it's how it

could go. meanwhile, there's another story we've been following closely this morning. the world of competitive swimming in mourning this morning because of a death of a top american swimmer. it happened over the weekend. 26-year-old fran crippen died saturday during the last leg of a 10-k open-water race in the united arab emirates. a lot of swimmers were complaining the water temperatures were too high. crippen's former coach said he had a conversation with the swimmer 12 hours before the race and was told the water temperature was 87 degrees, triple digit heat outside, as well. authorities say severe fatigue was cause of death. authorities in california could reopen three beaches north of santa barbara this morning after a deadly shark attack there leading into the weekend. the 19-year-old was boogie boarding when a shark swam up and bit down on his leg. also took a big chunk out of his board. shark sightings have been frequent, but since the attack,

there have been not been any reports of shark sightings and believed that might have been a great white. >> they're trying to figure that out. because they say it was possibly 14 to 20 feet long. >> yeah, you take a look at the bite radius on that boogie board. that's a large amount. could a hacker steal the election? we're taking a look at electronic voting machines in all 50 states, but there are no guarantees. a new a.m. series "does your vote count?" just ahead. and the man who drove into a twister in texas and lived to tell about it joins us live coming up next. it's 11 minutes after the hour.

we are in a tornado! we are in a tornado! we're in the tornado! we are in the tornado! >> certainly are in that tornado. it's one of the most incredible, upclose encounters with a tornado we've seen captured on a

cell phone camera. it happened during the outbreak of a severe weather that hit northeast texas yesterday. >> joining us now is the man who shot that video, eric meyers, the emergency management coordinator. it's great to talk to you this morning, eric. that looks like a scene out of the movie "twister," what was it like to be there? >> it was absolutely amazing. as many of these events as we've been through, this was definitely a very close call. and just the power was just amazing. >> and how close were you? where were you? and what is unfolding that we're seeing right now? >> we were actually called out early by the national weather service there in dallas and ft. worth to activate our spotter network to bring people in line to begin watching these storms for possible tornadoes. we traveled northbound on i-45, which is near dallas to watch

the storm evolve. the tornado touched down just to our west. the storm took a quick right turn. the tornado, as you can see in the video, then moved across a railroad, derailed 11 cars, hit the school, demolished the school, went across the interstate in front of me. roughly 100 yards in front of me, overturned an 18-wheeler on top of a car, took another vehicle, threw it into a ditch. and another car into a pasture. so it was a very scary feeling. >> it's just unbelievable to see the roof come off of that elementary school right there in front of you. and when you take the shot out the front window of the car which we're seeing now, we're seeing that debris coming down all around you. talk about being -- you were screaming over and over again, we're in the tornado, we're in the tornado. there's no question you were. why were you just sitting there? why didn't you try to get out? >> well, you know, that's a good question. and we always try and teach safe

practices to our spotters and myself included. we were northbound like i'd mentioned and trying to stay on the southeast side of the storm, the south side. the storm made a quick right turn, and we were actually on the radio trying to broadcast positions to our dispatch to let them know what was going on. and as that happened, the storm turned on us and came into us. and unfortunately, that's what you saw. >> it is amazing. you also said you guys had a pretty close brush with possibly death. a cement truck that came down on your suv or almost did? >> on the vehicles in front of us, an 18-wheeler had overturned on to an suv, and then also took cars immediately in front of us. and actually took those off the road. luckily no serious injuries. we did have four confirmed injuries. we did have five houses that were demolished. >> eric, we see the video jumps

around an awful lot. was that just the adrenaline? was that just sort of -- i guess what you almost call the semi-panic state you were in? or were you being buffeted around in that vehicle? >> it's a little bit of both. trying to maintain composure while the windows were open being pelted with debris. it was really awesome. at the same time, i was really nervous and worrying for my own safety at that point. >> was there a point where you thought, uh-oh, this is it? got too close? >> yeah. it did. when i saw it turn directly to the right and come in, i thought this is not going to be good. luckily everything turned out all right and i got some good video, but i definitely won't do it again. >> well, you learned your lesson, but you have amazing video. luckily also it happened on a weekend. because as you said that elementary school, which would've possibly been filled with kids and teachers on a

weekday was empty. that school was demolished. >> absolutely, absolutely. we're going to continue this morning doing our damage assessments with the national weather service, so we should know more shortly. >> you have something to tell your grand kids, no question about that. >> thanks, eric. as you said, they're going to be doing more official testing today with the national weather service. >> you figure you're 100 yards away and you see the roof come off like that. >> and he said other cars in front of him ripped off the road. what prevented him from being the same? >> and you saw one car coming southbound on i-45 too. that person narrowly avoided something terrible. amazing video this morning. well, youtube, twitter, facebook, it may not be a waste of time if you're a small business owner. christine romans will tell us why coming up. tic bottles of wa. ♪ that's enough to stretch around the earth

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twitter, facebook, myspace. of course, people are using this all the time to reconnect with old friends. but now it's turned into a business tool. a lot of people are using it to help grow their business. >> it is kind of ruining productivity in some places, but in her book "smart is the new rich," our christine romans tells you how you can actually make it pay for you. purple's a great color on you, by the way. >> oh, thank you very much. purple for prosperity. >> every time you plug the book, you have to wear the same. >> this is the first time i've noticed. a lot of people tell me they're in small business, trying to figure out how do we make this work for us? we don't get it? we don't understand how to make this work, and we don't want an employee tweeting all day long. i set out to try to find out what should you do as a small business to make social media work and pay for you? >> reporter: it doesn't get more local than this. a 30-minute photo shop in irvine, california. same store front since 1990. but this is an international enterprise now.

