sorry i ruined the game, but talk to your guys next time. >> you know, that's classy and pretty funny and hopefully the kid playing the video game will no longer consider it a crisis. this are all posted on facebook and twitter. you find me joshlivescnn. i can't get the song about sully out of my head now. >> it kind of sticks. >> its answer not going away. >> i can hear them doing the christmas rockette number, can you imagine, stewart, colbert. i think it could be a great show. yeah. i see them. >> that's awesome, the comedians and the rockettes. maybe next christmas. >> tony's going to rock us through now. >> let's do it. have a great day. josh, see new a couple of minutes. the big stories for this monday, october 25th --

>> we are in a tornado! we are in a tornado! look at that. in the eye of a ferocious storm. we can't protect you from bed bugs. people hoping for a hookup now have to worry about bed bugs, the invasion taking a bite out of love lives. >> and voting machine irregulators. what will you face at the polls? countdown to the midterm election. i'm tony harris. for those stories? your comments right here right now in the cnn newsroom. we begin with a line of severe weather pushing through the syrian sectioutheastern sec country. tornado watches and warnings in

several cities, including here and atlanta. there was a powerful tornado in texas. here's a view from inside. >> we are in the tornado! we are in the tornado! we are in the tornado! >> you can believe that? that's actually navarro county coordinator eric meyers who was in the tornado as it tour the roof of a school and caused other damage. >> man, look at that, this tornado video from joey romero, he tells us he and his girlfriend and driving from dallas when hail started falling in navarro county, texas. joey is on the phone with us.

could you believe what you were seeing take shape here? >> to be honest with you, the first few seconds were surreal and i didn't know what to expect and we were in shock. after that, we started to think about everybody's safety. >> what do you channel in those first few seconds when you see the funnel cloud take shape? are you calibrating your distance from the funnel cloud and what do do you now? >> first few seconds to stair at it to see which direction it was going, and it was headed to us, and after take the video, the best thing to do was get everybody in the safe spot. about ten of us went into the freezer in the back. that's the protocol for the area. >> how many were in the freezer with you? what did you hear and see? >> there were about ten people with us. the first thing we did was remove things from the shelf so in case the building got shook up nobody would get hurt.

it got calm and the wind picked up and it started roaring past us, and after that, the lights went out, and everybody was a little scared. we just tried to calm people down. a few minutes went by, and people cried and prayed and just happened to pass and we were fine. >> joey, was there a moment in the freezer you were wondering did i make the right call, did we make the right call coming in here? >> to be honest, i thought it was the best place. >> what did you girlfriend think? what's her reaction to all of this? >> she was holding onto dear life, so she was right next to me. she was a little bit scared, but she prayed, also, and like i said, god was looking out for us that day. >> did you have that moment after this where you say, wow, that was scary, that could have been really, really bad? did you have that chill that runs through your body?

>> your body sort of going numb trying to recount what just happened. i remember the first few seconds i was just thanking god once again. pretty crazy feeling, i'll tell thank you. >> you get out of the freezer, and you go outside or whatever you do, what does the gas station look like around you and what do you see when you go outside? >> there is baseball sized hail on the ground and windows broken out of vehicles, and a few people cupping in who were bleeding on their arms and legs from the glass that broke from the windows. people bruised from the hail that hit them. everybody was sort of in shock, also, but, we got through it. >> joey, well done. glad you made the right call and got into the freezer, you and your girlfriend and others and are here to talk about it. well done. good talking to you. let's get to you reynolds wolf. first of all, do we know the

severity of that tornado yet? >> not yet but i can tell you when you have these types of storms that pop up, the majority of these tornadoes are f-0 to f-1. this one is an exception. those tornadoes took place in the north texas area near the red river valley. you wonder where the action is taking place. hard to miss. check out the southeast. places all lined up. alabama, georgia. now a severe thunderstorm watch near the i-85 corridor. earlier this morning, it was a rude awakening from areas north of alabama, even into places like alabama, you have the rough storms crossing parts of i-20 moving east of atlanta. atlanta for the time being, you're in the clear but we will see more development moving out

towards south carolina. tar heels, north carolina not out of the storm. you have the calm before the storm. in the we have, you see the big clouds developing, and light precipitation in columbia. that pushed way ahead of the main line of storms due to strong upper level winds. expect that development throughout the afternoon. we are not just dealing with rough weather in the southeast but what we anticipate in parts of the corn belt, iowa, even illinois, not only heavy rainfall and strong storms, wind gusts topping 50 to 60 miles an hour. could be a rough day in the nation's midsection. >> what happened to richard? is it over? >> funny you bring that up. we still have that developing across parts of the yucatan. it is weakening. we have an update coming up very soon. other big stories we're watching -- the iran money

trail. for years we heard reports of iran helping to fund terrorists in iraq. now the president of afghanistan says his government has been getting bags stuffed with cash from tehran but it is all above board. >> the cash payments are done by various friendly countries to help the presidential office, and to help dispense assistance to in various ways to the employees around here, to people outside, and this is transparent, and this is something that i have also discussed with even when we were a the camp david with president bush. this is nothing hidden. we are grateful for the iranian help in this regard. the united states is doing the same thing. they are providing cash to some of our offices. >> okay, hope for haiti this

morning. health officials battling a deadly outbreak of cholera, saying the worst may be over but the risks are still quite high. i-reporters are sending pictures of make shift overcrowded hospitals and mobile clinics providing what they can to help. greatest need right now, clean water. elizabeth cohen has more on that shortly. if you want to fly anywhere over the holidays, it is going to cost you. faircompare.com says fares are up 15%. every day you wait, you might as well add $5 to the cost of your ticket. a look at voting machine glitches that could cause problems at the ballot box. >> let's look at the markets. how are the marks performs? 90 minutes into the trading day and we are up 58 points. following these numbers for you throughout the day right here on the cnn newsroom.

let's get you some politics now. we hope you're into it. the midterms are just eight days away, and as the calendar winds down, the debates are heating up. in the alaska senate race, the

tea party squared off against the write-in he defeated in the primary and the democratic candidate. they sparred over the military' don't ask, don't tell policy. >> i'm the only veteran running for the u.s. senate this election psyche until alaska. i'm a combat vet. i think it's wrong to play political games with our service men and women in uniform. just recently, his is a vote that senator murkowski missed. they tried to play political games with the military protecting us. it is the military that ought to make decisions for the military. it's not the role of the government to come into the military and socially engineer it. >> this is an initiative where we asked our men and women who are serving us. we asked them to weigh in on this. we owe them the decency and the courtesy to bring those responses back in to assess them torque make a determination as to whether or not it will impact

the readiness, whether it will impact the level of preparedness for the fight, and deal with it accordingly. but to ask of them and then for congress to preempt that before we have gotten anything back from them, is wrong. >> i support the full repeal of don't ask, don't tell. [ applause ] i believe that as our society, as our country has evolved, every single time there has been a demographic that has been allowed to fully integrate in the united states military, it's been done with great success. i believe that will also be the case when don't ask, don't tell is fully repealed. the alaska senate candidates go at it again tonight. in kentucky, rand paul and jack conway meet in their find senate debate, and the candidates for governor of florida debate tonight. you can see it live on cnn

