washington. i like that beginning, ohio, because in the campaign we like to say ohio, ohio, ohio. but really, the message is kind of universal for president obama. he wants to hit the economy hard, doesn't he? >> reporter: he'll be talking about the economy and he's trying to draw a contrast. he'll be emphasizing the auto bailout. that plays very big, specifically in ohio, because this is a place that is number one when talking about auto suppliers. he'll also be emphasizing the stimulus. the idea here is this betting on america tour. it's him saying that he made some bets and they paid off, and then he's going to be drawing this contrast, like i mentioned. mitt romney, he'll basically be painting him as he has, from president obama's point of view, a calculating kind of wall street guy who put profit ahead of creating jobs. so what does that mean? yes, more bane capital attacks. you can expect we'll be seeing that from president obama on

this tour. >> we've been hearing about this, sort of kicking off he's the king of outsourcing line. but is that such a clever thing to do at this point, particularly when the president is pretty vulnerable on the economy front? >> and also because some democrats have obviously parted ways with him very visibly last month, bill clinton very big among them. the reason the campaign and president obama are, if you will, doubling down or even tripling down in a way on this, is because they feel like it's sinking in and there are some polls that are kind of showing that. when you look at some polls recently -- and let's look specifically at a poll that was done and the results from the states that president obama is going to. in ohio, he's doing pretty well there. 47% to 38% over romney, well above that margin of error. in pennsylvania, among likely voters and their choice for president, 45% over 39% for romney. and this is something that happened before that supreme court ruling last week, so the

thought here is that some of these arguments may be sinking in and the campaign is going to continue with them. >> thank you. so here's a question this morning. when is a tax not exactly a tax? mitt romney and his senior advisor having a bit of trouble getting on the same page when it comes to the president's health care law. i want you to listen to the top romney aide earlier this week. he was describing his candidate's opinion of the supreme court ruling that the individual mandate is a tax. >> the governor believes that what we nut place in massachusetts was a penalty and he disagrees with the court's ruling that the mandate was a tax. >> okay. as we said, that was earlier this week. according to romney's top aide, he believes the individual mandate in the president's health care law is a penalty. that was monday. fast forward to yesterday. witness the candidate changing gears a bit. >> the supreme court is the

highest word. they said it was a tax, didn't they? so it's a tax. that's what it is. >> the individual mandate is a tax. that is romney's position, the new position. and he's using it to his advantage now, blasting the president for breaking a promise to raise taxes -- not to raise taxes on the middle class. it kind of felt like 1776 for a lot of americans, the hottest and stickiest night out there without any relief. >> still is. >> can you imagine? this is a serious bummer. about 700,000 people still with no power across 12 states and the nation's capital this morning. six days after the powerful series of storms went blowing through, fueled by extreme heat this is what washington's massive power outage looks like from space. it's kind of obvious. amazing before-and-after images taken by a nasa satellite for us. extensive power outages in washington and baltimore. visible, clearly, in these

images. looks like stars if you squint and you realize you're looking the other way. in west virginia, the heat and the power outages have led to a food crisis, too. people having to toss out everything from their freezers and stores also. look at the shelves. >> empty. >> everything was spoiling, they had to toss everything out. very much of a concern. food banks also struggling. red cross expecting to provide 25,000 meals today to people. and now we have the bad news to report that 22 people have now died as a result of the storms and the dangerous heat as well. >> rob marciano, we've seen you in colorado following the fires there. what is it this morning, 90% contained? some good news as we start our day after the holiday. >> yeah, and a little bit of moisture heading to that direction as well, but the moisture and the heat remain in the same spots. we start off like we've been doing for two weeks now with a slew of record highs. st. louis, 105 yesterday. evansville, 103.

madison, 102. milwaukee, 102. chicago also broke the 100-degree mark. so it was a toasty 4th of july, no doubt about that. it continues today. minneapolis, chicago, st. louis, cincinnati, you're all under extreme heat warnings. philadelphia as well and parts of the mid atlantic under heat advisories. you are starting off in a hurry. it's currently 86 degrees right now in st. louis. 82 degrees in chicago. so we're getting a head start. 79 degrees in louisville. it certainly is feeling very soupy out there in spots. of course, with the power outages, still almost 700,000 of them. this is a dire situation. some severe storms will break out across the southern tier, but here comes the moisture. don't want them to drop too much rain, because the landscape out there is pretty scarred, but they'll certainly take whatever moisture we get. 101 is what's expected today in memphis. expected to be 101 again in

chicago. even though the big apple to boston not under a heat advisory, it's certainly going to be toasty. and really, we don't see much relief until we get through the weekend, brooke. 98 degrees on sunday in d.c. and maybe finally getting below 90 by the time monday rolls around. so we're still in the thick of this. >> walking in my hotel room this morning, it's like this wall of soupy heat. >> it hits you. >> it definitely hits you, rob. thank you so much. >> it's seven minutes now past 5:00 on the east coast. george zimmerman could find out a little later on today whether he's going to be allowed out of jail. this as he awaits his trial. a judge may rule today on whether the neighborhood watch volunteer is going to be allowed to post bond. he is, of course, facing second-degree murder charges in the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager trayvon martin. mexico has begun recounting ballots in its di putined early election.

andres manuel lopez has refused to concede. this recount is expected to be finished by sunday. we've got some hopeful housing news for you this morning. the foreclosure rate is falling. that's great. in fact, fewer mortgages were delinquent in the first quarter this year than at any time in the last four years. according to the treasury department's office of the comptroller, the number of new foreclosures down 8% from this time last year. and the seriously delinquent mortgages, they're down 6.4% from a year ago. listen to this one. a south florida lifeguard fired for helping rescue a drowning man this week. >> that's crazy. >> it's nuts. 21-year-old thomas lopez realized the swimmer was in the water struggling outside -- this happened outside this lifeguard's zone in an unprotected part of the beach. after dashing to his rescue, helping out, he got fired for

leaving his post. >> i'm not going to put my job over helping someone again. i'm going to do what i felt was right and i did. >> two other lifeguards at this beach have to quit to protest lopez's firing. lopez is going to join erin burnett. nothing says happy 4th of july better than a huge fireworks display. the land of the free, home of the brave. thousands of people lining up on manhattan's west side to watch the annual macy's 4th of july spectacular. or they lined up in front of their television sets. it was great and regis was hosting. 40,000 fireworks lighting up the skies over the hudson river. just a thing of beauty, ain't it? so, i'm calling it. it's 5:10 in the morning on the east coast and this is thus far my favorite story of the morning. we can call this a fireworks

fail. maybe not so if you were watching this. this entire 4th of july fireworks show, boom, exploding all at once. check it out. >> whoa. >> beginning, the middle, and the end. this was san diego, the big bay boom. and kind of went bust. here's the deal. all the fireworks were supposed to be this whole 17-minute show. whoops. they all went off at the same time five minutes before the show was supposed to start. can you imagine sitting there with your kids, and all of a sudden like what's going on? and all of a sudden it's over. 20 minutes later, thousands of people told sorry, show's over. get home. event producers are investiga investigating the glitch. 17 minutes of fireworks all going off in under 60 seconds. >> holy cow. >> i think it's kind of cool. >> it's hilarious because nobody got hurt. thank god.