>> when i started, customer base was about 3 to 5 miles. today it's worldwide. people find us online through searches, through search engine, through twitter searches as well as facebook. >> reporter: mitch goldstone has tweeted some 32,000 messages, he has 10,600 followers on twitter where he broadcasts promotions and trying to make a name for his company scan my photos. he doesn't just self-promote. he shares links and product reviews and blends into a running conversation online about all things photo. >> if you're not into social media, social networking, you will be out of business. i'm going to repeat that. you will be out of business if you don't tweet, use facebook, and social media today. >> smart small business owners are embracing and profiting from this free tool. just ask the co-founder of beauty brand. >> today you don't need to spend any money at all to set up a facebook fan page. you don't need a huge marketing

fund to set up a twitter account. you need zero. >> when an expensive print ad campaign fell flat, he launched an online contest to find the face of the brand. it attracted 150,000 fans on facebook. sales doubled in six months. the social media social butterflies learned to use these free tools to grow their business. but it's not easy. experts say the trick is figuring out how to turn posts and tweets into dollars and cents. >> it's great if you have, you know, 10,000 followers on twitter, but how many of them are paying customers? it allows small businesses and the smart ones really focus on. >> we're still trying to figure it out. they know they have to be involved. so how do you turn it into business? how do you monetize these free tools? here's what not to do. don't be boring, don't overshare, don't bombard your customers with useless posts. and don't just promote yourself. instead, experts say you've got to become a resource for your

customers. mitch goldstone tests photo products and posts helpful links to photography stories and blogs. customers respond to free tips and the occasional coupon. and try to cultivate a persistent online persona. think of your business as a voice in a running conversation about whatever it is you're in business doing. respond very quickly. you always have to ask your customers what they want. don't just tell them. bottom line, you can't afford not to embrace it. it's as essential as having a phone number was a generation or even a century ago. consider a tweet as a tap on the shoulder and you must use these tools, not simply to talk, talk, talk, but to listen to what your customers have to say and to follow them in the conversation. >> there's so many different ways now to get your message out there. used to be you'd buy an ad in a newspaper or radio and now you can do it all yourself. >> and now this is an international yellow pages, basically. and people are coming to you because they know your product or they're interested and want to hear what you have to say. it has an incredible potential

to get you to an audience you've never seen before. >> i also imagine there is a huge market out there for people who have these skills to contract with these businesses. if you're tech savvy and understand this, capitalize on it. there's not a lot of new opportunities out there. >> i talked some kids who were high school kids who were doing it for local businesses because they couldn't get a job for the summer. >> you know what they say? smart is the new rich. >> that's what they say. >> purple looks good on you. >> thanks. it's your right, some say your responsibility, but how can you be sure your vote will be counted on election day? today we're looking at a look of potential problems with electronic voting machines. that's coming up, 27 minutes after the hour.

29 minutes after the hour. your top stories a couple of minutes away. first, though, an a.m. original. when you cast your vote in eight days, how can you be sure it'll count?

carol costello live with us this morning with part one of our series, does your vote count? >> good morning, john. it's crazy to think in a world with laptops, they can't dream up a voting machine that doesn't confuse voters, protect us from fraud, and make sure our vote counts if the machine malfunctions. is that really so hard? sadly it can be, even in 2010. >> reporter: in new york city, one of the most sophisticated cities in the world, primary election day was certainly not sophisticated. in mayor michael bloomberg's words -- >> that is a royal screw-up and completely unacceptable. >> was it a royal screw-up? >> i would lieave that to the mayor. >> reporter: and something they've never seen before, an electronic voting machine. not only that, they complained

ballots were confusing or tough to read. saw broken down machines or none at all. >> i'm sorry. you come to vote? >> yes. >> the machines are not here yet. >> not here yet? >> no, they'll be here about 11:00. >> reporter: keep in mind other states are electronically challenged too. illinois's having problems now. gubernatorial candidate rich whitney's name was spelled rich whitey on some machines, and poll workers are working feverishly to correct the mistake before the elections on november 2nd. other things like improperly filled out ballots and machine functions. the new york board of elections is now retraining 36,000 poll workers to better serve voters on november 2nd. it's also offering voters a pre-election day demonstration. but sit back, we'll show you now. >> a voter will get one paper ballot.

>> reporter: a poll worker will hand you a ballot. you take it over to a cubical. you use a pen to color in the circle next to your candidate's name. you put your completed ballot in a folder, and then you head to the machine. >> if i come over here to scan my ballot, the poll worker should be nowhere around me. >> nowhere near you. >> reporter: the voter puts the ballot into the machine, it's scanned, and then drops into a locked bin. simple, right? so why the royal screw-up in new york? florence norden says new york should've had a trial run before the primaries. and he says new york may have avoided some problems if states actually shared information. >> there's no central place where voting problems are reported. and somebody can screen them and report to election officials, here's a common problem with your machine. >> and that says norden is why

states are experiencing problems with electronic voting machines. >> oh, but john, the number one reason, human error. poll workers were properly trained. and at times the machines experienced a paper jam and no one knew how to fix the problem. the new york election officials say that will not happen again. they've hired 36,000 poll workers, retrained them all, and are hoping november 2nd is glitch-free. >> well, thank goodness this year's election day is not a surprise, like all the other ones were. there were other concerns across the country, as well, like too much information being crammed on to one page. it's really small, hard to read. why can't they put the info on more than one page? >> that's a great question. when you look at the ballot, all of the information is crammed on one page and the font is really small. oddly enough it's up to state legislatures to determine what information goes on how many pages and what the font size is. and to change that, in some

states you would have to go back to the state legislature and they would have to vote on it. >> all right. we all know that could take time and create more surprises, as well. carol, thanks so much for that. tomorrow on our special series "it is your right," should it be required? one expert says the u.s. should show up on election day or pay. part two of our series "does your vote count?" >> they do it with a lot of success in other countries. ireland, or australia. >> i like the purple finger thing. if you're not walking around with a purple finger, you're in trouble. top stories this morning, we are in the tornado. a twister roared across texas yesterday. emergency management says at least five homes were levelled, but no one was killed. well, after four years and almost $1 billion, homeland security could scrap the virtual fence along the mexican border. the high-tech surveillance system was sold to us as a way to stop potential terrorists and drug smugglers. it's turning out to be a

high-tech lemon. there have been reported number of problems. all right. now here is a really strange story. remember the hiccup girl? that florida girl that had hiccups that lasted for weeks? well, police say she was one of three arrested for killing a man in an armed robbery attempt. she's just 19 years old now and she is facing in addition to her problem with the hiccups, first-degree murder charges. >> very strange. well, a new crisis for haiti in the wake of the devastating earthquake. right now fighting an outbreak of cholera. more than 250 people have died and more than 3,000 confirmed cases now. this outbreak has also spread to the capital port-au-prince where thousands of people are still living in tent cities. our international security correspondent paula newton is live in st. marc, haiti.