moderated by john king, the host of "john king usa" debates are set for the massachusetts and south carolina governors races. politicians will tell you every vote counts. that's only if all of the votes are counted. glitches with electronic votes machines happened during the primaries. carol costello takes a look. >> reporter: in new york city, one of the most sophisticated cities in the world, primary lekd day was certainly not sophisticated. mayor michael bloomberg said -- >> that is a royal screwup and completely unacceptable. >> reporter: would you agree with the mayor's assessment that it was a royal screwup? >> i would leave it to the mayor. >> reporter: to voters confused by something they had never seen before, an electronic voting machine. not only that, they complained ballots were confusing or tough

to read. some broken down machines or not at all. this website caught that. >> you come to vote? >> yes. >> the machines are not here yet. >> not here? >> no. they will be here about 11:00. >> reporter: keep in mind in other states are electronically challenged. illinois is having problems. rich whitney's name was spelled rich whitey on some machines, and they are working feverishly to correct it. ohio, florida, and california had persistent problems with things like improperly filled out ballots and machine malfunctions. the new york board of elections is retraining 36,000 poll workers to better serve voters on november 2nd, and offering a pre-election day demonstration but we will show you now. >> a voter gets one paper ballot. >> reporter: a poll worker hands you a ballot you take to a cube

cal and use a been to color in the circle next to your candidate's name and put your completed ballot in a folder and head to the machine. if i come over here to scan the ballot, a poll worker should not be here? >> no. >> reporter: the voter puts the ballot into the machine, and it's scanned and drops into a locked bin. simple, right? so why the royal screwup in new york? lawrence nordin says 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 report to election officials, here's a common problem with your machine. >> reporter: that, he says, is one of the biggest reasons voters in every state experienced problems with electronic voting machines.

the number one reason, human error, which certainly was the case in new york city. poll workers weren't trained properly, and at times machines experienced a paper jam. new york election officials say that will not happen. they hired extra poll workers, retrained them and hope november 2nd and trouble-free. amid the mud slinging, nutty ads, and the talking points, it is easy to lose sight of what elections are about. they are about shaping what this country is, right? and setting a course for the future. so on this program, we want to get back to the basics, so we're asking you to help us answer one simple question, what does america mean to you. your personal experiences, your vantage point, right? what does this country look like from where you're standing right now. here's what tom says. my america is poor, angry and tired of playing second to

special interests at that donald says my america is a country with a government that benefits its citizens rather than the politicians in power. from judy, my america is so great because we helped each other succeed. i'm on facebook and twitter@tonyharriscnn. or my favorite, give us a call. we will share more of your comments right here in the cnn newsroom. [ 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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so, first, haiti is hit by a devastating earthquake and now a fast-moving outbreak of cholera. at least 253 people are dead, more than 3,000 sick. paula newton takes us to the hort of this latest crisis. >> reporter: while the deathle to has rison, and so have the confirmed cases, it's interesting that authorities are showing cautious optimism that the situation has stabilized. it's difficult to see from the

chaos behind me here in saint nicholas hospital in saint marc. more and more, people are receiving care more quickly and people are beginning to get the word out that if you have severe diarrhea and vomiting, you need to come to these health facilities, and, also, that public health campaign, people being told to wash their hands, make sure they're happens drinking clean water, watch where they are going in terms of using facilities and also staying away from the river in this area which is almost certainly contaminated with cholera. going to port-au-prince, they have taken measures to come up with hand-cleaning stations, to really try and take the level of hygiene up a notch as difficult as that is with about 1 million people living in the open in tent cities but they have isolation tents. they got them up here really only earlier today and have people on standby to take people

to medical facilities if that happens but so far authorities hoping, really praying, that they can keep the outbreak from spreading to the capital. let's bring in our senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen. elizabeth, for those of us -- i had to remind myself about the facts behind cholera. what is it? >> cholera is a bacterial disease, and you get it basically because sewage gets into food and water. let's go over symptoms of cholera. if you ghetto it early, when the symptoms happen, it is much more easily treatable and you can stop the spread. some simle ymptoms are diarrhea vomiting, leg cramps and dehydration. lots of people get it but don't know they got it. it is a small percentage that get so sick they can die quickly from the disease. >> what can haitians do about

the situation right now? >> they can wash their hands often. that's why you're going to see aide workers trying to distribute different things that they can do to wash their hands. they other thing they could do is watch out for the symptoms i mentioned, and you minute you feel them, go and get help because they can give you oral rehydration salts, something to drink or i.v.s. you have to get to that care. >> we are aware of the infrastructure problems in haiti. even for a country as challenged as haiti right now is, is this a situation that that country can control? >> public health workers are telling us they think they can get it under control. when you think about it, it's kind of amazing this hasn't happened earlier since the earthquake was nearly a year ago. if you get people washing hands and get people to health care situations quickly once they feel ill, that really can go a long way to getting this under

control. >> elizabeth, that's good information. elizabeth cohen with us. let's get caught up on top stories. we are mon storing severe weather around the nation. heavy snow expected in parts of the northwest and central plains, tornado watches in the southeast. in pensacola, jury selection is under way of the double murder trial of eight alleged ninjas charged with killing a florida couple with 13 special needs kids. dressed as ninjas they broke into the home to steal a safe. waves and wind toppled this home in washington into the ocean. the homeowners said they were expecting it eventually. the family moved out ahead of the storm. ♪

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hi. we are always bringing you stories that people are talking about. we like doing this. this is our what's hot segment. jacqui jeras helping us out with what's hot today and tomorrow? >> today and tomorrow and wednesday. >> what are you rocking on today? >> you see them behind you there, the bed bugs. we heard about them. we talked about how bad they are certainly in many cities and how difficult they are to get rid of. >> it's nasty. >> it's horrible. it's disrupting people's regular routines and it's also having a problem with people's love lives in new york. >> reporter: stacy is it always on the lookout for a good man. >> cheers. >> reporter: but for stacy and millions of other singles in new york looking for love, there's a new fear to add to romance

anxieties. >> i was dating a guy saying do you have bud bugs in your apartment? if so, you won't see me. >> i know somebody who broke up because they were scared to death of bugs. she wouldn't date him because he had bed bugs and tree freaked out. >> reporter: relationship coach donna barnes saw a client who admitted having bed bugs. she was horrified, and she said you are better off not dating and clean out the problem before you then go out. >> i have here some samples of bud bugs, dead ones. >> reporter: tim wong is the exterminator. his company is getting more calls. >> i know it's a shock but half the city has them. >> reporter: call ways boy versus girl blame game. you exterminated the