>> thank goodness. >> but what a show. >> less than 60 seconds. >> nothing like going out for a little finale. >> i love it. so it's mylanta this morning. the people who took part of the hot dog eating contest. joey chestnut retaining the mustard belt. who writes this stuff? he won his sixth straight title downing -- are you ready -- 68 hot dogs, the weiner and the bun and so he ties his world record. but here's maybe the bigger story. the black widow, sonya thomas, won the women's contest but broke her own record with 45 dogs and buns. she's like 100 pounds. >> she's itty bitty. >> it deidentifies logic, doesn't it? >> in a competing contest, did you know there was a competing contest? >> no. >> here you go.

it was the first ever kriff hot dog classic. he's in a the nathan's people. he said i'm going to start my own contest. he scarfed 68 1/2 hot dogs. so you could say he kind of won. >> look at him. he's like look at all those hot dogs in my belly. >> how could his belly still be like a wash board? >> because he didn't eat for like a week before. >> apparently his 68 1/2 not being recognized by the powers that be. so he just has to crif it out. >> scandal. >> but 68 for joey chestnut. 68 1/2 for kobayashi. >> i'm wondering how he's feeling after scarfing down the hot dogs. no, thank you. to the catch of the day here. this shark took six fishermen to haul in. so big it actually broke the scale. >> unreal.

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16 minutes past 5:00 on the eechblg let's get you up to date on the top stories of the day. president obama is going to make four campaign stops in ohio and then he's off to pittsburgh. the president is going to make the case that his economic plan is the best one for the middle class of america. mitt romney deciding once and for all that that individual mandate in the president's health care overall is, in fact, a tax, agreeing with the supreme court and contradicting his top aide who earlier in the week said that romney believes the mandate is specifically a penalty and not a tax. now that he is officially calling it a tax, romney is hammering the president for razing taxes on the middle class. 700,000 people are waking up without power again, six days in a row now. they're throwing out their spoiled food from their freezers and some people in west virginia

have gone for days without food and really low water supplies after freak storms tore through the region last week. the red cross is planning to provide 25,000 meals to people in that state today. a profoundly man-made disaster that. is the quote and the officially conclusion from the japanese parliamentary apparently investigating the crisis at the fukushima power plant in japan. the report says the disaster "could and should have been foreseen and prevented" and its effects could have been mitigated by a more effective human response. a gruesome discovery in a park in montreal this week. the severed head of a missing student found on sunday and identified by police as june lynn who was killed and dismembered in may with a video of the murder and depraved acts afterwards being posted online. investigators say the suspect, this man, mailed lynn's body parts to canadian politicians

and to two schools. 4th of july kicked off with a bit of a bang. different kind. check this out. university of alabama, roll tide, the dormitory building was imploded early tuesday morning and explosives brought the 43-year-old structure down in a matter of seconds. the tower was demolished to make way for a brand-new residents hall. it is 18 minutes past the hour on this thursday morning. we are getting an early read on your local news. this morning we have reports from new york city, los angeles, and long island. so, in "the new york post," an eight-year-old girl feared dead after a boat carrying nearly 30 people capsized in long island sound last night. coast guard officials say 25 people were rescued right around midnight. witnesses say none of the passengers was wearing life

vests. in the "los angeles times," wow, what a big one. so big, too heavy for the scale. fishermen off the coast of marina del rey in california report reeling in a massive maco shark. take a peek. that is big. it topped 750 pounds because that's where the scales stopped. the general manager of the dock says he actually thinks it probably weighed somewhere around 900. it took six men to drag that monster maco on to the dock. i feel bad about those stories. i hate seeing that. >> i'm kind of with you. that was a bit of a group effort. "wall street journal." you ready for the mini ipad? >> yes, i am. >> i'm afraid i'm going to lose this thing. >> i love the ipad. >> i don't have a good track record with my iphones. apple lovers wide-eyed this morning over a report that says apple is preparing to unveil a mini tablet by november, so it's going to be smaller than your ipad, but larger than the

iphone, right around eight inches. the journal reports component suppliers in asia have been ordered by apple to gear up for mass production. >> i have to say, i like it. the iphone is too small, the ipad is a pain in the butt, hauling it around. >> and you like it just right. >> just right. goldilocks. you are funny. >> thanks, man. i don't have a filter. >> you can take a look at all the expanded top stories at cnn.com/earlystart. should you rent? should you buy? poppy harlow will join us next with some new information on the housing market. ale announcer ] we believe small things can make a big difference. like how a little oil from here can be such a big thing in an old friend's life. purina one discovered that by blending enhanced botanical oils into our food, we can help brighten an old dog's mind so he's up to his old tricks. with this kind of thinking going into our food, imagine all the goodness that can come out of it.

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it's technology you won't find in a mercedes e-class. the all-new cadillac xts has arrived, and it's bringing the future forward. it's 23 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. u.s. stock futures trading flat this morning. closed yesterday for the holiday. >> the focus on europe this morning. everyone's watching and waiting for the big interest rates decision from the central bank in the uk and from the european central bank. and poppy harlow is in for christine this morning. we have some news. good morning. >> i thought this was really interesting. if you look at rent in big cities across the country, they rose an average of almost 5.5% over the last 12 months, and prices on homes for sale only rose .3%.

so rents are way higher. you're looking at where they've risen the most. mine just went up. we're trying to negotiate. san francisco up about 15%. oakland up 11%. miami 10.5%. boston, a little bit over 10%. what's interesting about these cities is these are cities where seven out of ten of the cities with the highest rent increase also had a high percentage of homes in foreclosure. so what we're seeing is people that have lost their home from foreclosure have to rent. they don't have the credit to buy again. that's happening. at the same time, a lot of people have told me they don't want that weight of having a home, because they don't know if prices are going to go up and down. why? because it all depends on jobs and the economy. we'll know more about that tomorrow with the jobs report. if the jobs situation doesn't get markedly better, the housing market will not turn around. other things. if you are thinking about buying a home, take a look at the three big reasons why now is just a superb time, if you can afford it. very low home prices. down about 25% overall from the

peak in 2007. rents are up. the mortgage rates are low. quick look at the mortgage rates here. if you have stellar credit, you can get a 30-year fix, 3.66, unbelievable record low. i should note i went home to my fiancee and i said we've got to buy. he said not everyone can get those rates. so what's advertised isn't necessarily what you can get. you also have to think about the association cost, the taxes, all that. so there are a lot of questions. i thought it was unbelievable the rents are up 5.5%. >> i love that you're negotiating with your landlord. >> he hasn't written us back yet. please e-mail us back. >> those stellar rates for cadillac clients, but aren't they pretty good for the clients -- >> relatively speaking. it wasn't long ago that average rate wasn't 12%. so yes, they are very good overall, but it's just harder to get them. people have to think, do i want this home? how long do i want it for?

because we've learned a huge lesson that you're not necessarily going to make money on it and you might lose money. >> can't wait for tomorrow. >> big jobs report coming up. >> poppy, thank you. president obama, he is hitting the road, taking his campaign out and about, rolling out his bus to sway voters in the battleground state of ohio. >> that's a slick-looking bus. >> what did we call it? i'll have to ask brianna. >> looks like a black bullet. looks like something out of "mission: impossible." if you're leaving the house right now and you have your own special bus, whatever it is this is how you take us with you. you just go to cnn.com/tv, and all the instructions to get us on your mobile phone, your laptop, etc., etc. back in a second. you're no mar. but thanks to the htc one x from at&t, with its built in beats audio, every note sounds amazingly clear. ...making it easy to get lost in the music...