this is something they feared, paula, from the very beginning. if they didn't get clean water sources to people, this would happen. >> absolutely, kiran. and what's so puzzling is it happened in ten months after the earthquake in a region that wasn't hit by the earthquake. but what happened, though, this country all over the country, the water resources are under such strain that health experts have said they've been warning for months it was still a risk. and i'm at the hospital here this morning in st. marc. and things are much calmer. when we left yesterday, they were still carrying bodies to the morgue, a lineup outside the hospital, the triage was in real chaos. that seems to be the anecdotal evidence i can give you from experts who say fewer cases and perhaps a lower death rate, which is key here. because people need to know how to prevent cholera. and if they get it, they need to know to get care urgently.

people say, look, once the bug is here, you know, cholera is here to stay. and this will be something that haiti will deal with. they haven't had to deal with this in half century. it's going to add yet another burden to a country, kiran, i can tell you that is still struggling. >> that's the part that's upsetting to so many people, they have not been able to get resources to the people that need it the most nearly a year after this earthquake. paula newton, thanks so much. midterm elections now just eight days away. it's coming down to the wire. the president hitting the campaign trail again. he'll be in rhode island today. of course we'll have full coverage. ahead, cnn political contributor hilary rosen and ed rollins breaking down a theory that democratic losses next week could mean big gains for the party in 2012. 37 minutes after the hour. mes i, 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.

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well, just over a week now remaining before the midterm elections, the polls looking bleak for the white houseme. one of the biggest challenges will be winning over independent voters, and right now that's not happening. want to take a few minutes for a little r & r, rollins and rosen. hilary rosen and ed rollins with us this morning. blue sky this for me. what do you think is going to happen for me next tuesday? >> i think republicans will win the house, i think it'll be close in the senate. we'll probably pick up six or seven senate seats. >> hilary? >> i don't think the republicans are going to win the house. i don't think they have closed this out. >> what do you base that on? because every political analyst out there, rothenberg report --

>> well, people have been predicting this for six, seven, eight months. but the problem is that the numbers haven't shifted. the republicans have not closed this deal. and so many races, there's more tossup races than there ever have been. and a lot of the races what people aren't focusing on are the third-party candidates whose numbers traditionally in many of these ballots have three, four, and five candidates. those numbers are pretty high, and they could -- they could hold on for -- help democrats significantly. >> certainly things aren't looking good for the democrats at the moment. let's put numbers up on the screen. this is the latest politico, george washington university battleground poll preference. republicans 51%, the democrats, 39% among independent voters. this is incredibly important slice of the electorate. 62% of independent voters say

they have an unfavorable opinion of health care legislation, 66% say the recovery legislation's not working for them, 69% have less faith in government. so -- >> i don't believe -- i don't believe that people are going to throw a vote away. i think people want change. and i think they see the republican party the party of change. we'll see that a week from tomorrow. i think independents have decided the election in 2006 gave you a majority, in 2008 gave the president the white house. >> recent and early voting shows the democrats have less of an enthusiasm gap than was first thought. how do you think that will play out? >> first of all, independents have never really had big turnouts in midterm elections. they do make the case almost every time in a presidential election. i -- i think that what we're seeing on early voting is that democrats are coming out, that the base is home. so we'll see. you know, i think some of these independents voted for change, a lot of their dissatisfaction is

that they haven't seen enough of it. that doesn't mean that they're aligned with where the tea party wants to take the republicans in the house. i think this is much fuzzier than -- >> if you're describing -- you're describing three words that are the factors in this race. the president, nancy pelosi, speaker pelosi, and obamacare. i think those three issues are driving a vote to our side significantly. and i think the president who has been out there with a very shrill tone has had an impact on, he didn't change what washington's about. if anything, he made it worse. >> there's another narrative entering the political discussion, hilary. and that is while the president would like to keep control of congress, both houses, not just the senate, he might benefit from losing one or both of them. make that calculation for me. how does he benefit? >> i actually don't think he does. some of my democratic colleagues think it would be better not to be responsible for everything. that if the republicans took the house, they would have to step

up and show leadership. look, the president said a few things two years ago when he got elected. he said that jobs of the future are in energy, they're in health care, they're in education. that requires investment, it requires a lot of the status quo being offended. the empire is striking back. big business is putting millions and millions of dollars into this to try and prevent that from happening. the status quo does not want this change. i don't believe the people have changed that much in two years. i do think that people still think that they need a future that is a little bit different than the past ten years have been. >> and -- go ahead. >> i would argue that any time you lose an election, it's never beneficial to the incumbent. this is not bill clinton that's going to shift directions or newt gingrich who is going to alienate the public. i think if we win, we're going to learn from our past. >> let's look at what this means for the american people. let's say it plays out the way

you think it will, ed. what's that going to mean for the next two years? >> well, it has to be bipartisan support and has to be led by the president. he can't deal with the fringes. he has to sit down with the republican leadership on both the house and the the senate even if we don't have the senate. say this is what i need and i want from you. and they get to say what they want. >> do you have any hope that will happen? >> i think it has happened over the last two years and we've seen very little to come of it. the republicans decided that they were not going to cooperate with anything. they voted on bank against every single thing that came up, whether it was -- things that they had proposed for years they voted against. >> so can we -- >> this is going to be a two-man game. >> can you see the republicans in the house dig in their heels and throw all the the money toward 2012? >> no, i think they're going to try to basically undo some of these things they think are not constructive. and i think they're going to try to modify the health care bill. >> are they going to take health care back away from 40 million

people? going to let insurance companies take back over -- >> well -- >> are they going to take people off the rolls -- >> let me have a chance to answer. >> just quickly, because we've got to run. >> there's a lot of bad things. everybody's insurance is going up, health care costs are not coming down, there's a modi modification that can be done. >> thanks for coming in. hilary rosen and ed rollins. for the latest information on the races and the issues that impact you head to cnnpolitics.com. we've got it all for you there. 47 minutes after the hour. jpmorgan chase set up new offices to work one-on-one with homeowners. since 2009, we've helped over 200,000 americans keep their homes. and we're reaching out to small businesses too, increasing our lending commitment this year to $10 billion and giving businesses

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49 minutes past the hour right now. we want to get a quick check of this morning's weather headlines. you've got a lot of weather going on today. >> absolutely. and we've been talking about the the possible delays in atlanta due to the rough weather. and that's certainly the situation right now at hartsfield jackson. a ground stop until 8:00 a.m. same in teterboro, ground stops until 8:00 a.m. one of the reasons why we have the issues in the southeast, right here. easy too see. this area of low pressure and this frontal boundary through parts of alabama into georgia. we have severe thunderstorms, also tornado watches that will be in effect until 10:00 eastern time for portions of alabama, back into parts of, say, georgia and the carolinas. so, certainly a rude awakening for many this morning. rough times in terms of rush hour. in terms of flying today, look

for not one but two areas of potential rough weather. we covered the southeast. when you get to the midwest back in chicago, perhaps even into milwaukee before the day is out could have rough weather there. even in st. louis, all due to this next storm system t frontal boundary all pulling through parts of the midwest. so certainly rough times we're going to see. more updates to come plus we're going to keep an eye on the tropics. we have tropical storm richard moving south of the yucatan peninsula. back to you. >> thanks. >> coming up next, admission from brett favre and a denial as well. what the vikings quarterback told the nfl about those alleged pictures he sent to a female jets employee. impressive resume. thank you.