relationship? >> i got rid of the bed bugs but couldn't salvage the relationship. >> reporter: now it's a new meaning when a woman says you are starting to bug me. for some the prospect of bed bugs is more scary than a sexually transmitted disease. with couples of all kinds in bed at night, it's the female bed bug who has the most fun. >> chase me, mate we me, seduce me. >> reporter: actress isabella rosselini captured bed bug sex in her searries. >> they go on a cycle with 100, 150 before they need to mate again. it's not fun for the male because they don't get to mate for another six months. >> reporter: does the female have a cigarette afterwars? it's bugs and fear warns another company. who is worried more under the sheets? >> men and women are different

because a woman would care if he had bed bugs but a guy wouldn't. >> reporter: confirmed further down the bar. >> let's toast to bed bugs. bed bugs. >> reporter: richard roth, cnn, new york. >> there are worse bugs to have. >> yeah. these are usually not your fault. they are hard to get rid of. you're a single guy, would you say bye bye if somebody had bed bugs. >> i know people are watching -- thank you for the question, jacqui, i'll send you a note with my response. >> wouldn't most people say know, unless you knew about it before. >> this means the relationships aren't going anywhere to begin with. anyone here in the room agree? because what you want is a partner that sees you through the best and the worst. not a single shand going up.

everyone's thumbs down on this one. jacqui, see you next hour for more of what's hot. you guys are a mess. you're in the cnn newsroom. ship jumpers all of you. ger through the crisis. when some lost their way, this company led the way. by protecting clients and turning uncertainty into confidence. what if that story were true? it is. ♪ - hello! - ha! why don't you try a home cooked meal... with yummy hamburger helper? oh! tada! fantastically tasty, huh?

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by we have an earthquake in

indonesia? >> a local tsunami warning popped up. it is fairly big. you see indonesia here. this is the point of the quake itself. theres is a local assume nam mi watch in that region. >> window rattling in southeast due to a line of intense thunderstorms. some are strong. not onlies is there an issue. also, into the carolinas, it's not just the possibility of tornadoes. we also assume severe thunderstorms popping up across parts of the carolinas. also, maybe in low-lying areas, in spots where there is poor drainage, flooding is also going to be an issue. more of that action back out toward the midwest. back to the western great lakes, to the midwest, st. louis to chicago, near the twin cities, chance of storm storms into the

afternoon. biggest storm fairly close to home is well to our south, that would be tropical depression richard. tony, it has weakened because the center of the circulation is around the yucatan peninsula. it is away from it's primary power source. the hurricane center brings it out into the bay of campeche and into the gulf of mexico wednesday with gusts of 35 miles an hour. a lot of changes might take place. we have an amazing story we have to share with everybody. one texas man literally kneeled in prayer as a tornado ripped apart his home. his wife and brother-in-law lived to talk at the details. >> reporter: tom was just outside of his sister's home when he felt the wind, heard the fury and turned around and saw it. >> i was standing in shock like this can't be happening, and the only thing i could do is bang on

the door. they opened the door, and we looked at it and it happened so fast. >> reporter: he and his sister sonia butler barely had time to get to the bathroom and cover up. >> it was like you could hear the wind coming through the house, and it felt like a big suction and sounded like a long train. sewnly lasted no very long, but after we came out of the restroom, my house was just gone. >> excuse the house. >> reporter: sonia's husband raymond butler did not make it that far but somehow picked the only room in the house still intact. >> i just got down here and said, lord, be with us, and, oh, yeah, that's our cat. >> reporter: the rest of his house, his two barns, trucks, a trailer and a giant pecan tree demolished. down beyond my daughter's grave,

a tree went out. didn't touch my daughter's grave. >> reporter: his daughter charla died nearly two years ago. as if a tremendous loss wasn't enough, now this, which he combats with a more tremendous faith. i will say, where is your best punch because it still hasn't affected me yet. amazing story. "saturday night live's" latest take on brett favre. you don't want to miss it. or our trick shot of the day. check out the hoopsters from perth, australia sinking shots from the top tier of a stadium, backward, forward, even in a stairwell. ♪ we love that basketball that'e and cilantro. it's one of our new mexican soups. it reminds me of guadalajara. a special man. his delicious soups. sheila?

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it is world series time. the san francisco giants, really, and the texas range irs? what, no yankees, no phillie? max kellerman to talk sports with me. let's do this on a regular basis. what happened here? i know what happened, they got their butts kicked. no yankees, no phillies? no repeat of last year. are you surprised? >> i can't say i am surprised.

the conventional philosophy that defense wins, they actually found that that's true. in the postseason, pitching and defense wins, and san francisco is built that way and once texas got cliff lee to go with c.j. wilson, cliff lee, really the, bat of power. the yankees thought they had a trade for cliff lee and the rangers snatched him out from under the yankees. >> we talk about business news and getting return on investment, this roster, right, for the yankees, what is it priced at? over $200 million? >> yeah. >> where are the rangers priced $60 million? >> the rangers had bankruptcy proceedings this year. major league baseball had to floot them a loan and they did the smart thing and rather

playing it super conservatively -- cliff lee makes $9 million, a lot of money, but by the standards of his excellence, it's half of what he would get paid after this season. they got cliff sblee added him to the payroll. it's a brave move but it paid off. it's fundamentally probablistic. in basketball, the best team almost always wins because you run the plays through your best players. in baseball, you can stack your rotter but it doesn't mean you will win. >> why should we care? we don't have the really big market teams involved? we don't have the high profile yankees and their stars and the phillies and their stars as well. east coast, we don't have that. do you think america will care about world series with these two teams? >> i don't think as much. i mean, the reason the big markets have more money to spend

is the ratings are higher when they play is more people live there, so they have more resource and more people are watching the ratings go up. there are interesting components, including josh hamilton, the best hitter in the american league right now, substance abuse problems. on real sports on hbo, they did a story on him where his wife won't let him carry credit cards because he could relapse at any second. right now, he's a feel-good story. cliff lee, the balance of power in major league baseball right now. san francisco giants, an excellent pitching staff, no offense at all but it is the coast versus the heartland, texas versus san francisco. there's an interesting dynamic there. >> very quickly, is it time for minnesota, maybe minnesota's a loss away from looking beyond brett favre into the future with

a younger quarterback, somebody younger than 41? c'mon what do you think? >> eventually it seems that has to happen to brett favre. he threw some interceptions. i didn't think he played that badly. i think hes that played poorly in big games in the past. he almost threw the touchdown to win it. he looks banged up. there's a scandal going around. he admitted making inappropriate phone call foss a young woman he was hitting on. he admitted that. it seeps as though the independent is near for favre. i'm not so sure, the minnesota team looks good. it's early in the season. >> max, we're going to get together tomorrow and talk about the start of the nba season and lebron james that miami heat team that seems to be so loaded, and we can't forget about the los angeles lakers. as we go out, take a look at this. we have got fans of the san

francisco giants whooping it up, getting ready for the world series. enjoy. ♪ but i had faith and i had h e hope ♪ d edge? well, it can show you the most fuel-efficient route to where you're going. it can find the best price on gas. show fuel prices. and now its v6 gets the best highway fuel economy in its class. say hello to the new ford edge. quite possibly the world's smartest crossover. i just wish that all of the important information was gathered together in one place. [ printer whirs ] done. ♪ thanks. do you work here? not yet.