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campaign on wheels. president obama rolling out his bus and trying to woo voters in crucial swing states. also mitt romney and his senior advisor not on the same page. campaign pickup or sign of a bigger problem? and how would you like to work here? a floating cruise ship just 12 miles off the california coast. set up to dodge immigration laws. wow. there's a twist to the cruising industry. welcome back to "early start," everybody. i'm ashleigh banfield. look who's here! >> i'm brooke baldwin. good to be with you bright and early. it is half past the hour here, and let's begin with topping off the tank. president obama ready to hit the

road on a two-day betting on america bus tour, four cities in ohio and pittsburgh, p.a. those are the two stop where is the president leads in the polls. his message really seems to resonate. brianna keiler is live with us. it's all about contrast here. this bus tour is being billed as the betting on america bus tour. the point the president is trying to make is that he emphasizes things like the stimulus and really also the auto blourkt because ohio, for instance, big auto supplier. the biggest state as far as auto suppliers go. so a big deal there. he's trying to say he made some risky propositions and they paid off. and then he's trying to contrast himself to mitt romney. nothing really new here as this wall street guy who put profits ahead of jobs.

more bane capital atax. it looks like those may be sinking in. >> all the while, as he is heading out to pennsylvania and ohio, you have tim pawlenty and the louisiana governor heading to the same states, sort of shadow surrogates here to the president's bus tour. >> and also they may very well be the vice presidential candidate as well, or they're rumored to be among the group. welcome to the world of bracketing. we saw saw of this last month with the obama campaign when romney went on a similar bus tour. this is bracketing. you don't want someone to take your entire message or really get only their message out there, so they will be following along, making some stops and really trying to steal some of the spotlight. that's really what it's all about. >> bracketing. thank you so much. >> learn something new every day. 33 minutes now past 5:00 on the east coast. this is a story i bring you almost every day, it seems.

hot, thirsty, hungry, powerless. about 700,000 people still without power, if you can believe it, across a dozen states and the nation's capital this morning. it's six days now since those powerful storms ripped through, fueled by extreme heat, zapping the trees, knocking down the power lines. and in west virginia, it's really bad. a food crisis there. people having to empty their freezers, stores having to do the same thing, tossing out tons, virtually tons of spoiled food. now the red cross is expecting to have to provide 25,000 meals just today. the death toll has now climbed to 22 people who have died from the storms and from the dangerous heat. so brutal heat and a blanket of humidity still a major worry across the plains and the east, in fact. there are heat advisories in place for 23 states as well as d.c. the daytime temperatures once again expected to climb well up into the 90s and the lower 100s. all this this afternoon while

the heat index values range from 100 to 110 degrees. progress is being made in the most destructive wildfire, however, in colorado's history. the waldo canyon fire near colorado springs now nearly 90% contained. the fire has scorched more than 18,000 acres. it's destroyed more than 350 homes. but the firefighting season far from over with as many as 45 large fires burning across the country. and the cruise ship industry says it has learned a lot about safety in the months since the costa concordia disaster. 32 people died when this ship hit rocks, capsized off the coast of italy. that was back in january. remember this? the international maritime organization safety committee has issued new voluntary guidelines, so these recommendations include the introduction of onboard stability computers, new free fall lifeboats and establishing

appropriate staffing levels for ships. >> six months it's been like that. they said it would take three to get that ship out of there. six months later, it's still there. incredible. three american families are trying to raise money for veterans groups by calling on affluent families whose children are not in the military to help those who do serve. couples donated more than $1 million themselves and are trying to raise $30 million for the cause. they say americans have a moral obligation to help those who give so much for our country. cnn uncovering a legal tax dodge for real estate developers in kansas. state law allows them to designate weed fields as farmland so they can pay dramatically lower taxes. so in one case, liz si o'leery found a field of weeds in the middle of a housing development that's been designated agricultural with an annual property tax of 38 cents a year.

>> this land that we're on would be taxed, what, $500, $600? >> if it didn't have agriculture use, that would be right. the dwoerp would be paying $500 for this lot every year that it's not developed. >> right now they're probably paying a dollar. because this is on it. >> this is there. and this is there. >> right now in johnson county, kansas, government jobs are being slashed and school budgets are being cut. local county commissioner says that if the loopholes were closed, that might not be happening. i'm having a tough time. did you say field of weed? >> woods, banfield. keep it clean. pitch meeting on the lido deck.

>> it's true. there's a new company called blue seed. it's planning to anchor a cruise ship 12 nautical miles from silicon valley in international waters and convert it into a metropolis with floating offices. this is kind of an interesting idea, so that foreign workers can launch their companies without work visas. the company saying that u.s. immigration laws are stifling on shore and the big ideas can't seem to get off the ground. so it will not look a thing like your office, unless you work for google or any of those other silicon valley fabulous offices. this office is going to have pools and massage areas, gyms, rock climbing walls, indoor soccer fields, and no homeland security officers to haul you out of there. really get the creative juices flowing on one of these. >> would you want to do that? >> i suggest cnn move offshore to the lido deck. >> campaign crossout. mitt romney and his campaign have different messages when it

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pretty, i don't think it's going to be that nice today, i've got to say, in d.c. the presidential candidates weren't taking the day off. president obama hosted a naturalization ceremony at the white house. it was also his daughter malia's 14th birthday. happy birthday, malia.

in the meantime, mitt romney marching in a parade -- wait, we've got to look at the pictures of president obama. this is one of my favorite things. do you know i'm a naturalized citizen? >> no. >> and i was sworn in. whenever i see these pictures of the swearing in ceremonies, i cried. if you were born here, you don't know how special it is. >> there's mitt romney. >> and every year you get to watch these fabulous celebrations and you know you're one of the people who is celebrate this fantastic country. this was in new hampshire yesterday. he brings his whole family, there's like 30 of them all together at his house, going on the parade route with his wife ann, and also with presidential vp candidate. romney seemed to change his view on the actual parade vut. he was changing his view on health care. you know how he called it a penalty before, but his chief

advisor said it was -- excuse me. his chief advisor said it was a penalty. and then all of a sudden romney came out on the parade route, literally trying to get the sound byte, and said it's a tax. >> the supreme court is the final word, isn't it? isn't that the highest law in the land? they said it was a tax, so it's a tax, of course. >> there you go. heard it here first. it is no wrong, by the way. the supreme court chief justice roberts did say this. a tax on going without health insurance. so it's in the language. cnn's political editor paul steinhouse in washington, d.c. it was a bit of surprise to get this on the holiday, but there was this discrepancy between what the rest of the republican party was saying and what mitt romney was saying, whether this was a tax or a penalty. it might be mie knew sha to some, but these words have a lot of meaning to others. >> it was a big deal earlier in the week. you mentioned when the romney

