that are dear to the civil rights group. and members of the naacp did not hide their feelings about mitt romney. >> honorable mitt romney this morning is our speaker. [ applause ] >> reporter: at first the applause for mitt romney at the naacp was polite. but that did not last long. when the gop contender pledged to get the national debt under control in part by repealing the president's health care law, the crowd let him have it. >> and so to do that i'm going to eliminate every non-essential expensive program i can find. that includes obamacare. and i'm going to work to reform and save -- >> reporter: the boos lasted 15 seconds. the most sustained negative response romney has received in this campaign. the chair of the naacp's national board said members objected to romney's use of the term obama care, a buzz word

coined by the critics. >> that was a loaded statement. and the crowd erupted in displeasure. >> they booed. people booed here. >> they absolutely booed. >> reporter: the romney campaign said the reaction came as no surprise. consider the latest gallup survey shows the gop contender trailing president obama by an 87% to 5% margins. romney brought his own numbers. the african-american unemployment rate at 14%, it's well above the national rate. but when he made the case that he's the right candidate to fix that, he was booed again. >> if you want a president who will make things better in the african-american community, you are looking at him. you take a look. >> reporter: romney did hear cheers when he hinted at his opposition to gay marriage. >> i will defend traditional marriage. [ applause ] >> reporter: the outburst did not sit well with everyone in

the audience. some naacp members defended their booing. >> he literally came into our house and attacked the issues that are important to us on our turf. >> reporter: you don't regret booing a presidential candidate? >> oh, absolutely not. i was not booing him, but, man, i love all people because i'm a christian. i was booing his agenda. >> reporter: still others said it was embarrassing. >> because i wasn't raised that way. if i invite someone to my house, i treat them like a guest. i respect them. >> reporter: are you a little disappointed that they booed him? >> i was. >> reporter: a romney campaign spokeswoman noted the candidate also got his fair share of applause. just how much applause is in the eye offend beholder. >> three boos out of thunderous applause over and over again, i'll take that. >> reporter: at the end of his remarks mitt romney did receive a standing ovation from about -- we noted to be about half the crowd here in houston at this

naacp convention. and mitt romney also got cheers online from conservatives who praised him for not tailoring his message to this much more liberal audience. but, wolf, there was one thing that was made clear today. that is a repeal of obama care -- the repeal of the president's health care law will not go down quietly in a romney administration, i should say. the members of this civil rights group made that very clear today. >> i think it's fair to say though a lot of folks were just pleased that he showed up. that he was there. he came. he paid his respects to the naacp, the oldest civil rights organization in the country. >> reporter: that's right. he could have skipped this event all together. the president is not coming here tomorrow. he's sending vice president joe biden, the white house says the president has a scheduling conflict. so at least mitt romney is coming or did come today. and you have to say, wolf, he did not hide his positions from this group. he basically told them what he would do if he were president of the united states, whether they liked those positions on not.

he was pretty straightforward about what he would do. >> jim acosta on the scene for us in houston. thanks for that report. and this just in only a few moments ago, the house of representatives passed a full repeal of the president's health care reform law. it's the 33rd time they voted to kill the law. but aside from scoring some political points, today's vote doesn't really change anything. the debate did provoke plenty of partisan fireworks. >> we have to go repeal health care again for the 31st time. you would have thought the 17th time would be good. maybe the ninth time. 29th time, 31st time, it's like they're going for a record or something. >> our senior congressional correspondent, dana bash, watched all of this unfold on capitol hill. she's joining us now. first of all we have the final vote, right? >> it was 244 to 185, wolf. five democrats switched over and voted with the republicans. a couple of those are retiring.

and a few of them are democrats from districts that make it clear that they want to come back here and get re-elected, they need to vote against the president's health care law. as you mentioned, there's certainly not a lot of suspense into what happened today, but there was a lot of drama. >> the screen for five minutes. >> reporter: if it was just political theater, democrats figured why not put on a show. >> i shall read the replacement bill. >> reporter: a greens routine marked repeal-obsessed republicans for not having a plan of their own. >> let me just read half of it first. i shall now read one-half of the replacement bill. now i shall read the other half of the replacement bill. that's the replacement bill. here is the bill that we can read. >> reporter: another democrat evoked grandma's favorite remedy. >> republicans want to go back to the day when chicken noodle soup was the only option for

hard-working families who couldn't afford care. the truth is chicken noodle soup might be mmm good for lunch, but as a health care policy, it is mmm-bad. >> reporter: they even tapped into 1980s movie trivia. >> you ever seen the movie "fatal attraction." it's a great film. mr. speaker, i would submit that having now had 30 different debates on this floor over repeal of the health care bill that house republicans have finally hit their boil the bunny moment. >> i hate rabbits -- >> reporter: not to be outdone, this republicans chose '80s character boss hog. >> i call this boss obama care. the only health care that citizens of this country can access are those approved by the

boss. >> reporter: democrats are trying to turn this repeal re-run to their advantage with ads against vulnerable republicans. >> tell congresswoman mary bono mack shouldn't repeal our benefits if she wants to keep hers. >> reporter: by the gop count, this is the 33rd vote to dismantle the health care law even though repeal dies in the democrat-controlled senate. so democrats asked over and over why bother. republicans say public opinion is on their side. >> we're going to keep at it until we get this legislation off the books. it was a bad bill. it has become a bad law. >> reporter: to be sure, when democrats were in control of the house, they held their share of votes that were clearly just political, to make political points they knew weren't going to get anywhere. for example, wolf, you remember when democrats were in control, they voted over and over again to bring troops home during the iraq war during the bush administration knowing full well

that was not going to happen. >> and you pointed out five democrats voted with the republicans to repeal the president's health care law. i take it all of the republicans reunited. there was no dissent among them, is that right? >> reporter: that's correct. no republicans voted against their party. no republicans did not vote to repeal. they got across the board party line vote for the republicans. >> interesting. thanks very much for that, dana up on capitol hill. let's discuss what's going on. our chief political analyst gloria borger is here in "the situation room." the republicans were totally united about this. >> yes, they were. >> but the polls show maybe it's not such a clear-cut issue. the republicans think it's a winning issue for them. >> they believe it's a winning issue because a majority of americans are still opposed to health care reform. if you look at how the numbers have shifted in the last four months, it's shifting in the other direction. look at this new abc news poll. in april 39% and up eight points to july 47%.