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eight days until election day and vice president joe biden

marks a milestone today. paul steinhauser, part of the best political team in the nation. what is crossing now, sir? what's this joe biden item? >> i have brand new stuff for you on the political ticker. let's start with the vice president. president barack obama you hear about him on the trail, and same thing with the former president. today, let's talk about the vice president. he'll be campaigning for the senate candidates out there. this is his 100th visit. often the job of the vice president to get out and help the party. let's talk about california as wel well, tony. barbara boxer facing off against carly fiorina. national republican committee saying they are go to spend $3 million or ad buys.

they say this a competitive contest. they can win. a new poll shows boxer up. check this out. bring the camera in. the democratic gubernatorial nominee in rhode island telling the president to take his endorsement and shove it. what's that all about? fighting words there. president's in rhode island up there for a fund-raiser for congresser democrats. he is not gubernatorial race because there's an independent candidate in the race, former senator lincoln chafee, who at one time endorsed president obama in 2008. looks like the gubernatorial nominee made the comments on the radio this morning. he's a little upset about all that. we're keeping our eyes on rhode island, as well, tony. >> salty peanut. do we just think we can say anything nowadays? all right, paul. good to see you, thank you, sir. your next political update in an hour. and for latest political news, you know where to go, that is

c cnn/politics.com. the bags full of cash from iran is said to be part of a transparent process. i will talk about barbara starr about what it means. and how to get rid of debt. listen to this -- managed to erase $70,000 of her debt in less than a year and a half. she joins us to talk about how she and hermusses did it. wn and so does her back pain. that's two pills foa four hour drive. the drive is done. so it's a day of games and two more pills. the games are over, her pain is back, that's two more pills. and when she's finally home, but hang on, just two aleve can keep back pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is rachel, who chose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. ♪ and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels. ♪ [ male announcer ] we all need people who will be there for us in life. people who say, "we're with you, no matter what."

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so student loan debt rising

steadily for recent college graduates. so how do you pay for the education you receive when there is no job waiting for you when you graduate? christine romanas of our money team is here with us. how do you do that? not just students need to listen to this advice. >> it is tricky. >> yeah. we all made it to. >> mom and dad and grandma and grandpa do, too. listen up, college kids need to be living like a monk while they're still in school so they don't have to live like one after they grut to pay off all that debt. student loan levels on the rise of 6% last year for the fourth year in a row. the average student loan debt now for 2009 graduates, tony, is $24,000. that's the latest numbers from the project on student debt. $24,000. >> that is crazy. what does monklike really mean, christine? >> well, it means, first of all, you need to keep the student debt down in the first place. because you're going to have to pay off every penny and more with interest, right? so first, choose public over private. according to the college board, the average tuition for one year at an in-state public college is

about $7,000. if you choose to go to a public school but live out of state, it's $18,000 a year. for private colleges, you're looking at upwards of $26,000 every year. so choose wisely from the beginning of what makes the most sense for you and your family. also, fastweb.com, mark canterwitz, an expert on all things student loans tells me this -- borrow federal first. when you're shopping for student loans, keep in mind that the federal loans will be less expensive than private loans. >> how about room and board and those kinds of expenses? can students save there? >> they absolutely can. you can use your student loan money frugally so, like i said, you don't have to live like a monk after you've graduated. you do it while you're in school. you want to make sure that you can stay -- live at home if possible. if you can do that, that's what you should do. because you can save $8,000 or $9,000 on room and board. and for books and all of that

kind of stuff, look, shop on line for the right books for the textbooks, buy used textbooks, turn them in right at the end of the semester. these can save you money. no reason to have a $200 textbook under your bed gathering dust. everyone knows that. >> part of paying off that college debt obviously is getting a good salary when you've graduating. we'll take a break and get the breakdown of the highest and lowest paying college majors. hed to be a leader in this company. [ william ] after a couple of months, i was promoted to department manager. like, wow, really? me? a year later, i was promoted again. walmart even gave me a grant for my education. recently, he told me he turned down a job at one of the biggest banks in the country. this is where i want to be. i fully expect william will be my boss one day. my name is william and i work at walmart. ♪

i just wish that all of the important information was gathered together in one place. [ printer whirs ] done. ♪ thanks. do you work here? not yet. from tax info to debunking myths, the field guide to evolving your workforce has everything you need. download it now at thinkbeyondthelabel.com.

anople really lover, i jugot ae haour claimservice.need. gecko:speciallthe auto repair xpress. repairs are fast and they're guaranteed for as long as you is thisyyourcphone?ey, th! gecko: yeah, 'course. sswhere do you po you...carry... for as long as you is thisyyourcphone?ey, th! waitress: here you go. boss: thanks gecko: no, no i got it, sir. ncr: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. okay, you just learned how to keep your student loan debts down from christine romans. she's back with us from new york. this time, top tips on college

majors that pay the most. why don't you rifle through this for us, christine. >> well, couple of things here. first, remember, if you are paying for this kid to go to college, you all pay for your own retirement before you pay for your kid's college because they can borrow the money, right? then they borrow the money and have to pay off the debt by finding a lucrative job once they get the degree. i wanted to look for you at the majors, at the college degrees that pay off according to the national association of colleges and employers. the best paid majors for 2010, $86,000 for petroleum engineer, $65,000 for chemical engineering, mining and mineral engineering, $60,000, computer signs and computer engineering, $60,000. i want to show mid career. what you get halfway, you know, by the time you're in you're 30s, the ripe old age of early to mid 30s, aerospace engineering, chemical engineering, you sensing a them here? computer engineering, electrical engineering and economics,

$101,000. the highest paid liberal arts major is an english major who does technical writing for one of the professions. >> i'm looking at the board. for my kids living here in atlanta it's georgia tech, all right, thank you. appreciate it. >> there you go. >> there you go. thanks. hello, again, top of the hour here in the cnn newsroom. anything can happen. here are some of the people behind today's top stories. surviving the storm, texans are picking up the pieces after trying to figure out what hit them. >> a raw, sheer power feeling. you know, it's unbelievable. you can't really describe what it's like to be that close. >> one democratic candidate says president obama can take his endorsement and shove it. eight days and counting until the big vote, and you're on line right now, we are, too. jacqui jeras has more. >> reporter: women for sale. imagine going to the mall and instead of seeing the latest fashion in the window you see women with pricetags on them. not exactly what you're