advisor said that no, the candidate doesn't consider this a tax, he considers this a penalty. so when mitt romney said what he said to our own dana bash and to cbs as well yesterday, it finally gets mitt romney on the same page with most of the other republicans in congress and other republicans running for office who have been slamming the president over the individual mandate since the ruling by the supreme court last thursday saying listen, when the president was pushing for his health care measure, he didn't call it a tax, and now they're saying he's kind of reneging on that. it puts mitt romney on the same page with most republican voters. take a look at our poll. we conducted it after the supreme court ruling. we asked do you consider the individual mandate a tax? look at that. 83% of republicans say yep. and six out of ten independents feel the same way. so it now kind of gets mitt romney on the same page and able to attack the president over this. >> okay, it gives him that ammunition. but doesn't it also give ammunition to the democrats who

say hold on a second then, if you're calling this a tax, didn't you have a mandate in massachusetts as well that had a penalty if you didn't buy the health insurance, hence aren't you also raising taxes in your state? >> aha! very good point. >> i can figure things out now and again. >> listen, romney came under attack for this in inn the primaries. a lot of his opponents, especially rick santorum said listen, we can't have romney as our nominee because of what he did in massachusetts with that individual mandate. here's how romney explains the difference between what he did and the federal law. listen to this from his interview with cbs. >> states have what's known as police power and states can implement penalties and mandates and so forth under their constitutions, which is what massachusetts did. but the federal government does not have those powers and therefore for the supreme court to reach the conclusion it did that the law was constitutional, they had to find it was a tax and they did, and therefore, obama care is a tax. like it or not, it's a tax.

>> it didn't take long for the obama campaign to react. take a look at this tweet from david axelrod, the senior advisor to obama in his campaign. if he were in the white house talking about romney, parsley would be the official vegetable, twister national pastime. point, counterpoint, i guess. >> okay. however, it is a bit archean for the voters out there, and they were many of them not necessarily watching news yesterday. do you think this is going to blow over? because it is kind of thick and chewy and people are still talking about jobs, economy, work. >> health care important, but this is an election about jobs and the economy still. >> will you stick around for the next hour too? >> you got it. >> nice to see you. 46 minutes past the hour here. president obama hopping on a bus and heading to the rust belt today. his two-day betting on america bus tour takes him to four ohio cities and to pittsburgh, pennsylvania. the president is ahead in the polls in both of those states. plans to do a lot of talking,

speaking of the economy, about his economic plans being the best for middle class americans. >> about 700,000 people are waking up without power yet again this morning and they're throwing out the spoiled food from their freezers and the stores are doing so, too. look at these shelves. empty. how would you like that as your corner store? a lot of people in west virginia have been going days without food and the water supply is short as well after freak storms tore through the region last week. the red cross is planning to provide 25,000 meals to people in that state today. could be decision day today for george zimmerman. a judge may rule today on whether the neighborhood watch volunteer will be allowed to post bond to get out of jail. zimmerman is facing second-degree murder charges in the shooting death of unarmed black teenager trayvon martin. the final report on the crash of air france flight 447 is expected to show a combination of instrument failure and pilot error caused that crash that killed 228

passengers and crew. the air bus jet went down during turbulent weather back in 2009. it was en route to rio de janeiro. it took investigators two years to find the voice and flight data recorder deep in the atlantic ocean. lawyers for a jailed roman catholic church official in philadelphia will argue for his release at a hearing today. he has been behind bars ever since his june 22nd conviction for felony child endangerment. keep in mind, she the first u.s. church official ever charged for handling of abuse come plantds. the 61-year-old faces up to seven years in prison when he's sentenced next month. mexico's federal election institute about to recount more than half of the ballot boxes from last weekend's presidential election. the political parties will supervise, they'll review and watch over that recount, but the first official results from

sunday's vote show that he won the presidency, but his challenger is refusing to concede, saying that he's got evidence of dirty tricks being carried out at the polling stations. one of the most wanted underworld figures in mexico has been arrested in l.a. take a look. the 27-year-old is believed to be a top operative in the la familia drug cartel. >> he looks like a kid. >> it is said they confirmed her identity using her fingerprint. mexico put a $375,000 reward on her accused of cocaine, marijuana trafficking, kidnapping and extortion. >> how about that. katie holmes denying reports this morning that she filed for an emergency custody and child hearing. her lawyer spoke to people.com yesterday. she announced last week that

she's divorcing tom cruise. she did so by filing for divorce. the actress has asked now for soul legal custody of their 6-year-old daughter suri. cruise has yet to file any legal papers officially. let's call him the sultan of scarf. joey chestnut retaining the mustard yellow belt, winning his sixth nathan's famous eating hot dog contest, tying his own record 68 hot dogs and buns in ten minutes. >> ick. a homeless veteran to the rescue after a heated argument between two men on the streets of seattle. police say that one of the men pulled out a gun, shot the other one, hitting his femoral artery and that's when staff sergeant royal stepped in. >> i was just glad i was there to be able to stop the bleeding, put a tourniquet around his leg. i think that probably saved his life. >> royal served in the army for

ten years and fought in the first gulf war, too. to london we go. pandas taking over. 108 of them, to be exact. >> what? >> let me finish. this is all part of panda awareness week. >> of course it is. >> of course. some dance in the square. others took the tube around town. 108 people wore the suits, representing the 108 pandas at the giant panda research center in china. aw. researchers say their ultimate goal is to help the pandas return to their natural habitat and to increase the number of giant pandas living in the world. >> so adorable. actress naomi watts looking pretty fabulous in her new role. when you see the picture, can you guess? can you guess who she is portraying? look closely. look very closely. if you are leaving the

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it is now 55 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. time to take a look at what's trending on the interwebs. he's being called the coolest cop ever. a bunch of guys were jamming in the canadian wilderness and they're thinking their fun is

about to come to an abrupt end because a cop arrives, approaches them. they think oh, jeez. instead, the cop just wants to jam. just got to be heard. first he shreds a guitar solo and then he moved on to the drums. >> i thought we were in trouble, thought we did something wrong. but apparently we didn't do anything wrong. >> hope he has some winter clothes. rapper and miami native pit bull may soon be getting a free trip to alaska. why? he's taking part in this promotional deal with walmart in which he agreed to go to the store that received the most likes on its facebook page. right now the leading candidate is the store in kodiak, alaska. this is all thanks to this internet campaign by a newspaper writer and the #exilepitbull. the kodiak store has more than 60,000 likes, more than ten times the population of the town. >> so somebody's out there with

a like finger. >> click, click, click, click. >> that's pretty funny. well, good luck. was that a big kodiak bear in the background? before the break, we showed the picture of naomi watts. did you guess? >> no. >> i felt the same way. but guess who she's portraying in her new film. it is princess diana. >> wow. >> apparently the film generating almost as much interest as her life, too. the movie studio released this, the first photo of her in costume as diana. watts is playing princess di in an upcoming bio pick that's going to cover the final two years that led up to that tragic car crash. she's saying she's very excited, very honored to be playing the role of a truly remarkable woman. 4th of july celebration fail, if you want to look at it that way. >> i don't know, this looks pretty awesome. >> this was kind of my favorite story of the morning, maybe not. if you were in san diego