now, that's probably because leading up to the supreme court decision and in the aftermath of the decision, what the white house decided to do and the obama campaign decided to do is pick out nuggets from the health care bill that americans really like. and so they were talking about pre-existing conditions, keeping your kids on your health care until they're the age of 26, no lifetime caps. and so they actually explained health care reform some would say better after they passed it than they did before they passed it. so public opinion is shifting a bit on it. and independent voters seem to be shifting even more towards liking the measure. >> as it continues maybe more people will get accustom to it and like it. >> right. >> not going to necessarily destroy their health care system they've come to like. 85% if not more of american people have health care insurance that they seem to like. >> and they may change their mind in 2014 when it all takes effect. of course that's after the

electi electi election. >> after the election. listen to this clip. here's romney again at the naacp convention in houston. >> i know what it takes to put people to work, to bring more jobs and better wages. my plan is based on 25 years of success in business. >> that's consistent with what he says on this stuff all the time. >> always. >> but the american people want more. they want more details. >> they do. right now what they're hearing quite honestly from both candidates is a lot of generalities how you're going to create jobs, reduce debt, improve trade. again in this abc news "the washington post" poll, the question was asked, who has presented a clearer plan for dealing with the economic situation. and obama wins that round 43% to 38%. it's not that the president has been that specific, it's just that people kind of have an idea of what he did over the last four years. mitt romney claims he has the business experience, but this poll shows that the public doesn't really understand what

he's going to do to fix the economy. at a certain point, maybe it's at the convention, maybe it's in the fall campaign, he needs to get more specific. you can't just run and say, okay, the economy is bad. that's president obama's fault. vote for me. you have to provide an alternative. voters want to know what you're going to do specifically. a 59-point plan is kind of a muddle. they need to know exactly what he would do. >> romney went to the naacp. >> he did. >> spoke to them. there were a couple occasions where he was booed, as we just heard in jim acosta's report. he just reacted a little while ago. he spoke to fox. this is what he said about the reception he received over at the naacp. >> i think we expected that of course. but you know, i'm going to give the same message to the naacp that i give across the country, which is that obama care is killing jobs. and if jobs is the priority, then we're going to have to replace obama care with

something that actually holds down health care costs as opposed to causing more spending for the government and more spending for american families. >> so, you know, he i think emerged from that event today in houston. i think he was happy the way it unfolded even though there were a couple not so nice moments. >> as jim pointed out in his piece, there were people in the audience who believed booing was not the right thing. it should not have come as a surprise to anybody in that audience that mitt romney is opposed to what he calls obama care. of course he is. he's been campaigning on it for a year. so having that booed there was i think a disappointment because i think people gave mitt romney a lot of credit for just showing up. remember, george w. bush did not attend the naacp for some time because he knew he would get that kind of a reception. >> we're going to have more on what happened in houston today later this hour. gloria, thanks very much. >> sure. >> there's also sobering news about a threat to the united states military and to israel. standby for details of a newly

declassified pentagon report warning that iran's missiles are getting deadlier. also, a hazard of summer thunderstorms every airline passenger needs to be aware of. and a church school forcing little kids to beg for money. cnn's cameras are there. great shot. how did the nba become the hottest league on the planet? by building on the cisco intelligent network they're able to serve up live video, and instant replays, creating fans from berlin to beijing. what can we help you build?

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let's get to jack cafferty. he's got the cafferty file. jack. >> wolf, as the democrats and republicans get ready to host their national conventions in the next few weeks, you could ask whether it's even worth throwing these big pep rallies anymore. the democrats are facing numerous problems when it comes to their convention in charlotte, north carolina. some democrats aren't even going to attend saying they'd rather stay home and campaign instead. the democrats are millions of dollars behind the republicans in fund raising for their convention since president obama's refusing any corporate

donations. the president carried north carolina four years ago, but he's got big problems there this year. voters amended the state constitution to outlaw gay marriage, the unions are steamed because there are no unionized hotels in charlotte, there's a sexual harassment scandal rocking the north carolina democratic party, and the state has a very unpopular sitting democratic governor. probably no coincidence then that the democrats have already shortened that convention by one day. it's not just the democrats though. some republicans are going to skip their party's convention in tampa. the fact is these political conventions are expensive, four-day long parties that still get tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer money. not exactly a top priority for us taxpayers when you think about all the other places the money could go. and it's not like there's any surprise or drama anymore when the candidates and running mates are long before the conventions. haley barber told politico that he thinks three-day conventions are the answer saying, nobody

would know the difference besides some bartenders and restaurateurs in the host city. here's the question, is it time to do away with the national political conventions? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile, post a comment on my blog. or go to our post on "the situation room" facebook page. wolf. >> a lot of fun at those conventions. i've been going for a long time. but three days -- is it four days? that's plenty. three days, probably good enough. >> well, maybe they'll shorten it. the democrats have already cut one day off theirs. we'll see what the republicans do. >> all right. we'll see what they do. thanks very much, jack. >> sure. there's an ominous new warning coming in from the pentagon. iran's missiles are getting more accurate. apparently getting more deadly as well. let's go to our pentagon correspondent, chris lawrence, he's got the details for us. what are you learning, chris? >> iran's missiles are getting more accurate, but they may not have to be because they are also getting more deadly. by that i mean they're

developing a new payload system that spreads out the destruction over a wider area than a solid warhead. and you've got to remember how many u.s. bases and u.s. ships are in that region. iran's recent missile test showed off their capabilities. in a new report from the pentagon confirms it. iran's ballistic missiles are more accurate, versatile and deadly than ever. the report finds iran may be technically capable of flight-testing an intercontinental ballistic missile by 2015. the type of missile that could hit the u.s. if it works. >> this is going beyond simply being able to strike at other countries in iran's neighborhood. >> reporter: analyst john pike says iran already has missiles that reach more than 600 miles. enough to strike israel's eastern border. but the report reveals iran continues to improve a ballistic missile with a range of nearly 1,300 miles. >> this will give them the ability to attack a number of

european countries of which we give them a degree of political influence in a crisis that they might not otherwise have. >> reporter: the real battle may come on the high seas though. within the last few weeks the u.s. navy has doubled the number of mine sweepers in the region to protect the oil supply moving through the persian gulf. the pentagon report says iran is developing short-range missiles that can identify ships at sea and maneuver towards them in mid-flight. iran already has a missile that could reach the u.s. if it could put it on a ship and move it to within 600 miles of the american coastline. >> and if you wonder why it is iran keeps delaying missile they could shoot at long-range against the united states, i suspect maybe it's because they're working on the easier solution the missile fire from a ship. >> reporter: officials say that would be difficult to defend against because some of those missiles could fit in a standard cargo container.

and, wolf, there are thousands of ships out there sailing around with those type of containers. >> good stuff. good information. thanks very much for that. chris lawrence at the pentagon. coming up in our strategy session, mitt romney, he got booed today over the naacp convention in houston, but why he still may be accomplishing a larger goal when it comes to african-american voters. donna brazile, anna navarro are here in "the situation room." and horror stories from airline passenger who is are glad to be alive. >> i thought we were going to die. it was scary.