thinking, that's trending right now on cnn.com. >> because what i'm thinking -- okay. thank you. a fierce -- fierce tornado activity caught on tape in texas. have a look and listen. >> we are in a tornado. we are in the tornado! in the tornado! we are in the tornado! >> man, oh man, that is navarro county emergency management coordinator eric meyers. he videotaped the twister as it tore the roof off a school and caused other damage. [ sirens ] >> and this tornado video from cnn ireporter joey romero. he and his girlfriend were driving from dallas when hail started falling in navarro county. i spoke with him last hour. >> well, the first few seconds i sort of just stared to see which direction it was going. then i realized it was headed straits for us, so after, you know, taking some video for a few seconds i decided the best thing was to make sure we get

everybody in a safe spot. that's when about ten of us went into the freezer in the back. and that's sort of protocol for the area. that's the safest part of the building. >> how many were in the freezer and what did you hear and see? >> there was about ten people with us. the first thing we do was remove things off the shelves so in case the building got shook up nobody would get hurt. it got really calm for a few seconds, then the wind started to pick up and started roaring past us. and just after that, you know, the lights went out, and everybody was a little bit scared. you know, we just tried to calm people down. and a few minutes went by, and people cried and prayed, and just happened to pass. >> boy, oh boy. let's check in with chad meyers. i'm going to stroll in your direction. we've got that line of storms in the dallas area, right? >> yes. >> navarro county. it's moving south and east, isn't it? >> sure. it tracked all the way across parts of tennessee, alabama, mississippi, and now into

georgia and points eastward. we think about severe weather season, tony, in the summer. and in the spring. because in the spring, you have this jet stream doing something like this, and then you have all that warm air that wants to come up and say, hey, it's spring, let's go north. >> yes. >> and then the cold front says -- wait just a minute because then we're already here. it's still winter up here. and then we flip this thing. we change it in the exact way you would think. why is there a severe weather season in the fall? because here comes winter. and it's -- and then the weather in the south goes, wait just a minute, we still want to be here. so it's the clash that happens in the spring, it happens in the fall. now in the fall, the severe weather season does not have that big of a peak as we have in the spring. clear low there's a lot more severe weather in the spring. let's go to some of the pictures that we have. the pictures tell the story better than can tell you how it happened. it's all about the clash, the warm and the cold. it's the spin, the storms popped

up, some of the video that you can go on to cnn.com and look at is amazing. i'm not sure how people survived this. so far, no reports of any fatalities. they're still -- they're not even looking for anybody at this point that we know about. there were six or -- four to six significant injuries in places like -- you saw the big tornado out in navarro county, texas. a it climbed and moved across, the problem was and this happens a lot in the south. here's just-in video out of alabama, storm damage. this is coleman. we don't know that there's been a confirmed tornado, but when i look at the video and we say, oh, it could be straight line damage, i'm not so sure. that would have to be one big straight line to do something like that. to do that kind of damage. so the problem is we don't get the nighttime damage video, the nighttime severe weather pictures, and the nighttime spotting because you can't see tornadoes at night as well as you can see them in texas during the daytime. that's one of the dangerous parts about living in mississippi, alabama, and

georgia. many times in the south tornadoes can happen in the middle of the night. and sometimes the warning is small, sometimes you don't hear about it, if you don't have a noaa weather radio, sometimes you don't even wake up. >> that's right. all right, appreciate it. thank you, sir. another grim milestone in the war in afghanistan to tell you about. a cnn tally shows the number of coalition troops killed there this year has reached 600. the latest, a nato soldier who military officials say was killed in an insurgent attack in eastern afghanistan. it is the deadliest year for coalition forces since the war began nine years ago. we are closely following another developing story out of afghanistan. a surprising revelation from its president, hamid karzai, admitting iran has been funneling cash to his government. cnn's barbara starr is in kabul. good to you. any u.s. reaction to this story yet? >> reporter: well, tonight, tony, the u.s. embassy here in afghanistan has said it doesn't want to talk about this, it's referring to everything to --

it's referring everything to the state department in washington. earlier today, at a press conference here in kabul, the president, hamid karzai, acknowledged openly that his government has taken what he called bags of money from the iranians, and he also said that the u.s. is doing the same thing. all the way back to george bush. and that it's happening now still. bags of money being given to hamid karzai, his chief of chief of staff, close associates. not a lot of explanation about what the money is for other than it goes to pay some expenses and to pay some people, not any indication about whether it's authorized by the u.s. congress. have a listen to what hamid karzai had to say. >> 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 iranion

help in this regard -- iranian help in this regard. the sudden doing the same thing, it's providing cash to some of our offices. >> reporter: the u.s. is doing the same thing, the iranians are doing it, it's happening after nine years-plus of war. no indication it's because the banking system here may be faulty. it may not be up to snuff. just bags of money coming this way, boy all indications from -- by all indications from the president this country here. and as for iran, he's not saying right now what the iranians are asking for in return for the bags of money, but that's going to be a big concern to the united states, tony. >> absolutely. we certainly want to know why we're behaving that way, as well, and where the money's going. boy, accountability. all right, barbara starr for us. good to see you, barbara starr from kabul, afghanistan. by now you've heard of the whistleblower site wikileaks. it is a web page that publishes

leaked information to support claims of government and corporate misconduct. now over the weekend, the site released almost 400,000 classified documents detailing the war in iraq across the reports of u.s. soldiers. the documents offer a new picture of how many iraqi civilians have been killed since the war began. according to wikileaks' editor-in-chief julian assafge, 15,000 more than previously thought. it's alleged that the vast majority was killed by other iraqis. the pentagon is denouncing the release of the information. officials say the lives of about 300 iraqis name in a document could now be in danger. want to learn more about the reports and the man behind them? wikileaks' founder will be larry king's guest tonight on cnn, 9:00 p.m. eastern time. eight days until the midterm elections, and former president bill clinton says he is ticked off. we will tell you why. first, a random moment in 60 seconds. idn't see it coming. i didn't realize i was drifting into the other lane. [ kim ] i was literally falling asleep at the wheel.

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for today's "random moment," we are going into the vault and bringing out a classic, right? the youtube sensation that never gets old, that's right, charlie bit my finger. hit it. >> ow. ow. ouch. ouch! ouch, charlie! ow! charlie! that really hurt. >> look at charlie. watch this. here it comes. wait for it. wait for it. okay. i love it. all right. there you have it. a random moment of the day.

hope for haiti today. health officials battling a deadly outbreak of cholera say the worst may be over. but the risks are still quite high. at least 253 people have died, and with more than 3,000 people sick, makeshift hospitals,a you would expect, are overcrowded. aid workers are doing all they can to bring in clean water. what is cholera exactly, and how fast can it kill? josh is back with that. >> reporter: yeah, as i talked about this, we can look at the latest images we're getting from haiti. it's heartbreaking. like they haven't been through enough, right? now we're facing this. cal radio is an acute diarrheal infection caused by ingesting food or water that's contaminated with it. symptoms set in incredibly quickly. very fast treatment is needed. >> many of these communities are out of the reach of healthier cities, particularly when you consider for children the time between symptoms appearing and

death can be as little as four hours. it's vital that we tell people how they can protect themselves and respond fafrthemselves and p them without relying on medical facilities to help. >> reporter: as little as four hours between symptoms appearing and potential death. let me bring you some of the facts from the world health organization. worldwide, they're saying not there an estimated three to five million cases a year, and up to 120,000 deaths each year in the world. across a lot of countries. now most cases actually can be treated successfully. up to 80% of cases can get successful treatment. also, most people whoever get cholera don't know they have it. 75% of infected people have no symptoms at all. so you're talking about the sliver within that that have symptoms and within that those who experience bad symptoms. there's a reason why haiti is in a different celebration from other countries as one experts explained to our paul newton. >> haiti has been fortunate in not having previous cholera for a century or more.