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president obama hits the road today, and the question is where is he going and who is footing the bill? >> is it a tax? is it a mandate? really? rep an presidential candidate mitt romney talking about words, and it matters, folks. >> and quite possibly my favorite story of the day, fireworks fail, how an entire celebration went up in 17 seconds. >> wow. >> good morning, everybody. nice to have you with us. i am ashleigh banfield. >> i am brooke baldwin. zoraida is off today. 6:00 for you on the east coast. talk about the president here. the obama bus tour wrapped up and ready to roll this morning and the white house branding the president's two-day trip as the betting on america tour that kicks off with four campaign stops in ohio today and onto pennsylvania for an appearance

in the steel city tomorrow and brianna keillor is live for us in washington this morning. we know the president will be highlighting the contrasts between himself and mitt romney. what is the plan of attack? >> he is positioning himself, brooke, as this guy who has bet on america, touting the auto bailout, a really big deal in ohio. you may think of detroit, michigan, but ohio is huge talking about auto suppliers. his backing that auto bailout plays well there and romney's position to not back it doesn't play as well. they're emphasizing that and the stimulus and trying to draw a contrast painting mitt romney not as anything new really as a wall street guy that put profits ahead of middle class jobs and that means bain capital attacks and the reason they're doing that is recent polls show it may be sinking in even though last month some of the allies poked

holes in the arguments there. >> republicans hot on his trail and we know two prominent republicans, possibly vp candidates, talk to me about who is going where and bracketing. >> tim pawlenty and bobby jindal. the obama campaign is sending these guys along to areas close where the president will be so they can take romney's message on the road and this isn't the first time we have seen this. the obama campaign did this to romney last month when he went on a similar bus tour. i think we'll be seeing a lot of this bracketing and jockeying for attention. >> the beastly bus. >> yes. >> it is. >> it is a really cool bus, i have to say. awesome bus. here is a question for you. tax or not a tax? ponder for a moment. mitt romney and his senior advisers seem to be having

trouble getting on message when it comes to the president's health care law and whether it is or isn't a tax. that was until yesterday anyway. listen to top romney aid from earlier this week describing his candidate's opinion that the individual mandate penalty is a tax. >> the governor believes what we put in place in massachusetts was a penalty and he disagrees with the court's ruling that the mandate was a tax. >> okay. he said it was a penalty in massachusetts. here is the weird thing. he believes fining people for not having health insurance in the health care law is a penalty but that was monday. how about yesterday? behold, a candidate changing gears. >> the supreme court has the final word, right, the highest court in the land, and they said it was a tax, didn't they? it is a tax, of course. >> what am i supposed to think? the penalty under the individual mandate is now officially a tax

according to romney. that's the new position. he is using it to his advantage. make no mistakes, blasting the president for breaking a promise not to raise taxes on the middle class. >> a tragic fourth of july evening on long island sound in new york. two people are dead after this boat carrying about 27 people capsized. coast guard officials say 25 passengers were rescued by midnight and one of them we're told is still in critical condition this morning and witnesses tell us none of the passengers was wearing life vests. >> george zimmerman may find out later whether or not he will get out of jail as we awaits trial. a judge will rule on whether the neighborhood watch volunteer can post bond and get out. zimmerman is facing second degree murder charges in the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager, trayvon martin. a profoundly man made disaster. that's the finding of a japanese parliamentary panel investigating the crisis at the

nuclear plant in fukushima. they say is could and should have be foreseason and prevented and the effects could have been, quote, mitigated by a more effective human response, end quote. >> mexico has begun recounting ballots in the presidential election. he the recount is expected to be finished by sunday. >> promising new on the housing front this morning. the foreclosure rate is falling. fewer mortgages were delinquent in the first quarter of this year than any time in the last four years. according to the treasury's department office of the comp troll ter of the currency, the number of few foreclosures is down 8% and seriously delinquent mortgages are down 6.4% from a year ago. >> you can't make this up. the south florida lifeguard

fired for helping rescue a man who was drowning. 21-year-old tomas lopez rushed from his post monday afternoon when he realized a swimmer was out there struggling in the water. this is outside his assigned zone so after he helps out with the rescue he got immediately fired. why? he left his post. >> i am not going to put my job over going to help someone. i am going to do what i thought was right, and i did. >> several other lifeguards at the beach have quit to protest lopez's firing. lopez is going to join erin burnett "outfront" on cnn. >> the fourth of july ended with a big bang in the big apple. have a peek. >> that is the rockets red glare. thousands lining up on manhattan's west side watching

the annual macy's fourth of july spectacular, about 40,000 fireworks lighting up the hudson river and it was awesome. >> so that was awesome. that was in new york. how about this one for a fireworks fail, an entire fourth of july fireworks exploding all at one time? this was san diego, the big bay boom went bust. it lasted less than 30 seconds. here is the deal. all the fireworks that were part of the show supposed to last 17 minutes, beautiful display for the san diego fourth of july, not so much. they all went off at once. >> man. >> and as a result it was early so the thousands of people traffic langing out with family and kids were told sorry show is over. go home. event producers are investigating the glitch. >> do you think some people thought, oh, man, they're really going all out this year. >> right. this is the beginning?

i can't wait to see the finale. stay classy, san diego. >> some people may not know there was a problem. they may have thought it was really good and really short. did you hear the rumble reverb rating across the country. this is one of those stories you love to hate. he is retaining the mustard belt winning the sixth straight hot dog eating contest downing 68 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes flat. that tied his world record so the even bigger story may not black widow sonia thomas winning the women's contest and bouncing through it. >> she is bouncing. she is a bouncer. >> she wiggles, too. i think that's part of the strategy. >> bounces and wiggles. now you know the secret. >> and being 100 pounds. she apparently can break her own record here. it was 45 dogs. she did break her own record. way to go. in a contest across town the

first crypt hot dog classic. it is the first ever and took place ten miles away and you will recognize this person because he used to be in the nathan's contest and he is in a contract dispute with the main competitive eating body. the drama, the drama of it all. he actually got 68.5 hot dogs down. that's winning by a half. >> look at him. he is kind of proud. >> and he doesn't even have a protruding belly after all of that. you go through this, eat 68 hot dogs, win by a half a hot dog and it is not recognized by the powers that be, so he will just have to sort of have his own bragging rights from the guy in the yellow jacket. >> don't you just want to relish in the win? >> you're fishing for a bloomburg. who writes this? >> bleep, bleep, bleep. >> smaller than the ipad, something i really want.

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for so many americans last night was hot, it was sticky, and again no relief for these people. about 700,000 fellow americans still with no power across 12 states and the nation's capital this morning. this is going on six days now since the terrible storms fueled by extreme heat took down trees, knocked down power lines, too. this is what washington's massive power outage looks like. look at this picture. >> isn't that a great shot? >> it looks like stars until you realize it is blackouts in part of the country and lights in the other. >> the other angle. this is the before and after taken by a nasa satellite, extensive power outages in washington and baltimore can be seen from space. in west virginia the heat and power outages have led to a food crisis. store shelves, look at this, they have had to clear them out because food is spoiling and the

freezers are empty and same in people's homes as well. the red cross is having to step in and they expect they'll have to provide 25,000 meals to people in west virginia today and the sad story also, 22 people have now died in the storms and the dangerous heat as well. >> you have this dire need for food, issues with heat, power, and then you have the wildfires in colorado and parts of the western states. rob was just out there and back at headquarters and at least some good news, they're 90% contained. improvement. >> 90% contained and big improvement there and humidity levels are rising, so that fire pretty much is contained and obviously the recover effort will take years. moisture is increasing from salt lake city to denver. hopefully we'll have rain for them. detroit to cleveland a little thunderstorm complex from cleveland through sandusky and

toledo. here is a swath of weather, rapids city through cincinnati. everything south is where we'll have the continued met. cincinnati, st. louis, chicago, and as far north as minneapolis and back through philadelphia and the mid-atlantic. these areas continue to bake and these are a handful of record high temperatures yesterday. 105 in st. louis, 103 in evansville, milwaukee 102 and chicago 102, the second time this year they have hit 100 degrees plus. the last time they even touched 100 before this year was back in 2005. right now it is 81 chicago. we're getting a head start. how about a running start in st. louis? currently 86 in st. louis. we're getting a kick start. it will be 100 in d.v., 97 atlanta and people that don't have power, this is just excruciating stuff. we will see some relief, brooke, but not until sunday or monday. >> where is the cool spot, rob?