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so i know how important that is. let's get right to our strategy session. joining us now are cnn contributor, democratic strategist, donna brazile, and our cnn contributor republican strategist, ana navarro. donna, i think romney did the right thing honoring the naacp going to the convention in houston.

i think the president missed an opportunity. i think he should have gone as well. why didn't he? >> first of all, i thought the president was there in spirit. eric holder was there yesterday. the vice president's going. president obama's going to a lot of conventions, he's doing a lot of campaign events. i think members of naacp understand where the president stands on many important issues like jobs, economy, peace and freedom. mitt romney missed a very important opportunity to widen his appeal, widen his base. i thought his speech was more about where he stands with the tea party and the republicans. and not where he stands with independents and perhaps democrats. >> on this issue, the annual convention in an election year, the president as you know needs to energize that african-american vote if he hopes to win some of these battleground states as he did four years ago. he's a no-show at this convention. i think it's almost like a little bit of a snub to the naacp. >> that's not true. >> i know a lot of folks there were just telling reporters they wish the president would have been there. >> of course. every time i go around this country everybody wants to see

the president. when i serve as a surrogate for the president, they say we like you, bewant to see the president of course. this president has done a great deal not only to put in place the members of naacp support but people all over the country support. mitt romney missed an opportunity today i thought to widen his appeal to a group of people that may have been open to his economic message. >> you and i will disagree because i think the president missed an opportunity today as well. let me bring ana into this conversation. i want to play a little clip. here's romney addressing the naa naacp. >> if you want a president who will make things better in the african-american community, you are looking at him. you take a look. >> i think he did the right thing by going, but there were some unpleasant moments when he was booed there when he spoke about repealing the president's health care law in that particular comment. on the whole he was politely received. >> i thought he got a good reception. he wasn't just speaking to the people in the room. he was speaking to all the

people watching this program right now and who like the fact he sent a message of inclusiveness. i do agree president obama snubbed this organization. being there in spirit doesn't count. they like him flesh and blood. you can't be there in spirit for these types of conventions. i think mitt romney knew he was going to get booed. i saw him get booed for the same comment at the latino meeting a few months ago. he's not being considered a pander. he's saying the truth. making his point. talking about the economy. talking about jobs. he's reminding that community in particular that group that african-american unemployment is 14.4%. and just making his case, but i think this was much more about the independent voters, the swing voters who really like the message big-time. >> in some of those battleground states, like north carolina, if it's a battleground state.

florida or virginia, not virginia so much but in florida, the african-american unemployment rate is much higher than the 14.4% nationwide. and if the president's going to win those states, he's got to make sure those folks show up and vote. >> look, the recession disproportionately impacted people of color, blacks, latinos and other americans. there's no question that the president's policies has helped stabilize the situation. but in order to get the situation what i call in a better place, we need more. we need more help from not just the congress, we need president obama and the private sector to help lift people out of poverty. wolf, i have to tell you something. what matters to african-americans and others is not just showing up one day, but being part of the history and long struggle for civil rights and equality for all people. >> he's sending a video tomorrow to the naacp. that's obviously not the same as actually going there shaking hands, talking to folks, seeing and giving a personal speech. >> absolutely. >> let's move on to the vice

presidential veepstakes we're calling it for republicans. just a while ago on fox mitt romney was asked when he's going to make a decision, how that's coming along. listen. >> i can't tell you anything about the vp process, neil, you know that. if i did, i'd have to, you know -- i'd have to come after you with my men in black flashlight and erase your memory. >> knows "men in black." we have analysis on our own based on comments you've made are you being vetted, are you not being vetted, my analysis the top tier, ana, we'll put them up right now, those seemingly most likely to be at the top of that list. rob portman from ohio, tim pawlenty, paul ryan, louisiana governor bobby jindal. are they on your top four most likely vice presidential running mates for romney?

>> i think they are. i think they are in the top tier. i think there's probably other names. i think we're probably missing kelly from new hampshire, maybe a couple other women. i wouldn't be surprised if condi rice is also being vetted. >> there is a second tier of possible candidates. john thune, marco rubio, florida senator, chris kristchrikristchd leeza rice. she keeps saying she's not interested, doesn't want it. but she's got a lot of qualifications. >> and she's someone i greatly admire and i think she would make a terrific vice president. but, you know, she said over and over again, she likes policy, she's not that interested in politics. i think that second tier is a little more attractive to me personally than the first tier, but then again i like diversity. >> you like thune. >> john thune is attractive.

condoleezza rice would be an asset to romney at this point. and also a historical first. >> would she be a game-changer? >> i think. many people know of her long history with civil rights issues, but foreign policy, economic issues, but her association with george bush might not be what mitt romney is looking for. he might want a fresh face or fresh start. and therefore i think my friend here, mr. rubio, her senator might be on that list as well. >> you know i'm rooting for him. >> romney says he's being vetted. we'll see how serious. >> i think he's attractive. >> and a lot of speculation. this announcement by the way could come as early as next week. he might not necessarily wait until closer to the republican convention at the end of august. >> that might not be a bad idea. this week we saw barack obama saying vp biden both to the naacp and to the la ros sa convention. >> the most important thing

should be whoever he picks is qualified. >> yes. do not preempt the olympics. >> no. they wouldn't do it before the olympics. >> no political ads during the olympics in states like florida. >> to be in the olympics a little bit. thanks, ladies. >> thank you. a flight to miami was close to landing when terrified passengers began to fear the worst. about a dozen people were injured. we're going to tell you what happened. and millions of americans suddenly can't watch channels like mtv, comedy central and more. we're going to tell you why those channels went dark today on some systems out there. and in our brand new 6:00 p.m. eastern hour, our own dr. sanjay gupta will join us live from cambodia where there's been a major medical breakthrough. and he personally helped solve this mystery. aspirin, really?