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five minutes to the top of the hour. here are stories that got us talking in the newsroom this morning. tongues waging. admission and denial from brett favre. the vikings quarterback reportedly telling the nfl he did leave voice mails for former jets employ jenn sterger but did not send her lewd photos when he was a member of the team, the nfl investigating this. >> it's been blowing up the blogs so to speak. i wonder if lebron james has this shot. check this out. hoop stars from perth, australia so high up yet they made it. not once but many times. there they go again. swish. talk about hitting from way downtown. is it real or fake? this should answer your question. backwards, one hand.

it's amazing. the kids are sinking these from the top tier of the stadium shooting backwards. >> we've seen a lot of things that are in fact fake. but perhaps if you were to do it enough times, if you were there all day doing that. >> exactly. >> and like all day if you were working on that slip and slide you would be able to leap up and land in a pool. >> bengie molina is guaranteed a world series ring. molina is the oldest of three brother who is grew up in puerto rico and went on to become major league catchers. >> he could celebrate already. because he gets a ring no matter what happens. pretty cool. para normal activity, a smash hit. the film raked in over $41 million, the highest weekend total for a horror flick. the success comes at the expense of the new clint eastwood drama

hereafter which took in $12 million. >> 24 bucks of my money. i thought it was good. >> people wanted to be scared the week before halloween. >> perhaps. it's the season. the walkmen, they aren't making them in japan. sony launched it nine 79. they sold 220 million of them but with mp 3s and ipods the rage it becomes a footnote in history. at the same time they decided to reintroduce the cassette. >> i wonder how many takers. i had the old sport walkman, b rubberized. we thought that was the coolest thing. >> time moves on. electronics more sophisticated. >> if you were smart enough to cash in you're rich. >> where will we be 10 years from now. we're like forget florida, we're going on a safari. so we're on the serengeti, and seth finds a really big bone. we're talking huge. they dig it up, put it in the natural history museum and we get to name it.

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>> good morning to you. thanks for being with us on this "american morning." it's monday, october 25th. i'm kiran chetry. >> i'm john roberts. thanks for joining us. let's get you caught up on what happened overnight. some of the most incredible tornado footage we've seen. a driver coming nose-to-nose with a funnel cloud that tore a school apart before his eyes outside of dallas. we always hear that it sounded like a freight train. you can hear and see it for yourself. >> it's back to the campaign trail for president obama. midterm elections looming. one more critical road trip remains for the president. what happens in the next eight days will impact everyone's future. cnn has the best political team covering it like no one else can. >> what led to the death of a top american swimmer. fran crippen died in a race. officials say fatigue was the cause of death but there are growing questions about whether water temperature might have played a part. >> first up, though, the countdown to election day. democrats desperate to hang on

to the house and the senate only eight days remaining until america votes and the president is trying to help, hitting the campaign trail again. fresh off of a five-state swing in four days he was in the western part of the country, he'll make one last-ditch effort to prop up his party's candidates and the stakes couldn't be high. >> there is a final push for the weekend. it's crunch time. cnn has the best political team on television ready to. go our chief correspondent and mark preston and carol costello all weighing in. on the races and the issues that matter most to you. >> one of the big races is the contest for florida governor. it's a tight one. republican rick scott and democrat alex sink both of whom we interviewed here are neck and neck. they will square off tonight in a nationally televised debate you can watch it here live. >> our correspondent john king is live in tampa, will be

moderating the debate. what's the main thing on the minds of voters in florida when it comes to this race for governor? >> reporter: john and kiran, good morning. you would think it would be jobs, jobs and jobs. this giant state has 11.9% unemployment like much of the country, it is struggling even though the white house tells all americans that we are out of the recession. so jobs is the number one issue. however, this campaign has become nasty and personal with each candidate accusing the oth ef of lacking the character and the trust to be florida's next governor. so the economy number one, the personal character and what has been a nasty race when it comes to the ads, two, the president himself has been a big issue in this campaign because the republican rick scott made his name spending millions opposing the obama health care plan. he says if he is elected he will fight the implementation of the plan. taxes as well. this is traditional in terms of the republican saying he would keep taxes low accusing what he calls alex sink of planning to raise them. she says nothing could be further from the truth.

there's a lot of ground to cover tonight should the voters trust them, what would they do about the economy, schools always an issue. and people might think why do i care about florida. one, this is a huge state in presidential politics, the next governor will have a huge role and florida will gain after the 2010 census, how to draw the lines. whether to draw democratic seats or republican seats for congress. the governor would have a big say in that as well. >> all right. also the big debate, the senate debate in florida yesterday was hosted by candy crowley. it was hard to hear at points, people were arguing over things like extending the bush tax cuts. what is the focus. as it stands the tea party favored republican is the one who is far ahead. >> reporter: it has been remarkable in a three-way race to see the republican candidate up at 46%, that is a big deal if you are any single candidate in a three-way race and you can get close to 50, that says you're starting to break away from the

pack which is why you saw charlie crist, the republican governor running as independent and kendrick meek trying to take marco rubio down to get a shot at him t. issues have been the much like the national campaign, the obama administration reached too far, has it governed too much, does it want to have too much of the role of washington in regulating the economy and health care. those are the big issues here. it is fascinating to watch because you have a legitimate third party contender if you will. charlie crist has had a difficult time getting close enough to marco rubio. we'll see what happens. >> john king for us in tampa. thanks so much. good luck with tonight's debate. >> we'll be watching. again you can watch as well. florida's governor debate is live on cnn, 7:00 eastern. john king usa. >> extreme weather to bring you. a close encounter with a tornado. look at this. >> we are in a tornado. we are in the tornado. we are in the tornado.