so the population here has no immunity. they haven't been exposed to this particular disease. so they're essentially vulnerable. >> reporter: so it was interesting. because they've been spared for a long time, that's why now they're a lot more vulnerable. they don't have that immunity, able to fight back. so they're in -- and an additionally tough situation. >> do we often see cholera infections in the united states? >> reporter: we don't. i was locking at the numbers because it's rare in a lot of the industrialized worlds. a handful of cases maybe in the united states each year, according to the cdc. and a lot of cases, if it does show up it's because someone was traveling elsewhere and brought it back. here where you can get clean water, you can get medicine, you get sanitation, as a rule people recover from it okay. >> i think sanjay is heading down there. he'll be reporting from haiti starting wednesday. and of course you can -- thanks, josh. you can catch anderson cooper tonight. actor sean penn joins him to talk about his humanitarian efforts in this health crisis. that's "anderson cooper 360" at

10:00 p.m. on cnn. countdown to election day. the midterms are just eight days away. president obama and the first lady are both on the campaign trail today. mrs. obama attends fundraisers for senator patty murray in washington state and for local democratic candidates in the san francisco area. the president visits the northeast. he'll attend a congressional campaign fundraiser in rhode island. former president bill clinton says he "is ticked off" as he continues his campaign swing across the country. he attended a fundraiser for the longest serving member of congress, representative john dingell. he got involved after he saw americans might repeat the republican takeover of the house in the 1994 midterms. >> but i'm not just here on a personal mention, and i'm not just here for whoopdedoo. i like all this enthusiasm, but frankly, there are a few things about this election that have gotten me somewhere between disturbed and ticked off.

>> the midterms are a week from tomorrow. as the calendars winds down, debates are heating up. in alaska, the republican nominee squared off against the write-in candidate he defeated in the primary. and the democratic nominee, in this exchange, sparred over the military's don't ask, don't tell policy. >> i'm the only veteran running for the u.s. senate in election cycle in alaska. i'm a combat vet. i think it's wrong to play political games with our service men and women in uniform. what happened most recently, this was a vote that senator murkowski missed. she ducked the issue. was they tried to play political games with the military that's trying to protects all of us. it is the military that ought to make decisions for the policy in the military. >> this is an initiative where we asked our men and women who are serving us, we asked them to weigh in on this. we owe them the decency and the

courtesy to bring those responses back in, to assess them, to make a determination as to whether or not it will impact the readiness, whether it will impact the level of preparedness for the fight, and deal with it accordingly. but to ask of them and then for congress to preempt that before we have gotten anything back from them is wrong. >> i support the full repeal of don't ask, don't tell. [ applause ] >> i believe that -- i believe that as our society, as our country has evolved, every single time there has been a demographic that has been allowed to fully integrate in the united states military, it's been done with great success. i believe that it will also be the case when -- when don't ask, don't tell is fully repealed. >> the alaska senate candidates go at it again today.

now in kentucky, republican rand paul and democrat jack conway meet in their final senate debate. the candidates for florida will be on tonight moderated by correspondent and host of "john king usa," john king. where can you get surgery for free? some lucky people found out. and we're getting new damage pictures from texas. we will have the very latest from the cnn weather center.

we're getting some new pictures in from navarro county

in texas. boy, the tornado -- chad, a series of tornadoes, what do you think here? >> well, the weather service will be out looking at the damage. and the pictures coming out of that emergency manager, have you seen it on -- i know we had it on about 20 minutes ago. if you haven't seen it, you want to watch it over and over and over. it is amazing. >> we should rifle through these pictures. you can talk us through this, and then we'll get to eric meyers' pictures. we'll do that. >> we think at this point in time there may have been just one tornado on the ground. it was so large at that point in time that you don't get a series of them when one's in charge. this was the big dog. and it literally was a big dog. kind of rice, texas, this is navarro county. a major storm went through here. and all the way from texas through louisiana, mississippi, alabama, into georgia in the overnight hours. but just notice the structural damage. >> yes. >> we're not talking about shing else off. we're not talking about maybe a chimney blown over. we're tacking about significant damage with a swirling manages

mass -- swirling mass of tornado, not just a straight line wind. that other video is cued up. if you haven't seen it -- >> listen to it. >> i'm going to be quiet. >> we're in the tornado! in the tornado! we are in the tornado! we are in the tornado! >> i watched "twister," the movie, like everybody else did. when people ask, is it really like that, i go, no, it's not like that, you'd never get that close. you don't want to be that close, it's dangerous. and literally, this is why it is so dangerous. do you see these things flying across the roadway? they're landing in the ditch on the other side of this car. it was -- people were trapped in cars for quite a while until they could get out. look at the pieces just in the air. and it's that debris -- you know, people worry about getting sucked up in a tornado like the "wizard of oz." that -- that doesn't happen very

often. people are injured and killed because they get hit boy stuff. they go out and want to be a hero and take a picture of it. do not be an ireporter if you are going to put yourself in danger. this guy's an emergency manager. he was doing it on purpose. he was doing it for his job. and he was in his car, and he got way too close. luckily, everybody's okay. >> you have gotten so good that you can look at the damage and get a pretty good guesstimate of the intensity of that tornado. >> sure. and if you want to go on to the spc, the severe prediction center, web site, you can see what an ef-1 should look like. what an ef-2 damage storm should look like, 3, 4, 5. it's all about how much damage -- the wind makes the damage, but how much damage was done. if you lose the roof, if you lose the walls, if you lose the house, if all you see is a slab, you're -- you're at a five, a four and five. >> you showed video last week. we'll do -- >> we'll do this later on. >> cool. thank you. got to tell you, the housing market appears to be in a bit of

a recovery mode. fingers crossed that it holds. earlier this month, homebuilder confidence rose for the first time since june. last week we learned new construction hit a fifth-month high. today, the good news continues to roll in. we have more from the new york stock exchange, new sales numbers. okay, good news, allison? >> reporter: good news, and you know it's not every day we get an upbeat housing report. take a moment and bask in it, right? sales of existing homes or previously owned homes, they rose 10% in september. actually the second monthly increase in a row. we're seeing these sales up in every region of the country. looks like people are taking advantage of record low interest rates. now we've also noticed that home prices continue to fall, but they could be getting close to a bottom. i want to show you what median home prices have locked like over the past -- have looked like over the past four years. prices fell about $19,000 in september of 2008, fell $15,000 last september, and down $4,000 this september. now it's important for priorses