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19 channels have gone away for millions of tv viewers. lisa sylvester's monitoring that, some of the other top stories in "the situation room"

right now. what do you have, lisa? >> hi, wolf. directv and viacom couldn't reach agreements so channels went away at midnight. directv says viacom is asking for a 30% increase in fees at a time when ratings are down. viacom says proposed increase would mean pennies a day per subscriber. and the president of florida a&m has resigned amid a hazing scandal at the school. james ammons resignation come on the same day of the parents outed the university to a wrongful death lawsuit. champion died after being beaten by a hazing ritual. and a catholic priest in boca ra ton is insisting he's innocent. police say this surveillance video shows the priest picking up a $900 picture frame.

a store employee says he left the store without paying for it. six days later police arrested the same priest at another store on charges that he shoplifted two coats. and at last, something you might have wondered. the fast food mystery is solved. in a video on canadian youtube, the executive chef for mcdonald's revealed what's in the big mac's secret sauce. in case you were wondering, mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, classic yellow mustard, white wine vinegar, garlic, onion powder and pap ri ka. the amounts aren't given. you'll have to figure that out through trial and error. you can see it there. i watched a little bit of it. he said these are household items. sure enough that's what the secret sauce is, wolf. >> secrets indeed. thanks very much, lisa, for that. it was indeed anything but a routine approach to the miami airport. >> i never felt something like that in the past.

basically with the noise and the bumps, you just think it's going down. >> passengers describe the 15 seconds from hell they'll never forget. everyone has goals. take the steps to reach yours with us. with real advice for real goals. a u.s bank wealth management advisor can help you

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what's in your wallet? chances are, you're not made of money, so don't overpay for motorcycle insurance. geico, see how much you could save. if you were to see a child begging for money on the street, the reasonable assumption would be that they were homeless, that their family were in dire straits, but for some children in oakland, california, it's part of their school curriculum.

cnn's gary tuchman reports. those aren't the only questions about one private school. >> reporter: walk down the sidewalk and turn the corner at this bart station, one of the bay area subway stations, and you'll see him. a little boy, 6 or 7 years old at most, pan handling, begging for money. but it's not for him or his money. it's for his school. in fact, this begging is in a way part of the curriculum at the st. andrew missionary baptist church school in oakland, california. this child, whose identity we're protecting, looks like a modern day version of oliver twist. standing nearby, an adult companion who's not happy we're there. can you just tell me your name? >> who are you? >> reporter: my name's gary tuchman with cnn. we want to know why you have children out here begging for money at this subway. >> we're not answering any questions. >> reporter: but we found out who the man is. he's reverend robert lacy jr. he and his father are the people who run st. andrews, the school whose children are regularly

spotted hustling for money at subway stations. why are they doing it? where is the money going? >> if you have any questions, you can give them to us in writing. >> reporter: why can't you answer that question now, sir? i think children should be home doing their homework during the school year, not begging commuters for money. this poor little boy should be doing his homework. yolanda bailey had three children at st. andrews and she pulled them out. >> to me it's like a big slave camp. >> reporter: she was told her kids were doing fund raising. she says no one told her they were begging. >> my little brother went with pastor lacy. he told us if we didn't make $50, we would stand there until we did. >> reporter: kathrine says he pulled her son out of a school where she paid $3,000 a year in tuition. he says he was required to panhandle for hours nearly every evening. you got hungry, you got thirsty. and didn't bring food or water with them? >> and i couldn't even sit down. >> reporter: those aren't the only unseenly allegations against the father and son

ministers. yolanda bailey says her older child was struck by the reverend. >> he hit my son on the top of the head with a book. >> reporter: her younger son said he was hit several times. what did he hit you with? >> belt and spoons. >> reporter: a belt and spoons? meanwhile, charlos says he was locked in a second floor bathroom because he talked in class and wasn't allowed to use the bathroom. so he climbed out on this second-story window ledge to escape. >> i didn't want to do it. so i tried to come in. and i slipped on the ledge. and i fell. and i broke one -- >> reporter: charlos's mother says the school denied he fell out the window. >> i just thank god he landed on his feet. there's no doubt he would have been dead had he fallen head first. >> reporter: and there's more to

say about this school. st. andrews has declared it has 195 students. the more students, the more federal taxpayer money received. and the school has cashed in more than $220,000 taxpayer dollars over the last five years. bill evans is a reporter with california watch, a nonprofit media organization that's been investigating the school. they say in official filings they have 195 students. your finding is how many students go to that school? >> they definitely under 30 at any given time. and sometimes much fewer, as few as ten. >> reporter: is there anyone who carefully looks at the forms schools fill out saying the number of students they have? >> no. >> reporter: the oakland unified school district is the entity dolling out the money. it admits it is blindly trusted schools like st. andrews. noel gallo has been on the board for years. >> reporter: is there a chance they'll receive more taxpayer

money through you? >> absolutely not. >> reporter: zero? >> zero funds. >> reporter: back at the bart station -- let me take a picture of a transaction taking place. you have no right to put that up. >> don't touch this. >> reporter: reverend lacy told me at the subway station that if i e-mailed him questions, he would provide me with answers. so i did, but he didn't. which meant the next stop was coming to the church. i knocked on the locked door. i know there are people inside, but no one wanted to say hello. but just as we were about to leave, we ran into reverend lacy on the street. regarding the allegations about children and the subway station, about the abuse allegations, about you taking too much taxpayer money, what's your response to all that? >> we're honest people. we're law-abiding citizens.

we have committed ourselves to do god's service here in this community. and that's what we've been doing. and that's all we have comment at this time. >> reporter: no specific answers to the allegations? >> no answers. we're praying people. and if you don't mind, we'd just like to say a prayer with you here right now. >> reporter: and his prayers were the last words he said to us. gary tuchman, cnn, oakland, california. >> state and county investigators now are looking into the abuse and the panhandling allegations. bart, like many transit systems in the united states, they give permits to fund raising groups, but because of this case, there now appears to be momentum to change that policy. horror stories from airline passengers who are glad to be alive. we have details of 15 seconds they will never forget. >> i thought we were going to die. it was scary. instead we had someone go ahead of him and win fifty thousand dollars.