>> that was outside of dallas, navarro county, texas. you can see and hear the raw power. a twister ripped apart a school, tore a 7-mile-long path through the county no. one was killed, four people were hurt. their injuries are said to be minor. we spoke to the man who shot this video. >> how close were you? where were you and what is unfolding that we're seeing now? >> the tornado touched down, moved across just to our west, the storm then took a quick right turn, the tornado as you can see in the video then moved across a railroad derailed 11 cars, hit the school, demolished the school. went across the interstate in front of me, roughly 100 yards in front of me. overturned an 18-wheeler on top of a car, took another vehicle, threw it into a ditch and another car into a pasture. >> pretty incredible. to be that close.

>> he was part of a group with the emergency management coordinator for navarro county with a group trying to help people figure out where this was so they could stay out of the way and he -- >> he knew where it was. >> they thought it was going a different direction. it took a hard turn, next thing he knows-he's in it. the rainbow in the distance and a funnel cloud. this is incredible i-report from joey, a med student who took shelter in the freezer of the gas station. he helped some injured people hurt in a fast food restaurant. >> all of this didn't go away when it exited the state of texas. it's now headed toward the east. georgia, tennessee in its sights. live radar there. and we're tracking it all. >> reynolds wolf in the extreme weather center for us. i know that tornados are unpredictable as you try to figure out the conditions that could be right for spawning a tornado. what are you seeing today? >> we're seeing many of those same conditions, basically that we get that boundary that's moving from west to east, we've

got the low level jet, the same time plenty of moisture from the gulf of mexico all coming together to give that chance of storms. you're also going to see not only a line of storms going from the blue grass region of kentucky southward to the gulf coast, which is stretching hundreds of miles long, you'll see some areas shaded in red. this red area, that's where you have your tornado watches that will be in effect until 10:00 eastern time, widespread delays expected in atlanta, perhaps chattanooga, even in charlotte before the morning is out. that area that we have in the southeast is one area of concern but another spot, the midwest. in chicago, back into st. louis, you might have issues. it's not just rain event that we may deal with but also a chance of very strong wind. by afternoon, we could have wind gusts topping 50 to 60 miles per hour across parts of the western great lakes and into portions of the central and northern plains. minneapolis look out, you'll deal with that possibility of rough weather also. meanwhile, speaking of strong winds, quickly let's go to tropical storm richard, the latest, made landfall in extreme

southern part of the yucatan peninsula t national hurricane center brings it to the bay of campeche tuesday and wednesday, then staying fairly weak with maximum numb sustained winds forecast to be 25 miles per hour, gusts to 30 by 2:00 a.m. thursday as a tropical depression. but as you guys know very well, these systems can be extremely fickle, could get stronger, could get weaker. may die out in parts of the yucatan. we're going to monitor that for you carefully. back to you in new york. >> what's happening at hartsfield airport? >> delays, delays. i'll tell you, john. it's not only people trying to take off, it's a lot of people in the roadways, around 285 into even parts of i-20, i-75, i-85 it's a tangle this morning. >> they had a ground stop until 8:00. is that lifted? >> they are going to let planes take off t. ground stop is over for the timinging. that's going to come through. they may get a break. the issue now is some issues toward charlotte, maybe d.c. before the morning is out. >> all right. reynolds wolf watching it for us. we'll check back.

thanks so much. an american swimming star dies during a competition in the united arab emirates. did water temperature play a part in fran crippen's death. [ k. tyrone ] i'm an engineer.

my kids say i speak a different language. but i love math and math and science develop new ideas. we've used hydrogen in our plants for decades. the old hydrogen units were very large. recently, we've been able to reduce that. then our scientists said "what if we could make it small enough to produce and use hydrogen right on board a car, as part of a hydrogen system." this could significantly reduce emissions and increase fuel economy by as much as 80%. >> top american swimmer fran crippen died during an open water race in the united arab

emirates. >> it's a shock to the swimming world especially in his hometown of philadelphia. a lot of the swimmers were complaining the water temperatures which were in the 80s were too high. a tragedy all around to know that fran lost his life in this race. tell us what it was like to be swimming in that race. what were the conditions like saturday? >> the conditions were just really, really warm. in the water as well as outside. we started the race at 10:00 in the morning and the last lap must have occurred right around 11:45 maybe. sun came straight down. the water -- i didn't know in fahrenheit but i know over 30 degrees celsius, it was warm. >> i think it was 84 to 87 degrees fahrenheit. what was it like for you

competing in those temperatures, and what did you know of fran crippen's condition going into the last race? >> my own experience was i started out feeling really, really good, and that i kept getting more and more tired especially towards the last two laps. and then but i can't really -- for me the cold water than the warm water. even in these conditions i think every athlete was struggling a lot. as far as fran's condition, i think he's in as good a shape as ever. he finished third at the world championships in canada. he completed in a lot of the world cup races. he is one -- won a couple weeks ago in cancun, mexico and finished up in the front again in the one in asia, leading up to the one in dubai, so i think he was in just as good a shape

as any one could be. >> his long time prep school coach described him as fit as a fiddle, not suffering from problems. it's also interesting that there were several swimmers apparently who did suffer, they complained about swollen fingers and toes, apparently several became confused and there were other rescues that had to take place. not just fran's. should they have cut this race short or canceled it? >> i don't know. i mean, open water always has tough conditions. it's rare that you find conditions that compare to the ones you have in the swimming pool. but my personal opinion is that you could have started the race in the afternoon like they did last year in dubai, they had two races the same time last year and we started at 4:00 p.m. and finished close to sunset. so i think that made the conditions a little bit less harsh, and as far as the water

temperature goes, i don't know. the only thing that i can say is that i may be mistaken but i can't remember seeing boats that were going by us to watch the athletes a little bit closer. especially the ones falling behind and with conditions that extreme i think for future reference there should be people watching what's going on with the athletes. >> and jan, back to fran's condition you were talking to his coach, he told you something about him feeling very tired, maybe thirsty as well before the last lap? >> yeah. it wasn't his coach, it was a coach who was responsible for the u.s. athletes. i think it's -- i don't exactly know who it was. i talked to him. hey -- on the last lap, maybe 1500 meters before in the finish line, 1500 before the end of the