where do i want to be today, seattle? >> alaska, canada. seattle is always a good bet. while everybody else cools down come next week, seattle and portland and the northwest will heat up and get a taste of it, too. >> he says canada. you know what, if you look at the temperatures up in northern minnesota. >> it is warm. >> yeah, it is hundred, too. i have had a couple of those days in my homeland. >> not a lot of a.c. >> you got that right. it is now 16 minutes past 6 a.m. on the east coast. get you up to date on the top stories of the day. president obama starting on a bus stur called betting on america. four campaign stops in ohio and off to pittsburgh and the president will make the case his economic plan is best for the middle class americans. >> meantime, mitt romney finally deciding it is a fine for not having health insurance under the individual mandate in the health care overhaul is in fact

a tax after all agreeing with u.s. supreme court and contradicting his top aid who said earlier this week he believes the fine is a penalty and not a tax and now that he is officially calling it a tax romney is hammering the president for raising taxes on the middle class. >> if it is too early to digest that, we have more coming your way in a bit. 17 minutes past 6:00. this is iran testing and firing off missiles and making threats during the war games saying through the official news agency that it can destroy u.s. military bases overseas in the region and target israel within minutes of an attack. a revolutionary guard commander is saying that 35 overseas u.s. bases were within reach of iran's ballistic missles. he is also claiming they can hit the targets about 1,300 miles away. >> a gruesome discovery in montreal, canada, a severed head of a missing student found sunday. police leave joe lynn was killed

and dismembered in may with video of the murder and depraved acts afterward were posted online and investigators say the suspect mailed lynn's body parts to canadian politicians and two schools. on a lighter note, this one so big it was too heavy for the scale. fishermen off the coast of marina delray reeled in a massive shark topping 750 pounds. that's what the scale went to. the general manager of the dock says he thinks it actually weighed closer to 900 pounds. it took at least six men to drag ma monster stark up onto the dock. wow. >> yikes. there she goes. a lesson in gravity at the university of alabama. what goes up eventually comes down. watch again if we can.

this is a dorm to her building imploding early wednesday morning. all of these explosives placed strategically in the building and brought this 43-year-old structure down in a matter of seconds. a different kind of fourth of july there. the tower was demolished to make way for a brand new dome. >> isn't that blowing it up real good. >> boom. >> there is nothing like a good implosion, i swear. >> and we loop it over and over. >> such a red neck when it comes to blowing things up real good. one of the premiere music festivals kicking off in new orleans, the first day of the essence fest and a rita franklin on sunday will be crowned the essence power award. our own soledad o'brien will join the party tomorrow hosting start "starting point" live from new orleans. 7 a.m. it gets under way. >> watch "starting point." they're hyperventilating this morning. could it be a mini ipad?

uh-huh. apple lovers, reports saying the tech giant is preparing to unveil the mini tablet by november and will be smaller than the ipad, larger than the iphone and right around 8 inches and they say suppliers in asia have been ordered by apple to gear up for months production. the president as we mentioned hopping on the beastly bus as brianna calls it. he is heading to the midwest and why he is heading to hiohio, yo can figure it out, the economy. >> and head to our blog cnn.com/earlystart. lots of stuff there for you. why not try someplace different every morning? get two times the points on dining in restaurants with chase sapphire preferred.

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we are minding your business this morning. u.s. stock futures trading flat after being closed of course for the holiday yesterday. >> focus on europe. big shock. focus on europe this morning. we're waiting for the interest rate decision from the central bank in the u.k. and the european central bank. >> they're like machines these business correspondents. let's talk economy and bring it down to a state level and tie it into the campaign for us. >> we'll talk about ohio where the president is in a moment and an interesting new poll out from orc. we ask people how important employment is to their vote. pretty clear here, 43% say extremely important, 242 very important and about a 3.5% margin of error.

it is critical. the job reports tomorrow morning, cnn money surveyed analysts what overall they're expecting is 80,000 jobs added in the month of june. that's not good. that's not nearly enough 6789 we need about 300 to 4400,000 added every month to see unemployment come down. >> what is the unemployment rate in ohio. >> 7.3%, much better than the national average. he has a very good story to tell and as you know we were on the road in the past few weeks and unemployment in ohio has fallen from 10% in 2010 to 7.3% now. it is the second biggest decline in unemployment out of all 50 states. michigan has had the biggest decline and ohio has had the second biggest decline in unemployment. you will hear the president say that i am sure. it is critical because no president hasses won the election without winning ohio since 1964. 12 in a row.

we look specifically at auto jobs. breanianna brought up the importance and what we found out overall if you look from '07 to today, ohio actually has 30,000 fewer auto jobs than they did five years ago. gm, less than ten years ago, the biggest employer there and now it is the 25th biggest employer. walmart is the biggest employer. i think that's interesting to keep in perspective when we listen to the president on auto jobs and as we do every morning the one thing you need to know about your money, we talk about this in the 5 a.m. hour. if you're thinking about buying a home or renting a home, think about this. rents are rising, up 5.5% on average in the past year. home prices are rising as well. we're seeing -- home prices are falling i should say 3% and we're seeing record low mortgage rates and if you can get the mortgage now is the time to think about buying a home. people keep saying i don't know

if i should have a home or hold onto it. if it is right for you, now is a good time. rent is up 5.5% on average in the last year. >> or a re-fi. >> if you qualify. >> is it a tax? is it a penalty? a bit of a flip-flop for mitt romney on health care. should he have done that? ger. i'm done... i'm going to read one of these. i'm going to read one of these! [ female announcer ] unlike sprays and dust rags, swiffer 360 dusters extender gets into hard to reach places so you can get unbelievable dust pick up in less time. i love that book! can you believe the twin did it? ♪ [ female announcer ] swiffer. great clean in less time. or your money back. ♪ he speaks a weird language. [ gargling ] [ gargling ] he drinks green stuff.

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mitt romney and his campaign offering up different takes on health care, what it means to you. the presidential candidate saying one thing, his adviser saying something else. we'll sort it out for you. >> campaign on wheels, president obama rolling out his bus and trying to woo voters in two swing states. >> and al qaeda on the move. the terrorist group again

reported to be inside syria. >> welcome back to "early start." i am sitting in for zoraida very early on thursday. hope you enjoyed the fireworks if you stayed up late or heard them. >> the news from a to b, brooke baldwin sitting in today. >> good to be here. you're hilarious, too. >> i try. >> it is 31 minutes past six. mitt romney has finally settled the tax penalty. romney and his tax advisor couldn't agree on whether the fine for not buying the health insurance under the brand new law is a tax or is it a penalty? here is the top aid eric fehrnstrom describing that the individual mandate is a tax. >> the governor believes what we put in place in massachusetts was a penalty, and he disagrees with the court's ruling that the mandate was a tax.