to stop falling -- for prices to stop falling, especially if you're looking to sell soon. because if people think they'll get a better deal later, they'll wait and that sign will be up in front of your house a lot longer. on this good news of the report, though, shares of home builders are higher. the broader markets is doing well. the dow jones industrials up 42. lost a little steam. the nasdaq is higher by about 12. tonight? >> alison, can the hot streak we're on, the good news in the housing sector, can it last? i mean, i'm thinking about the fore closure issues, robo signing, and the problems we've had the last month or so. >> reporter: exactly. you nailed it. that's the problem, especially since some banks are delaying these foreclosures. that could wind up really skewing the sales figures that we're going to be seeing over the next months or so. yes, analysts are saying don't continue -- don't expect this trend to continue. with foreclosures making up 35% of sales last month, that's a big number. and some homeowners are probably challenging evictions right now. so we're not going to see as

many foreclosure sales. also, we've got a lot of foreclosures in the pipeline. so there's really a potential for a lot more homes to flood the market at some point, to go -- to go up for sale. >> sure. >> that's another huge issue. you know, we had fed chairman ben bernanke speaking about this today saying that more than 20% of borrowers, they owe more than their home was worth and an additional 33% of equity cushions, of only 10% or less, it really makes these people prime candidates for foreclosures or short sales. >> that's right. >> don't expect many more great housing reports like we got today. at best, this recovery, tony, as you know is going to be a series of stops and starts. at least for today we're cheering a pretty decent report. tony? >> today's a good day. tomorrow -- who knows? appreciate it, thank you. >> reporter: you never know. where can you get surgery for free? some lucky people find out. and we're back in a moment. 0 absolutely. i mean, these financial services companies tdd# 1-800-345-2550 are still talking about retirement tdd# 1-800-345-2550 like it's some kind of dream.

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farecompare.com. he said prices are up 18% from where they were last year. a ufo things in here. you've -- a few things in here. you've got the airlines cut capacity, you have fewer seats. you actually have more people flying. it still feels like a recession. apparently the experts say people that didn't take those trips last year, they're taking them this year. and the prices are really soaring already. take a listen to what rick simi had to say about what you need to do if you're looking to travel during the holidays. >> you just can't procrastinate. every day you wait right now for thanksgiving, for example, just add $5 to your virtual ticket price. >> every day? >> yeah. you need to be buying, buy no later than early november for christmas. the bottom line is there's no incentive to discount it then. pro-trificant nation is going to be -- procrastination is going to be your worst enemy. >> don't procrastinate. buy the tickets now. i want to show the fact that you'll still get stuck with baggage fees. take a look at the baggage fees. the airlines are still raking in these fees even though just last week we saw some really strong

profits across the board for these airlines. on top of that, what we're hearing is that passenger revenue growth, that means how much these carriers make on you, the flyer, that's also up 17% from a year ago. so bottom line, no, it's not going to be any cheaper. it's going to be more expensive to fly this holiday. you have to get in right now and buy those tickets, tonight? >> absolutely. and yes, absolutely not. it's not going to level out, not going to come down any time soon. all right, good to see you. thank you. some of the 740,000 uninsured residents of san diego county received much needed medical help this week. kaiser permanente teamed up with the san diego county medical society. together they organized free surgery day for 40 lucky patients. >> i think it's really important when people are blessed as we are to have good jobs, good families, and good health, to really share those attributes with people who aren't so lucky. >> thank you to the doctor, to

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you know, there is a lot of advice out there on how to get rid of your personal debt. but who better to give advice than folks who have actually done it? we call them debtbustsers. joining me now on skype is debtbustser jamie tardy from portland, maine. good to see you. good morning. >> good morning. >> how do you -- $70,000 in debt. you know, how do you do that? that's a pretty big number. how did that happen? >> yeah. well, that's a good question. a lot of work, it took us almost two years to pay it all off. but it took by paying off student loan, i actually had $26,000 in student loan debt.

so i was quite average in that. $25,000 in home equity loan, and $19,000 in a car. >> wow. okay. so now let's do this. i think we've prepared a cover flow for you here. so $70,000 in debt. and how did you get out of it? you got rid of your car? >> yeah. we -- two months before we started, we bought a brand new car. which really wasn't the best idea. >> right. >> so what we ended up doing was figuring out that the only thing we could do was sell it. >> did you sell it at a loss? >> we went to the dealership. yeah. well, you assume that it would be a ridiculous loss. i thought we were going to lose like $6,000, and we ended up only losing $1,000. >> so what did you -- you replaced it with just a cheaper car or what did you do? >> yep. we replaced it with a cheaper car, it worked just as well and gotbine fi by just fine. >> you didn't need a fancy thing, you just needed transportation. tell us about selling things on

craigslist and ebay? >> yeah. well, first we got on a budget which really helped to figure out what was going in and what was going out. we realized that we had a lot of stuff. even though you don't assume that you have a lot of stuff, when you look around you have a lot to sell. i say craigslist and ebay were my best friends. >> how much did you sell, how much money did you get in selling your stuff? >> well, we sold -- we had an old cj-7 jeep that we got $3,000 or $4,000 for. we sold weight benches, a kayak, a bunch of stuff that added up. >> and you applied that to the bills, correct? >> definitely. >> okay. talk to us in laid more detail about the budgeting process and going through all your expenses from week to week and months to month. >> yeah. i actually write about it at eventualmillionaire.com, my web site. i talk about how to create a spending plan, what to put on it, how to cut each category and what you can do to try and make your expenses less each month.

>> i think we've got another one here. groceries, $300 a month. that's what you allocated? >> yeah. when we first started, we were trying to be really bad and go -- >> rice and beans and beans and rice? what is that? >> yeah. exactly. well, i didn't realize how hard it would be. but what we ended up doing was trying to add it up in the grocery store. me and my husband made a game of it to try and add it up in our heads to see who would win, to see who would get closer to $300. >> more easy or difficult for you to cut out the cable than your husband. was it easier for you to get rid of it or for your husband to say, okay, honey, we can gets r get -- we can get rid of the cable? >> it was my tewell. i worked for the cable industry so it probably wasn't good for my job. we have a tv now and it has bunny ears on it. >> jamie, good job. to you and your husband, that's terrific discipline. what's the site? >> it's eventualeventualmillion.