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jack cafferty's back with the cafferty file. jack. >> wolf, question this hour is as follows, is it time to do away with the national political conventions? susan writes, the party that

foregoes their convention and instead uses the money to help areas effected by the economy, detroit, or natural disasters, colorado, new orleans, would gain more votes than any convention could ever earn them. steve in california writes, i think it's time to get rid of them as society gets more and more technology-savvy. i don't see why we need to host conventions and major bench poll tan centers just to cause huge traffic jams. miguel in texas writes, have you lost your bearings? lose all those millions of dollars to boost the local economy? the conventions also give the president to-be and vice president time to make points who then go out and campaign hard for them up until the election. jk in minnesota, yes, do away with them and the electoral college and go on the popular vote. that way the candidates better pay attention to all parts of the country and not just the swing states. what a screwed up system we have. eric in toronto writes, you mean do away with the four-day commercial that no one watches? besides, the candidates'

speeches, nothing else really matters. brandon in iowa writes, i'd say it's time to bag the conventions, they're a waste of time, money and promote the polarization of america. bob in ohio, nope, i would rather watch politicians and their supporters lying and partying than anything passes through my tv. like the unemployment isn't enough already, now you want to put a bunch of hookers out of business? if you want to read more about what to do with the conventions, go to the blog cnn.com/caffertyfile or our post on "the situation room" facebook page. wolf. >> jack, thank you. many in washington are discussing homeland security, illegal immigrants, budgets, forcing border patrol stations to close. in our brand new 6:00 p.m. eastern hour of "the situation room," dr. sanjay gupta will join us live from cambodia where they've likely saved lives in a deadly medical mystery. the medicare debate continues in washington...

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here's a look at hot shots. in bosnia a woman cries over caskets being prepared for a mass burial ceremony. in spain strikers chant in the capital city of madrid after

marching through the countryside. in india farmers plowing through a field. and in france, a baby pygmy tam rant. pictures from around the world. while many in washington are discussing homeland security and illegal budgets, budgets are forcing border patrol agents to close. cnn's ed lavandera explains why this move has local law enforcement speaking out. >> reporter: the border patrol station in amarillo, texas, sits on grassy prairie land on the edge of town. it's home to two border patrol agents. the office is hundreds of miles from the border. and might not be much to look at. but potter county sheriff, brian thomas, says his deputies patrol interstate 40, a major corridor for human smuggling. and he counts on the border patrol agents for help. what do you think happens now when you come across a group of illegal immigrants that might be being trafficked through your home? >> if we don't have any criminal charges on them, we have to let them go. i mean, there's not any other

choice. >> reporter: sheriff thomas fired off a letter to texas lawmakers saying the plan is ill thought out and we might as well hang a sign on the texas panhandle that says welcome illegals. this is one of the holding cells in the jail in amarillo, texas. illegal immigrants captured anywhere in the massive 26-county area in the texas panhandle are usually brot here before being transferred to a federal holding facility. the sheriff here in randall county tells us on any given day he can see anywhere between zero and 15 illegal immigrants here. the customs and border protection agency says it's closing nine interior border patrol stations to save $1.3 million a year. the decision is part of an overall strategy to "increasingly concentrate our resources on the border." in all 41 agents will be moved out of nine cities, six in texas and one in california, idaho and montana. president obama has pushed for this strategy of beefing up border patrol presence directly on the border. >> so we prioritized border

security, putting more boots on the southern border than at any time in our history. today there are fewer illegal crossings than at any time in the past 40 years. >> this is where the battle belays. >> reporter: randall county sheriff joel richardson argues these interior border patrol stations are second lines of defense in national security. he also worries that human smugglers will have an easier time moving across the country. >> i understand border violence and the need to secure our borders, but taking two agents and sending them to the border when they already serve an area of about 26,000 square miles just to me just doesn't seem to make sense. >> reporter: the question these local law enforcement officials are asking is, who are they supposed to call now when they come across illegal immigrants? that's still unanswered. ed lavandera, cnn, amarillo, texas. and you're in "the situation room." happening now, a town with friends in high places facing a financial crisis.

hundreds of city workers have their pay suddenly, suddenly slashed to minimum wage. also, he was a close aide to osama bin laden, why is he now been released from the u.s. naval base at guantanamo bay in cuba? plus, the medical mystery swirling around congressman jesse jackson jr. fellow lawmakers want to know what's wrong with him, but he won't say. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer, you're in "the situation room". my name is joe biden. and as strange as it sounds, everything important to my life that i learned, i learned here

in scranton. >> it could be any cash-strapped united states city, but this is the hometown that the vice president of the united states joe biden in scranton, pennsylvania, right now is in turmoil with city coffers down to their last dime. the mayor is taking unprecedented action slashing the pay of city workers to minimum wage sparking a bitter battle that's now in court. cnn's brian todd is here in "the situation room." he's following all of this for us. brian, what is going on in scranton. >> reporter: it's a lot of turmoil, wolf, the mayor of scranton facing two lawsuits from the firefighters, police and other public servants. they feel caught in the middle between city lead who are have had to borrow to stay afloat and cannot agree on how to recover. john judge is a 10-year veteran of the scranton fire department. when he opened his paycheck recently, he was upset, but not surprised. >> $7.25 an hour. >> reporter: a sudden 80% pay cut for judge, his fellow

firefighters, police and other public servants in scranton. >> i have members in our bargaining unit whose sons and daughters are out for the summer in high school that are working at pools as lifeguards or working at a small part-time job, they're making $8.50, $9 an hour. and their father is running into burning buildings for $7.25 an hour. it's absolutely ridiculous. >> reporter: judge places most of the blame on this man, scranton mayor chris dougherty. recently he went against a court order and unilaterally cut the paychecks of workers including his own to minimum wage. he says he has no choice the city can't pay its bills. >> right now we have a $60 million deficit. what i'm trying to do is keep the city operational. not only paying employees, but also keeping the garbage trucks running, keeping the fire trucks running, keeping police cars running, being able to pave streets, take care of parks, it's a challenge for us. >> reporter: one local financial

analyst calculated scranton only had $5,000 cash in the bank last week. that it's now up to about $130,000. it's a result of decades of financial troubles for one of pennsylvania's biggest cities. unpaid bills have forced scranton to borrow to stay afloat. now lenders are spooked because the city didn't pay a debt issued by its parking authority and because mayor doherty and the council can't agree on a plan. the mayor wants to raise taxes drastically. the council wants to find other sources of revenue. analysts say this kind of turmoil is all too common place in america's cities. two other cities recently opted for bankruptcy. but analysts say even in this climate, scranton's problems are pretty rare. one analyst who tracks city cash supply says last year less than 2% of american cities found themselves without enough cash to cover more than a month's worth of expenses. in recent days, scranton's averaged only about enough money for one day.