>> well, that was monday. yesterday candidate, huh-uh, changed gears almost completely. have a look. >> the supreme court has the final word, right, the highest court in the land and they say it is a tax. that's what they say it is. >> it is a tax. of course. of course. well, not of course. it is hard when your aide is saying something completely different. he is not wrong, not in any way. the supreme court chief justice john roberts wrote about this punishment, this fine you have to pay if you don't buy insurance, a tax on going without health insurance. a tax. paul steinhauser is live from washington, d.c. we get it. the language says tax. the politics has been a problem for mitt romney because the rest of the republican party has been thrilled to call it a tax, saying it is the biggest tax increase in the world. that's not true, that part, but

does this create a problem for mitt romney to get himself in line with the rest of the republicans ironically? >> that's what this statement does and told that to dana bash and similar comments in an interview with cb skpchlt is puts him in line with other republicans as you said have been going after the president and criticizing him and saying the president when he was pushing for health care reform promise the not to raise taxes and, well, it is a tax. it does get him in line and also in line with republican voters and look at our cnn poll we conducted after the health care ruling. take a look. 83% of republicans say, yeah, we agree, the individual mandate is a tax and 6 in 10 independents feel the same way, very crucial when it comes to who is going to win in november. the romney campaign says this is not a change, basically romney was saying the same thing. a lot of people are talking about this. >> let's move onto the

explanation portion of the show. that will be if you're going to -- mitt romney, if you are going to call this, this punishment, i like to call it a punishment so it isn't complicated. for those who decide not to do what the law tells them to do, get your insurance, they're going to face a punishment in the way of a tax. how did mitt romney square this with the old massachusetts law in which there was a punishment for not getting your insurance that was a tax. how does he say it wasn't a tax now? >> that massachusetts law was signed into law by massachusetts governor mitt romney back in 2006. he has come under a lot of criticism back to the republican primaries and saying it was taint him as a candidate going up against the president. here is how he explains it in an interview with cbs. >> the chief justice said that states have what's known as police power and states can

implement penalties and mandates and so forth under their constitution which is what massachusetts did. the federal government does not have those federal powers and therefore for the supreme court to reach the conclusion it did, that the law was constitutional, they had to find it was a tax and they did. therefore, obama care is a tax. like it or not, it is a tax. >> president obama's campaign was quick to react as you can imagine. here is david axelrod, senior advisor, in a tweet talking about mitt romney saying if he were in the white house parsley would be the official vegetable and twister the national past time. i think we will hear more about this. >> he will be campaigning and explaining and do lots of explaining. nice to see you. thank you, sir. >> thank you. >> new this morning here iraq now says al qaeda jihadists are crossing into syria. tht reuters quoting the iraqi foreign minister saying that they're crossing the border to carry out attacks and the situation spirals 16 months into this chaos.

>> hot, thirsty, hungry and powerless and virtually powerless and figuratively. about 700,000 people still don't have power of the electrical kind across a dozen states in the nation's capital this morning and don't seem to have a lot of power to fix the problem. this is six days and counting since the storms fueled by extreme heat zapped down the trees and knocked down the power lines and left them in the dark and the hot temperatures, too. in west virginia a foot crisis from the heat, too. the stores without nice refrigerators and coolers having to get rid of all of the food that was spoiling and now the red cross is having to pick up where those stores would have left off providing about 25,000 meals today to people in west virginia, and the sad story again, the death toll climbing, 22 people now dying in the storms in the dangerous heat. the brutal heat and a blanket of humidity still a major worry across the plains and the east as well today. heat advisories in place for 23

states and d.c. the day time temperatures going up, up and up. in the lower 100s this afternoon when talking heat index, those values are expected to range between 100 and 110 degrees, so it is not good out there, folks. be careful. find yourself a fan and lots of water. progress being made in the most destructive wildfire in colorado history. the waldo canyon fire near colorado springs 90% contained. the fire scorched more than 18,000 acres and destroyed nearly 350 homes and fire fighting season is far from over. there are still about 45 large fires burning right across the u.s. >> and how about this? three american families are trying to raise money for veterans groups by calling on more affluent families whose children are not in the military to help those who do serve. the couples donated more than $1 million themselves trying to raise $30 million and they say americans have a moral

obligation to help those who give so, so much for our country. >> you know how your favorite story was the fireworks in 17 seconds? >> they went off all at once. my favorite is a ship that will be anchored off the coast of the united states. take a peek. talk about mixing business and pleasure. a new company called blue seed planning to anchor a cruise ship 12 nautical miles from silicon valley. that's key in this story. it puts them in international waters and they can convert this thing to a floating metropolis of floating offices. are you following here? foreign workers can now get on board. don't worry about homeland security. they can be there legally and bring their ideas, too. it is nice for them. they be launch companies without work visas saying that they're too tough on shore and stifling ideas. how about the workspace? have you ever been in an office like this where you have pools

and massage areas and climbing walls and julie mccoy and gopher? you get the picture. nice work if you can find it. >> you would like to be floating right now. is this what you're telling me? >> i would like to see isaac at my office every day. i am so showing i am way old. do you even know these references, isaac, the bartender. >> isaac the bartender. >> no, she watched nickelodeon and nick at night. >> we'll be talking at commercial break. the president taking his campaign on the road and swaying voters in ohio and pennsylvania the next couple of days. isaac? >> isaac.

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topping off the tank and checking the tires. they're ready to hit the road on the betting on america bus tour. we're talking four cities in ohio specifically you see the map and then headed to pennsylvania and stopping through pittsburgh, two states, two key battle ground states where the president leads in the polls and his message certainly seems to resonate and brianna is

in washington covering this and talking about strategy here. how is he drawing the line between himself and mitt romney. >> brooke, he is trying to say to americans and ohioans and those in pennsylvania that his economic policies paid off, that's why they're calling this the betting on america tour. he will be talking about the auto bailout, big deal in ohio where there are a lot of auto suppliers and the stimulus. he will be trying to draw a contrast. the point he'll be making is trying to paint mitt romney as this calculating business guy at bain capital and put profits ahead of jobs. that will be what the president is trying to push. you might say why is he doing this? last month a lot of democrats kind of parted ways with him on whether this was a good strategy and there may be some signs it is sinking in when you look at the poll numbers. a recent poll, especially looking at ohio, likely voters

saying 47% for obama, 38% for romney looking at the pick for president and then if you look at pennsylvania, it is 45 obama to 39% romney. the campaign is confident this may be working. >> they're confident. you have republicans saying hey, not too fast, mr. president, a couple of prominent republicans headed to those states later in the week with their own message. >> that's right. tim pawlenty potential i being vetted for the vice presidential spot next to mitt romney. they are going to be heading in the romney bus to certain areas near where the president is going. this is pretty basic, the strategy here. it is called bracketing. remember that word. we'll be hearing a lot about that. they're trying to steal some of the limelight. the president will get a lot of attention and they don't want him to get all of the attention so they're trying to compete with him and we saw the obama campaign do the same thing last