race, and he said that fran said he was really thirsty and couldn't get enough water in, and he was tired. but i don't know. i mentioned earlier that another problem that in my opinion, a big problem is that there is a rule setting that you have to finish the last race in order to make your points that you collected all season count in the final standings. fran was second leading up in the overall going into the last race f. he doesn't finish that race all of his work the whole season was for nothing because it wouldn't count. so he knew he had to finish the race in order to make -- collect all of his work that he put in throughout the season. >> there's probably going to be questions whether they need change some of those rules in the wake of this tragedy. because there were others who also said that as well that he would have tried anything, even risking his life to try to finish because he didn't want to

let his team down. jan, thank you so much for joining us. >> thanks very much. it's your right. some people say it's your responsibility. how can you be sure your vote will be counted on election day? we're taking a look at the potential problems with electronic voting machines. [ male announcer ] a little bit of this, a touch of that... yup, there's a new head chef in the kitchen. introducing new quaker mix up creations. does your breakfast make you amazing? this chicken tortilla soup has such a wonderful zesty quality. that's the chipotle and cilantro. it's one of our new mexican soups. it reminds me of guadalajara. a special man. his delicious soups. sheila? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

20 minutes past the hour. we're "minding your business." christine romans joins us with hopefully good news whether there are going to be jobs in the future available for people. >> hopefully the nabet national association of business economics have a survey showing that business conditions for hiring are the best they have been since 2006. they aren't because they are waiting for confidence to return. some of the key ingredients there are including demand is starting to rise for their products, starting to make money, profitability is there. you look at the stock market above 11,000. companies are doing better. we're in the middle of the earning season now, from ibm to a lot of companies we're seeing that they are starting to make money. eventually the theory goes, hiring will follow so we're watching these gauges to see if all of the pieces are starting to fall into place so companies get more confident and do

hiring. so we'll see if that holds true t. highest t best hiring expectations since 2006. another story i'm talking about we're following closely, the foreclosure machine at bank of america, gets started again today. remember we told you 10102,000 foreclosure sales were halted as a lot of people were taking a look at all of their paperwork, amid allegations that they were rubber stamping the foreclosures. now they are saying that while no foreclosures are happening in error but there were errors in the paperwork, now admitting reportedly that there have been some errors in the process including improper paperwork, a lack of signatures, missing files, altogether, misspelled names, some people who -- >> foreclosed upon, i mean, that the foreclosure stands but there were some sloppy -- >> foreclosures stand, i would say sloppy is a very good word for it. sloppy paperwork and mistakes along the way but the

foreclosures themselves are still valid and will go through so you'll start seeing the foreclosure machines kick in after that moratorium kicks in today. >> let's hope that some of the employees heard about the hiring environment being a good one. >> please. from our lip's to god's ears, your ear, whoever's ears. >> it's a tiny device not much bigger than a stamp but could revolutionize the way we buy and sell things in this country. it's that white thing on top of the iphone. it's called the square. we're going to show you how it works and what it can do ahead. [ wind howling ] [ technician ] are you busy? management just sent over these new technical manuals.

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24 minutes after the hour. your top stories a few minutes away. the a.m. original, you cast your vote in eight days how can you be sure it will count? our carol costello is live with part one of our series, does your vote count? and does your vote count? will it count? >> we hope so. it is crazy to think in a world where great minds are able to dream up things like lap tops and iphones they can't dream up an electronic voting machine that doesn't confuse voters, protects us from fraud and make sure our vote counts even if the voting machine malfunctions. can that really be so hard? sadly, it can be. even in 2010. in new york city, one of the most sophisticated cities in the world primary election day was certainly not sophisticated. in mayor bloomberg's words. >> that is a royal screw up and it's completely unacceptable.

>> would you agree with the mayor's assessment it was -- was it a royal screw up? >> i would leave that to the mayor. >> and to voters who were confused by something they never had seen before. an electronic voting machine. >> thank you for voting. >> not only that, they complained ballots were confusing or tough to read, saw broken down machines or none at all t. website captured that. >> i'm sorry, come to vote. you come to vote? >> yes. >> the machines are not here yet. no. they will be here about 11:00. >> keep in mind other states are electronically challenged, too. illinois is having problems now. gubernatorial candidate rich whitney's name was spelled rich whitey on some machines and poll workers are working to correct the mistake before november 2nd. ohio, florida and california have had persistent problems, too. with things like improperly filled out ballots and machine malfunctions. >> open up the screen.

>> the new york board of elections is retraining 36,000 poll workers to better serve voters on november 2nd. it's offering voters a preelection day demonstration but sit back, we'll show you now. >> a voter will get one paper ballot. >> a poll worker will hand you a ballot. you take it over to a cubicle. you use a pen. you put your completed ballot in a folder and then you head to the machine. if i come over to scan my ballot the poll worker should be nowhere around me. they should not handle my privacy folder. the voter puts the ballot in the machine, it is scanned, then drops into a locked bin. simple, right? why the royal screw up in new york? lawrence norton who studies election problemsy is new york should have had a trial run before the primary. and he says new york may have avoided some problems if states actually shared information. >> there's no central place

where voting problems are reported and somebody can screen them and then report to election officials here's a common problem with your machine, be aware of it. >> that he says is one of the biggest reasons voters in every state experience problems with electronic voting machines. but the number one reason, human error which certainly was the case in new york city. poll workers weren't properly trained and at times machines experienced a paper jam and no one knew how to fix the problem or who to call to fix the problem. new york elections officials say that will not happen again. they hired 36,000 poll workers, retrained them all and john, they are hoping november 2nd is glitch free. >> they hope it's glitch free. not necessarily guaranteeing that it will be. it's surprising, though, isn't it, the way these elections, first tuesday of november, sneak up on people. other concerns, though, across the country. people are complaining that too much information is crammed on one page, that the typing is very small, it's hard to read.

that the circles or the boxes they have to mark out, hard to stay in the margins. can't they put the information on more than one page to make it fair? >> or use a bigger font, right. well, apparently all of this is set by state legislatures so all of the information in new york state has to be on one page, and the font is determined by your state legislature which means they have to vote on it to change the font. to solve that election officials in new york provided a sort of magnifying thing it sits in the privacy shields that you saw, you put the magnifying thing on top and it makes the words bigger. hopefully voters can read it more easily or bring your readers. >> did you come to vote or are you looking for the reader thing? it will be here about 11:00. >> when you see voters -- exactly. bizarre. >> unbelievable. carol, thanks so much. tomorrow, it is your right but should it be required? one expert says the united states should force people to show up on election day or pay.