scranton is just scraping along day by day, wolf, trying to pay its bills. >> so sad, especially for those of us who have been to scranton and seen that beautiful community. so how drastic was the mayor's proposals for tax cuts? >> well, there was some pretty drastic measures. he proposed a 78% hike just on property taxes alone. the city council's obviously balking at that. they're not going to come to an agreement any time soon it doesn't look like. but, again, some kind of revenue generation is going to be necessary for that city. it's a matter of them coming to an agreement on how to do it. >> 400 city employees, firefighters, police officers, teachers, workers, minimum wage $7.25. >> almost unthinkable, but it's happening in scranton. >> it's amazing in the united states of america this is going on. brian, thanks very much. ron is a police officer in scranton with 20 years on the police force. he's also a single parent raising a 15-year-old son. and he's now making $7.25 an hour. that's minimum wage. thanks so much for coming in,

ron. first of all, is scranton safe right now? >> is it safe? >> yes, is it safe? is the community safe based on your eyewitness account? >> absolutely. the police officers, the firefighters come to work every day. they were sworn to do a job. we're very proud of what we do. regardless of what our paychecks are, we're going to come to work until this blows over. >> so your paycheck has gone from what to what? >> my paycheck as of last friday was less 80%. i took home $600 for two weeks of work. >> and it used to be around $2,000? is that right? >> with overtime and you know extra duty working days off or whatever, you can get up to $2,400 or $2,500.

>> so now you're down to that. how are you making do? i know you're raising a son by yourself. you have a lot of expenses and trying to save money to send him to college one of these days. >> i do. we suffered for ten years trying to get a contract. and as of last october through the state supreme court we received a cost of living increase, a family sustaining wage. and for the ten years that we suffered, i thought now is an opportunity to start fixing the ten years that we lost. and we lasted a couple of months and now we have this. >> so give us your feelings. how do you feel about what's going on in scranton right now? i don't think it's ever happened before where a community has forced everyone who works in that community all the city workers to go down to minimum wage. >> it's tough. i mean, that's all you think about. instead of going to work and thinking about how to serve the people and staying safe and

keeping the community safe, it's always in the back of your mind. and the worst part of the job isn't the bad calls you go on or burning building the firemen go into. you don't know what tomorrow brings. you don't know -- there may not be a paycheck at all next week. we don't know. >> how are you going to make ends meet? what kind of strategy game plan do you have? >> other than for right now praying, there's local banks that have offered unsecured loans for a short amount of time. a lot of people are afraid to even go do that because they don't know if they would be able to repay that. so other than a small savings i have to try and get by, it's a matter of a week or two and i don't know. we'll have to go from there. >> could this crisis have been averted do you think if taxes would have been increased in the

city? >> i'm sure. i mean, it's the in-fighting between a mayor and council and somehow we got drawn in. and we're the pawns in this until somebody flinches. it's not a position any of us want to be in. we just want to go to work and do the job we were sworn to do and put in a full day's work -- a full day's pay and provide for our families. instead somehow we became the targets between the in-fighting between council and the mayor. >> it's hard to believe this is actually taking place. as i say, i'm shocked by what's going on. it's not only going on in your community of scranton, it's going on in other communities as well. and i think what's happening in scranton could happen down the road. here's a question, what do you say to state leaders in pennsylvania? what do you say to federal leaders here in washington about this crisis? we just hope somebody can come in and help. i don't know what that help is. whether it's the mayor and council getting together and

trying to work together to solve the problems. and if not, if somebody else comes in and offers their help, we'd much appreciate it. >> ron, good luck to you. good luck to your son. good luck to everyone in scranton and the other communitys thcommunit communities on the verge of going through what you're going through as well. appreciate you joining us today. >> thank you, wolf. other news we're following here in "the situation room," the pentagon saying the man who was once osama bin laden's cook and driver has been released from the detention camp at guantanamo bay in cuba. and he's been sent to sudan. in 2010 he was sentenced to 14 years on conspiracy and terror charges. but in exchange for cooperating with prosecutors, he had to serve only two years. let's talk about it with our national security contributor, fran townsend. she was the homeland security advisor to the last president, george w. bush. also serves on the external advisory committees of both cia

and homeland security department. fran, first of all, tell us about this individual. why did the united states release him. >> well, wolf, he had been in custody for about six years prior to his taking a plea in july of 2010. that plea was taken as a result of his agreement to cooperate with the government. and clearly the 14-year sentence he received all but two years was suspended. so now we're two years later and he has fulfilled his commitment under the cooperation agreement presumably because the government is honoring and releasing him at the end of those two years. we should tell our viewers though, again, he had been in custody about six years. so total time is at least eight years, probably a little bit more before he's being released. the government has agreed to return him to sudan. that is where he's a national of sudan. so he will be returned to sudan. and there is an arrangement made between the u.s. government and

the sudanese government for him for his conditions of confinement until he completed the two years. none of this is unusual, wolf. when an individual agrees to plead guilty and cooperate with the government, if they keep up their end of the bargain, this is sort of par for the course. i think what's unusual here, this was bin laden's driver. this is a man that intelligence and law enforcement and the u.s. military understood had a close and operational relationship with bin laden personally and with al qaeda. he trained in the camps in afghanistan. he had received military training. he was close to the operational leadership at the time of the east africa embassy bombings in 1998. he fled in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks when many fled the camps. and that's when he was caught by pakistani authorities and ultimately turned over to the u.s. >> so you, personally, fran, you don't have a problem with this? as you know, there have been a whole bunch of prisoners from guantanamo bay released and sent back to various countries and have simply turned around and

gone back into the terror business. >> wolf, i have grave concern. this is not appear to be an individual to express any sort of remorse. he's been held captive a long time. the issue though is having pled guilty and served his sentence, the u.s. -- this administration -- no administration could have handled it differently. once he pled guilty and served the sentence required by the judge, that is the two years and cooperated in compliance with his agreement, there's -- the u.s. has no authority now to continue to hold him. and so his release frankly is -- was inevitable and was consistent with law. >> let me change subjects. a couple other things i want to go through with you. the president speaking at a spanish language tv station in miami. he was asked about hugo chavez, the president of venezuela. he's got very close ties not only with cuba but also with iran with ahmadinejad.