month when mitt romney had his bus tour. >> thank you. >> you bet. >> it is now 45 minutes past 6:00 on the east coast. soledad o'brien back from a couple days off. >> happy to be off the beach and back. >> happy to be off the beach and back at work? >> being sarcastic, yes. ahead on "starting point," fireworks as you have been talking about on the campaign trail. mitt romney is saying the health care mandate is a tax, not a penalty and kind of breaks one of his tom aides and we'll talk about what's happening inside the campaign getting criticism this morning. does the health care ruling open the floodgates for all kinds of new taxes? jacks abramoff is a lobbyist for decades and he says yes. he will join us to explain. and a textist boys club early facebook employee katherine losty tells all, what life is really like inside the facebook offices and you mapt know her name yet, leah neil,

aiming for olympic gold, a 17-year-old swimmer, only the second african-american woman to make the olympic swim team. we'll talk to her live as well. that and much more as "starting point" takes off in 15 minutes. >> good for her. >> exciting to watch. >> thanks, soledad. >> oh, boy, here i go. >> the pun, you have to do it. you have to. >> panda-monium. get it? okay. why 108 people dressed up like pandas pandas. we'll explain. coming up. yes it's true. how is this possible? proper tire inflation, by using proper grades of oil, your car runs more efficiently, saves gas. you could be doing this right now? yes i could, mike. i'm slowing you down? yes you are. my bad. the works fuel saver package. just $29.95 or less after rebate. only at your ford dealer. so, to sum up, you take care of that, you take care of these, you save a bunch of this.

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welcome back. hope you had a great fourth of july. it is ten till the top of the hour. president obama hopping on a bus and heading for the rust belt today, the two-day bus tour called betting on america and that take him to four different cities in ohio and swinging over to pittsburgh, and the president is ahead in the polls in both of shows states and doing a lot of talking about his economic plans being the best for the middle class. >> and speaking of americans, about 700,000 americans waking

up this morning without power again, having to throw out the spoiled food from the freezers and the stores are doing it, too, empty shelves in a lot of stores. a lot of people in west virginia going days without food and the water supplies are short after the freak storms tore through the region last week. the red cross is stepping in and having to provide 25,000 meals to people in the state today. >> the whistle blowing website wikileaks says it has begun releasing nearly 2.5 million e-mails from syrian politicians and businesses that go back six years and being described as embarrassing to syria as well as some of its opponents. the website says the files, quote, shine a light on the inner workings of the syrian government and economy and reveal how the west and western firms say one thing and do another. >> the final report on the crash of air transflight 447 is expected to show that a combination of instrument failure and pilot error caused

the crash that killed 228 passengers and crew. the airbus a-330 jet went down during turbulent weather in 2009 and it took investigators two years to find the voice and flight data recorder deep in the atlantic ocean. more than half of the ballot box from last weekend's presidential election in mexico are being recounted. the political parties will be supervising, reviewing and watching over the recount. the first official results show that enrique pena had won the presidency and his challenger says he has evidence of irregular laters in the polling stations. >> here she is, one of the most wanted under world figures in mexico, arrested in l.a. she is 27-year-old la bonita, believed to be the top operative in the l.a. drug cartel working out of the u.s. officials turned her in and

mexico put a $375,000 reward on her. she is accused of cocaine and marijuana trafficking, kidnaps and ex portion and now she is in the hands of the law. katie holmes is denying reports she filed for an emergency custody and child hearing. her lawyer spoke to people.com yesterday. you know the deal, she filed for divorce last week. the actress asked for sole legal custody of her 6-year-old daughter suri. >> and reports it was going to be a public trial. can you imagine that? >> no. >> that looks like a guy who is choking. he is not. he is scarfing, joey chestnut, and he kept the mustard belt. he won his sixth nathan's famous hot dog eating contest on july 4th tying his own record with 68 hot dogs and buns because you have to eat the bun, too, folks. 10 minutes. can you imagine?

>> no, thank you. >> 68 dogs in ten minutes. >> look, they're wiping his face for him. >> that's hard work, competitive eating. >> you know this from experience? >> yeah, i have a bit of a problem. i have to be honest with you. i ain't going to lie. for me it is chicken wings. >> i love the chicken wings, the hot dogs and buns, not so much. >> i got me a problem with the chicken wings. >> let's move on, shall we? a homeless veteran to the rescue after a heated argument between two men on the streets of seattle. police say one of the guys pulls out a gun, shoots the other guy, hits his femoral artery and staff sergeant royal grabbed his belt and stepped in. >> i was just glad i was there to be able to stop the bleeding and put that around his leg. >> he served in the army for ten years and fought in the first gulf war. >> a hero many times over. really nice to hear that.

pandas, look at that, and you are seeing pandas taking over london, 108 mascot things for the world panda awareness week. what did you get me? it is world panda awareness week. >> world panda awareness week? >> look at them in the park. >> look at these guys. nothing like those. listen, there is 108 pandas actually in the breeding center in china and the researchers are saying the ultimate goal is to raise awareness and that's why these stuffed pandas are imitating the real pandas. hi. hello. >> this is the queen. >> the panda with the royal wave. >> perfect. >> are you thinking about starting your own business? celebrity jeff garcia is cooking up advice to take you to the next level.

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starting point less than a minute away. we wrap it up as always with best advice. >> and here is business advice you can use for just about anything.

take a look. >> without a doubt the best advice that i have ever received is i think that is simplify, focus, and execute. when somebody wants to start a business, the best way of doing it is simply find an idea and you can focus on it and then you can execute it. >> simplify. >> yeah. best advice i ever got in the kitchen, replace butter with pam. >> i will order out, thank you very much. i am really good at that. >> that is "early start" with the news from a to b. >> "starting point" with soledad o'brien begins right now. >> welcome, fb. the starting point this morning, mitt romney's mixed mandate message. the candidate is getting in line with the rest of the gop and says it is a tax, not a penalty, talking about health care. critics say he is changing his mind for political gain again.

hot, thirsty, hungry, powerless, 700,000 still without electricity. it has been six days since the freak storm. some people haven't eaten for days in one state. plus, gaining ground, fire fighters finally close to killing the most destructive fire in colorado's history. the woman in the facebook frat house, ex facebook employee tells out in her new book and she says it was a sexist boys club. she will be with us along with jack abramoff and alice stewart will be our guest and obama campaign press secretary ben labolt and we have a packed show ahead. it is thursday, july 5th, and "starting point" begins right now. >> welcome, everybody. "starting point" with breaking news on a whistle blowing

website wiki leaks at it begin. this he have begun publishing 2.5 million e-mails. they're described as embarrassing to syria as well as some of hits opponents and the website says the files, quote, shine a light on the inner workings of the syrian government and economy and also reveal how the west and western firms say one thing and do another. we're watching the story for you and will have more details as the details come in. the rest of the day's top stories, right to brooke baldwin with an update on headlines. >> welcome back from the beach. good to see you. good morning, everyone. about 700,000 people waking up to another day without power. look at the map. you see 11 states and talk about the nation's capital. it has been six days since powerful storms fueled by extreme heat zapped trees and knocked down power lines and take a look at this picture. this is washington's massive power outage. this is fr