part two of our series, does your vote count? tomorrow on the most news in the morning. some countries they have about a 90% turnout rate. people don't want to pay the fee. >> there you go. at least week from tomorrow make your vote count. time for the top stories as we cross the half hour. president obama hitting the road again, he's going to campaign in rhode island today. with midterm elections looming one more road trip remains for the president. he'll be campaigning in four states this weekend. >> up close and personal with a devastating tornado. look at these pictures taken by a driver on a cell phone camera in texas. emergency officials say at least five homes and elementary school were leveled. a few minor injuries but no one was killed. >> after nearly a billion dollars the department of homeland security may be scrapping its virtual fence along the mexican border. the system was sold to us as a way to stop potential terrorists and drug peddlers.

secretary janet napolitano says it's turning out to be not much more than a high tech lemon. there have been a number of problems with the fence including blurry camera images, radar that performs poorly in bad weather and that's just the beginning. >> a developing story from afghanistan. president hamid karzai responding to a report that iran sent bags of cash to his aides. barbara star was at his news conference. she is live for us in kabul. what was the response to those allegations, barbara? >> reporter: well, good morning. the response was you bet. the president of afghanistan told a room full of reporters that his chief of staff has received bags of cash, his words, from iran that he himself has received cash payments from a number of countries, including the united states, according to hamid karzai, cash received to do things like run his office,

pay some employees, pay people on the outside. he wasn't very clear what he actually meant by that. no indication whether this is authorized, whether there's the potential for corruption here. have a listen to what the president of afghanistan had to say about all of this. >> this is transparent and this is something that i have -- i have also discussed with even when we were at camp david with president bush. this is nothing hidden. we are grateful for the help in this regard. the united states is doing the same thing, they are providing cash to some of our offices. >> reporter: so, the united states he says right there is providing cash payments, bags of cash to the afghans to karzai and his top aids. we are awaiting a response what this is all about. but the real question may be

this iranian connection t two countries are close. afghanistan and iran, iran, however, clearly offering a lot of cash to this country here, and what they want for it in return certainly remains to be seen. kiran. >> barbara starr, thanks so much. >> well, there is a tiny new device that could very well change the way that we do business in this country. and the way that we buy things. it's called the square. we'll talk to its creator coming up.

36 minutes past the hour. welcome back. we have something neat show you. it's not much bigger than a stamp.

it's called the square. it could change the way you pay your babysitter, your landscaper or if you are a freelancer, how you collect payments from clients. it's a credit card scanner that can plug into an iphone and android device after downloading this application your cash only business is ready for plastic. joining me to talk about the product is the company's ceo jack dorsey. he also created, founded and is chairman of this thing we call twitter. you have been a success in the past. he is a blue ribbon panel member for kprrks nn heroes. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> tell us about the square. you have it plugged into your iphone. how does it work? >> it's a tiny device that allows you to accept credit cards. download the application, we send you one of these in the mail for free. and then you simply type in an amount, you take the credit card, and you swipe it. once you swipe it goes up, authorizes to see if there are funds on the card and then as soon as this process is

finished, you sign with your finger. you sign like this. you continue and then you offer receipt. >> you e-mail a person. it's amazing. they do this, i mean, obviously they have the hand held at the apple store, i wonder why can't this technology be out there for more businesses and small businesses and freelancers. who would this be ideal for? >> we've seen it used a lot for individual services as you mentioned. there was also an elementary school that was holding a pta fundraiser. typically they carry about $100, they get $100 in donation. with square they raised $3200 because they could accept credit cards no. one carries cash. no one carries their checkbook so being able to accept credit cards means more money. >> what is the usage fee? it's a 2.75% that the merchant pays of the purchase price and 15 cents. >> yes. we don't charge for the

application, we don't charge for the hardware. there is no contract. it goes straight to your bank account that night. all you pay is 2.75%. typically merchants pay 3% to 3.5%. >> where it says card keyed in the you had to type it in because the strike didn't work. >> or if you don't have the hardware or you want to take a phone order you can type in the numbers and the kvv on the back. >> this isle cool. so i want to talk to you about twitter, too. twitter, what, when you invented this what was the purpose of twitter? how did you envision it? >> well, i became fascinated when i was very young and got into dispatch systems, couriers, 911 and built these maps and there were police cars and ambulances. these were where the ambulances were and what they were doing. so twitter is an extension of that concept but brought to my friends. so i wanted to know where my friends were and what they were doing all over the world.

that's how we started and kept developing and people use it in different ways that we did not intend. >> were you surprised the iranian elections, the protests there, a lot of people call that a twitle revolution. >> absolutely and humbled. the fact that we could see what was happening on the ground in iran, the people on the streets taking pictures, tweeting them, sharing them with the world, was massive. that the conversation was happening in public and everyone could participate. >> also in terms of rescue as you said, it started in dispatch which is interesting because we saw it used that way in haiti after the earthquake. people saying i'm here, stuck in this area, i see a group that need rescue and it became this way to get vital emergency information. >> absolutely. it's just so easy to get into and it works with any cell phone. it works over sms. even if you have a $20 cell phone you can participate in this global conversation. >> this is the first election t 2010, where twitter plays a huge role. what do you think as twitter as a means to get across your

message and almost losing the middle man whether it's the media, you know, your ability to reach people because you don't have a lot of money in your campaign. is it equalizing this campaign in a way? >> absolutely. this process of democracy and being able to participate in it instantly is something i've never seen before. it really brings the government back down to our level, to government of the people and now any one can use the system and can broadcast for free, and instantly. >> what do you think about sarah palin and many have lamented that she's able to use twitter as sort of a one-way conversation meaning her tweets become news instantly. but there's not really necessarily a back and forth in answering of questions with reporters. >> i think when you start with twitter you use it as promotion but then you get into the more participatory aspect and the conversation. so eventually i think she will go to something where she's using it to converse with her

constituents. >> the square is a cool new thing. let's see if this one catches on as well as your wildly successful twitter. jack dorsey, thanks for joining us. nice to meet you. >> nice to meet you. >> wow. guy's got a few ideas up his sleeve. you may have heard about the real housewives of d.c. but what about the real democrats of d.c. t. new ad from gay conservatives. the southeast under the gun for strong storms. reynolds is watching it all. (announcer) energy security.