he's in his own battle there with bashar al-assad. this is what the president said to the spanish language tv station. >> we're always concerned about iran engaging in destabilizing activity around the globe, but overall my sense is that what mr. chavez has done over the last several years has not had a serious national security impact on us. >> now, mitt romney was asked about that. republicans are pouncing big-time as you can imagine. romney saying i was stunned by his comments, this is hugo chavez who has invited iran in, who has invited hezbollah and goes on with a litany of what chavez has done. you've studied this closely, the situation hugo chavez, venezuela, its impact. is the president right when he says that hugo chavez has not had a serious national security impact on the united states? >> you know, wolf, i think the key here is the president used very ambiguous language.

he looked like he was struggling for an answer frankly. i think when you look at hugo chavez, one, he may have been thinking chavez is very, very ill, likely dying, has a terminal illness. he has been very destabilizing sort of along the border with colombia to colombia's security. his relationship you mentioned with fidel castro, there are terror groups like hezbollah that have a strong presence in the western hemisphere. the reason that chavez is a threat to our national security is because what you don't want to see is him to permit iran to have a foothold in the western hemisphere, you know, right close to the united states and then project themselves throughout the western hemisphere using venezuela as a foothold. that's the concern. i think it's a legitimate concern. of course we have to presume the u.s. intelligence community working with others in the region very carefully monitors iran's activity in venezuela and

around the world because of the potential for them to be destabilizing. remember, it was in argentina where hezbollah, a proxy of iran, blew up the israeli cultural center and synagogue. we know hezbollah working with iran's resources has conducted terrorist activity in the western hemisphere. for all those reasons, of course chavez must be considered a concern and a threat. >> fran townsend, thanks very much for that analysis. >> thank you. growing calls for congressman jesse jackson jr. to come clean about his health. he's on medical leave right now from congress, but he's not providing details. standby. and new developments in the effort to shut down the only clinic in mississippi that does abortions. is the state of mississippi trying to skirt row versus wade? also, the surprising reality of many u.s. olympic athletes. they're struggling to make ends meet. some actually are living in near-poverty. i have to know the weather patterns. i upgraded to the new sprint direct connect. so i can get three times the coverage. [ chirp ]

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jack cafferty's here with the cafferty file. jack. >> wolf, in is a little discouraging. turns out the american dream may not be for everyone. a new report by the puh charitable trusts shows a family's race, economic background and neighborhood all play a role. 84% of americans have higher incomes than their parents did at the same age, those born at the top and the bottom of the economic scale are likely to stay there. when it comes to race, african-americans are less likely to top their parents income and wealth than whites are. and blacks are more likely to be stuck at the bottom of the ladder or fall out of the middle. the study couldn't even measure black mobility at the upper income levels because the number was too small. meanwhile, another piece to the wealth inequality puzzle is this, recent census bureau data shows that white americans have 22 times more wealth than blacks. 22 times.

in 2010 the median household net worth for whites about $111,000. compared to less than $5,000 for blacks. whites also have 15 times more wealth than hispanics. this wealth inequality is due to a lot of factors including the implosion of the real estate market along with higher unemployment rates among minority groups. statistics like these are one of the many reasons that president obama is such an historic figure. he's america's first-ever african-american president and certainly has a background that was far from privileged. but mr. obama is the exception, not the rule. the rule is this, if you're born poor, you're probably going to stay that way. here's the question, what does race have to do with achieving the american dream? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile and post a comment on my blog. or go to our post on the "the situation room" facebook page. wolf. >> jack, thank you. there's a medical mystery swirling around a well-known united states congressman, jesse jackson jr. he's been on medical leave from

the capitol for weeks, but he won't say what's wrong with him. now even some of his fellow democrats are asking what's going on. they want details. cnn's ted rowlands is joining us from chicago. ted, what do we know about congressman jesse jackson jr.? >> reporter: well, wolf, not much. basically the congressman and his family have chosen not to share details about why he has taken this medical leave. but the bottom line is the pressure for them to give details is building. jesse jackson jr.'s mystery illness and the speculation it's fueling has a lot of people including members of congress from his own party saying the public deserves answers. >> people get sick. and when people get sick, they miss work. everybody in america understands that, but i think the family would be well-advised to give his constituents as much information as is appropriate. >> his health is the number one priority. as a public official though,

there reaches a point where you have a responsibility to tell people what you're facing and how things are going. >> reporter: jackson, who's serving his ninth term in the house, has been out more than a month with what his office describes as exhaustion saying in a statement he's suffering from both "physical and emotional ailments." the lack of any real information coming out from the jackson camp is fueling the rumor mill. >> rumors have been flying, but without the facts. the fact is -- medical supervision and he's regaining. >> reporter: this afternoon jesse jackson sr. avoided the media using a back entrance to attend the rainbow push coalition annual meeting in chicago. but former senator burr ris was there and he was more than happy to blast both democrats and the media for applying pressure on

jackson. >> tell them all to back off jesse jackson jr. and it will come forward at the proper time. >> reporter: don't the people have a right to know? >> he is a public servant. at the proper time they will know. i'm asking you all to give him some space. the young man has evidently some problems. >> reporter: wolf, sandy jackson, jesse jackson jr.'s wife is an older person here in the city of chicago. she's recently within the last few hours released a statement to "the chicago tribune" and reads in part she's hopeful my husband's doctors will be able to release something soon. i'm in constant talks with them about jesse's condition and medical prognosis going forward. we may learn something in the next few hours or days from the doctors that are treating jesse jackson jr. but at this point the family has not released any information on their own. >> whatever condition he does have, medical condition, we hope he does have a very, very speedy recovery. ted rowlands reporting for us

from chicago. violent protests rocked spain's capitol. dozens of people are injured. we're going to tell you why they're so furious at spain's government. plus, a train carrying a dangerous chemical derails right in the heart of ohio's capital setting off a fiery explosion.