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well, are the's check our top stories. it's really just one story that we're following. we've been following it throughout the morning. well, just listen to this. >> we're in the tornado! we are in the tornado sthmpt we are in the tornado! >> are you watching? this is the roof coming off a school. it's in navarro county, texas.

eric meyers is recording this. he's an emergency management official for the county. pretty devastating stuff. let's listen to what's left on this cut. and at the moment -- there it is. okay. >> we are in a tornado. we are in the tornado! in the tornado! we are in the tornado. we are in the tornado! >> everything coming off that roof, i guess jackie would tell me, chad would tell me, everything coming off that roof is a projectile, right? being tossed around, hurled across the air. what, 90 -- i don't know how fast, what the wind speeds are on this. but it is insane. chad, right, projectiles? >> yeah, projectile. literally slicing thing apart. and if you were outside you would be one of those things. certainly the steel roof, metal roof flying around, and the

winds were over 100 here. i believe we're going to find that this was probably greater than an f-1 tornado, something in the ef-2 range, wind speeds of 120 miles per hour. doesn't matter if you get hit by a baseball at nolan ryan speed, hit boy a shingle at nolan ryan's speed, that's completely different. >> that is -- wow. you want to get a sense of what it's like to be that close, maybe inside. there it is right there, from eric meyers, an emergency management official in navarro county, texas. okay, more businesses are honing in on free advertising internet-style. the vital tools, social media. christine romana s reports. >> reporter: it doesn't get more local than this. a 30-minute photo shop in ur vine, california, same photo shop since 1990.

this is an international enterprise now. >> when i started, customer base was three to five miles. today it's worldwide. people find us on line through searches, through search engine, through twitter searches, as well as facebook. >> reporter: mitch goldstone has tweeted some 32,000 messages. he has ten,6 hundred -- 10,600 followers twitter where he broadcasts promotions and is constantly trying to make hay name for his company, scan my photos. he shares links, product reviews, and blends into a running conversation on line 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. >> reporter: smart small business owners are embracing and profiting from this free tool. just ask eda lefler, co-founder of brute brand yes to -- >> you don't need a huge fund to set up a twitter account.

you need zero. >> reporter: when an expensive cane fell flat, lefler launched an online contest to find the face of the brand. attracted 150,000 fans on facebook. sales doubled in six months. these 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 10,000 followers twitter, but how many are paying customers? that's the strategic piece that businesses overlook and smart ones focus on. >> there you go. christine romans joining us from new york. what is the biggist mistake these owners make? not getting the follow force -- follow force spend money on the sites? >> they don't take seriously enough. maybe they have a junior employee do did or overshare or use it to promote. that's not the way to use it. you've got to share helpful

links, have a voice, a consistent voice, and join in the conversation on lion. look, you could be reaching people all over the world. it is word-of-mouth internet style, and my biggest piece of ad rice is you've got to watch -- advice is you've got to watch other people. watch competitors, small businesses. and i just met jack dorsey, the creator of twitter. i just met him in the hallway and said, look, what i'm going to tell tony and his audience is that you might not be able to see making money from it, you might not make money tomorrow going on line and doing social media, but you'll notice it if you don't. you can't afford not to. and he said that's exactly right. you can't afford not to. when everyone else is. >> let's see your book -- that book that's flying off store shelves. there it is. "smart is the new rich." >> whole chapter on this, thanks. >> congratulations on your success. good to you, thanks. still to come, a rhode island democrat tells president obama what he can to with his endorsement. are we just free to say anything in our political discourse?

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obama. john king, part of the best political team on television, joining us from tampa, florida. and there's a good reason for that. we'll talk about that in a second. john, good to see you. what are you following? what's crossing right now? >> reporter: well, tony, one of the things crossing is that controversial remark you just mentioned. tony harris, if you had a disagreement with the president, you would be respectful in your language, right? >> i would be. >> reporter: out of respect for the office. the presidency of the united states, right? of course you would. president obama is in rhode island today. he's helping a house candidate there. he's raising money for some candidates there. one thing he has not done is he has not endorsed the democratic candidate for governor, frank caprio. that's because the democratic candidate lincoln chafee, voted for the president. a background between chafee and caprio, he is not happy about. he said on the radio, he can take his endorsement and will really shove it as far as -- and really shove it as far as i'm concerned. the democrat speaking not only to the leader of his party but to the commander in chief of the united states.

an interesting day in rhode island for the democrats. on another subject, a lot of states, more than 30 now, have early voting across the country. both parties are looking and cherry-picking data. democrats saying, look here, we're doing great in the early voting. republicans saying, aha, look here, we're doing great in the early voting. we asked our polling director to lock at the available data, much of it coming from the associated press, the places that are actually counting the votes, and what keating says, number one, he says don't put too much stock in this because it's early, and we only have snipets of date amp but in the states where we can count so far, he says it does appear that the republicans are turning out people at a slightly higher percentage, that they have regular voters. more evidence, keating tell us, of an enthusiasm gap in favort republicans in what little data we have so far. pay no attention to the spin. now why is john king in tampa, florida, and not at our cozy desk in washington, d.c.? the candidates for florida governor, democrat alex sink, republican rick scott, debate tonight at 7:00 p.m. eastern. unless you get here quickly, i'm

going to have to moderate the debate. >> yeah. i love watching you moderate. what is the latest polling indicate -- what does the latest polling indicate in terms of where the race stands right now? >> reporter: a dead heat. that's why it's a privilege to be here. this is such a big state, important issues, nearly 12% unemployment. rick said if he wins he'll pry to impose an arizona immigration style of law. he doesn't like the obama health care plan. there are a number of big issues. and of course this is always a big issue when it comes to presidential politics, redistricting after the census. a dead heat race right now. eight days to go till the -- that election. it's a privilege to be here to moderate. >> thank you. your next political update at the top of the hour. for the latest political news, you know where to go, it's cnnpolitics.com.

jacqui jeras is here. we are following what's hot. we know that you're -- here's why we do this. we know that folks are on lion right now. apparently -- on line right now. apparently this is primetime for folks being on line and surfing the web. we're trying to see what they're doing. that's -- yes. that's what they're doing. so we're doing it, as well.

and are you handling what's hot the next couple of -- what is this story? >> the google thing. you hear about this? a lot of people not happy about this one. turns out that the google streetview cars found out more about internet users than just what their street looks like. google apologized saying that their streetcar views, they roam the globe taking pictures of applications, they've been grabbing things like people's e-mail addresses. yeah. >> pin numbers and this kind of -- yeah. >> that's all coming through their residential wi-fi network. yeah. privacy advocates are fuming, of course. but google says that it never used the personal information that it gathered. >> yeah. okay. all right, this next one, i love this. here's -- >> where did you find a picture of this? >> i know, this is the picture i have in my head. tony harris in the eighth grade waiting for the bus with his backpack and walkman on his head. did you have one? >> are you kidding? what is that, the '70s, the '80s? when were we using that? >> the walkman. it's been here for 30 years, my

friend. 30 years. you can believe it? they have finally retired this thing. sony said it sent out the last batch of the portable cassette player to japanese makers. and now we have ipods so people are saying, so what. >> you can't even find the batteries for this thing. we don't have time for -- >> double as, yeah. her new book is out. just a bunch of the crazy pictures. >> i love gaga. >> yeah. you love her, you hate her. >> rock star. 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. algae are amazing little critters. they secrete oil, which we could turn into biofuels. they also absorb co2. we're hoping to supplement the fuels that we use in our vehicles, and to do this at a large enough scale to someday help meet the world's energy demands.

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