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and it is the how that will make all the difference. you were saying. >> we're talking about the things that we're talking about in the "newsroom." one is why didn't we think of that? the square. >> or twitter. what's that guy worth? >> he said twitter is now -- you asked him in the break. he said that they are now making money so. they are in the black. >> even before they were making money, though, it was worth a lot, right? >> billions. >> another 28-year-old billionaire. seriously. here's some of the other things that got us talking this morning. first up, admission and denial from brett favre. the vikings quarterback reportedly telling the nfl that yes, he did leave voice mails for former jets employee jenn sterger but did not send her

photographs. the nfl investigating all of this. >> is this real or is this tricky video graphy. lebron james doesn't have this shot. these are hoop stars from perth, australia. very excited about these shots from way downtown. real or fake? you be the judge. wait, watch this one. one-handed, standing backward. made it in. the kids are sinking shots, the top tier of the stadium. congratulations. we think it's fake. >> it's either fake or they sat there all afternoon and hit a couple. pair a normal activity two, it's a smash hit, the film raked in over $41 million this weekend t. highest ever for a horror film. the pusuccess comes at the succs of the clint eastwood film. >> did the dying meet the dead. it was a fascinating premise. >> it's a very good film.

very good. >> well, in new orleans, nothing is more sacred than the super bowl champs, the saints. the who dat nation. a lot of parishes are celebrating halloween saturday because the saints play the steelers sunday, one parish is voting to move trick or treating to saturday so that the kids won't miss the big game sunday. >> have you figured out what you're going as? >> the family is toy story. jesse, buzz, woody. >> i'd like to go as a 28-year-old billionaire. and then stay like that. >> exactly. why change back. >> you know when your mom told you don't do that because your face will stay like that, same principle. >> she told me that. it never happened. >> a check of the morning headlines with reynolds wolf in atlanta. he is a busy man today. >> you sure are. >> crazy day. we've had rough weather, not only this morning but yesterday in parts of texas. we had strong storms, this morning they are surveying the damage. we've got some video for you and it's coming from our affiliate in dallas. look at some of these pictures

showing the damage. there is plenty of it. what's going to happen, this is just traffic choppers over the area. we'll get some of this. later on there will be aerial reconnaissance taken by the local national weather service office. what they will do is look at the debris field. if all of the damage looks like it's in one direction that would indicate straight-line winds. however, in this circumstance i would think they are going to find a lot of the damage going to the northeast, some to the southwest, which indicates rotation, that of course would mean a tornado. some of the rough weather driving eastward, we see the delays beginning. in charlotte, a ground stop until 9:00 a.m. ditto for teterboro. in atlanta, ground delays, same at reagan national in washington, d.c. t. reason why, right here before your eyes, the storm system that's driving east, we've got tornado watches for alabama. we chalk it up to georgia, the carolinas, tennessee and a new severe thunderstorm watch for the piedmont, even up into virginia. that's going to be something that may linger through the

midday hours and possibly in the early afternoon. it's not just going to be for the southeast but also in the western great lakes and into the midwest, iowa, into missouri, even into wisconsin and illinois before the day is out. you may have delays in chicago. not just from the heavy rain but also from strong winds, some wind gusts topping 50 to 60 miles an hour. tropical storm force winds. let's look at the latest, tropical storm richard, sustained winds at 45 miles per hour, gusting to 75. we do anticipate as this storm moves across the yucatan peninsula, it is expected to weaken as we wrap things up, into tuesday, wednesday and thursday, the storm should eject into the bay of campeche and the gulf of mexico, possibly weakening and dying out. but again, don't want to sound like a broken record but these can be very fickle, could get stronger, may die out. a lot of unknowns with the system. we'll watch it for you. guys, back to you. >> so, they have to go look at the damage in texas from an aerial perspective to figure out it was a tornado?

>> that's the best way to do it. from what i've seen i'm going to say it's a tornado but for clarification, they are either going to fly over, take a look and they study these things for any clues, better ideas how they can be prepared, better prepared in the future. >> all you got to do is look at the video our guest this morning, eric meyers. >> unmistakable. >> maybe they will learn. it seemed to take a hard right and come down a different path. thanks, reynolds. >> sarah palin receiving an unlikely parting gift. pink underwear. we'll tell you why and who gave it to her. ♪

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welcome back to the most politics in the morning. 53 minutes past the hour. crossing the political ticker this morning, a gay conservative group hopes to win over reality fans. >> mark preston is live at south florida in tampa this morning, and what are we talking about here, mark? >> reporter: well, john, kiran, good morning.

i'm not sure john will acknowledge this, i will acknowledge this, i watched the real housewives of washington, d.c., of orange county, of new jersey, i watched them all. i'll tell you it's entertaining, fun. this gay conservative group crowd is running an ad starting today in several states across the country targeting democrats. one they are targeting is barney frank an openly gay democrat. let's look at this ad. >> the house wives were dysfunctional. wait until you meet the real democrats of washington, d.c. they are katty. >> trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table. >> they are arrogant. >> do me a favor. could you say senator instead of ma'am. it's a thing. i worked so hard to get that title. >> reporter: so, there you go. a little entertainment tied with politics. that's an ad, about $50,000 running on bravo. and another cable network. i'm going to blush for this but

john you said it at the top. joe arpay yo, that tough talking sheriff in arizona, he's known for a lot of things including pink underwear. sarah palin was in arizona a couple days ago for a campaign stop. joe met with her, had kind words, gave her a pair of pink underwear as a gift. john, kiran. >> every potential presidential candidate needs a pair of pink underwear from joe arpaio. >> i'm going to do what joe does if you don't listen to me. >> true confessions i have never watched the real housewives of new jersey but i have met them. >> reporter: so you have one up on me there. >> maybe two. thanks, mark. see you again soon. 55 minutes after the hour. [ dr. banholzer ] every once in awhile

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>> what did i tell you! 88 miles per hour! >> that was 25 years ago that doc brown built a time machine out of a delaurean and this weekend super fans of back to the future had a chance to geek out across the country. the original film was rereleased saturday. here are a few picture from outside of one of the theaters. our writer nick was geeking out with them. the parking lot loaded with real delaureans. >> some pimped out like the time machine. the flux