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a high ranking syrian diplomat has reportedly defected. lisa sylvester's monitoring that and some other top stories in "the situation room" right now. what do we know, lisa? >> hi, wolf. two members of the syrian national opposition group sa syria's ambassador to iraq is making his way to a safe area. the defection comes against the backdrop of rerentless violence in syria. at least 34 people were killed across the country today. and in spain protesters are venting fury at budget-slashing cuts. demonstrations turned violent in madrid. at least 76 people were injured. the government plans to cut more than $79 billion in the next three years by slashing red tape and raising taxes. and smoke and flames shot high into the air after part of a freight train derailed before dawn in columbus, ohio, today. a mile-wide area of the city had

to be evacuated. 11 cars went off the tracks and several of them caught fire. the train was carrying ethanol, crews are now letting that alcohol burn off. the ntsb is sending a so-called go team to the scene to investigate what happened. and a newly identified blood-sucking parasite has been named after bob marley. he named it because it's uniquely caribbean. it attaches itself to fish that inhabit the coral reef. nice tribute to bob marley. not sure he ever envisioned that. >> i'm sure he never thought there would be a crustacean named after him. thanks, lisa. thanks very much. sending american jobs overseas, president obama, mitt romney each, they are accusing the other. so who's right? we're checking the facts. our own brianna keilar is here.

also, mississippi tries to close the only abortion clinic in the state. now a judge's ruling has just come out. what it means for this closely watched case. plus, the u.s. military severing ties with nascar. is there more to this split than meets the eye? ♪ [ acoustic guitar: upbeat ]

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it's the newest hot button issue in the presidential campaign, outsourcing.

president obama and mitt romney each are accusing the other of sending american jobs overseas. so who's right? our white house correspondent, brianna keilar, she's here in "the situation room." did a little fact check for us. all right, brianna, what are you finding out? >> well, they're both kind of wrong here, wolf. i say kind of because this is a very complicated issue. one stimulus program, which the rnc has really taken aim at which gave grants for renewable power projects, it created between 52,000 and 75,000 jobs according to a study by the lawrence berkeley national laboratory. but jobs were no doubt created overseas as well. the obama campaign has been lobbying these arguably questionable attacks for weeks. >> governor romney has experienced owning companies that were called pioneers in the business of outsourcing. >> reporter: now the romney camp is firing back with its own. >> if there's an outsourcer in chief, it's the president of the united states, not the guy who's running to replace him. >> reporter: the rnc launched a

new website with examples of how it says obama outsourced jobs. one of the biggest claims, that $8.5 billion in wind farm grants have gone overseas is not entirely true and oversimplified. >> a lot of that money has flowed overseas, but not all of that money has gone overseas. even some of the foreign manufactures were built in the u.s. it's tough to put an exact -- >> reporter: when farm developers purchase turbines here in the u.s., general electric for instance is one of the world's largest suppliers, but its germans and danish companies that lead the industry. and billions of dollars were spent purchasing turbines from foreign companies. that did create jobs overseas, experts say. but it also created jobs in the u.s. including many construction jobs because all of the wind farm projects funtded by these grants were built here in the united states. some experts don't consider that outsourcing. but others like robert scott say it is. >> it's outsourcing. that's one of the problems we

have is that some of the stimulus dollars and some of the other government spending for example the department of energy, has what we call leaked offshore. >> reporter: confusing, right? well, that's the point. >> it does muddy the waters. and secondarily, it muddies the waters so at the end of the day voters at the end of the day after six months of arguments say i don't know who's right, let's focus on other things? what's the unemployment rate? how many jobs were created lance month? >> jay carney was pressed on this by dan lothian and carney emphasized domestic jobs created even if it doesn't meet the strict definition, it might be palatable to voters to know their taxpayer dollars substantially enriched foreign countries. >> what about now? is this program continuing? is it over with? >> a lot of this has actually sort of gone away. and you're seeing that the solar

industry, renewable energy industry is kind of dealing with the fact that some of these dollars have dried up. in fact, a lot of jobs that were created arguably were somewhat temporary construction jobs for the assembly, for instance in the case of wind turbines, the assembly of those wind farms, but then ultimately there's not that many jobs that are needed to keep those plants going. >> thanks very much for that report, brianna keilar's our white house correspondent. other news we're following, we're watching a controversial case in mississippi right now that could wind up closing the only clinic in the state that provides women with abortions. cnn's david mattingly is joining us. a judge's decision has just come down. tell us what happened. >> reporter: well, wolf, essentially nothing has happened. the judge merely deciding to extend the temporary restraining order in place until he gets more information in. in the meantime it appears this abortion clinic, the only abortion clinic remaining in the state of mississippi is in a

real bind right now. the new state law requires all the doctors to have admitting privileges at a local hospital. that may not sound like a big deal, but they're from out of state. they did not have these privileges. and now it's taken weeks for them to get applications for them. and so far they've applied to all hospitals in the city of jackson where they're located. and so far they have not been accepted or turned down at any of those hospitals. so it's taken a long time for that to happen. in the meantime they're asking the court to keep this restraining order in place. and afterward we heard some very familiar arguments now, first from the state telling us that this is about protecting women's health. and of course the operators of that abortion clinic saying it's about shutting them down. listen. >> we still believe that women who are receiving the abortions need to have a certified obgyn and they need to have physicians follow them in a local hospital. so it's still a health care issue for us. >> the clinic is going to be in the position if the law goes

into effect of choosing between risking serious penalties and continuing to perform a legal medical procedure. what we explained to the court is it's that risk that creates an impossible situation for the clinic. and that's the threat to the women's rights that will flow out of that. and the difficult choice it will put the plaintiffs in is really the irreparable injury here. >> reporter: now the judge in this case is mulling over the question of whether or not this clinic will suffer irreparable harm by having this law go into effect. that's what he's considering right now. the issue of whether or not this law is constitutional, whether or not it's effecting abortion rights, affecting what's guaranteed by the constitution, that the judge says is an issue for another day. and may be handled some time down the road, wolf. >> so women assuming this goes into effect, let's say women in mississippi would have to go to louisiana or some other state in order to get an abortion? is that the practical impact of this? >> reporter: well, the problem

with this clinic is the clinic owners are arguing that they would have to shut down if their doctors don't get the certification that the law demands. if that doesn't happen, they're the only clinic not only in town but in the state of mississippi. other doctors can perform abortions, but it will be harder to get to them. also there are other clinics out of state which a patient may have to travel maybe 200 miles to get to another clinic. so this clinic arguing in court that this is irreparable harm not just to them but to the women that they serve as patients there at that clinic. >> david mattingly on the scene for us in jackson, mississippi. keep us posted on what's going on. so what's killing cambodia's children? doctors may finally know the answer. but can they stop the deadly illness from spreading across the globe? we'll have details. we're going to dr. sanjay gupta. he's on the scene for us. that's in our new 6:00 p.m. eastern hour. and the u.s. army drops its long-time nascar sponsorship.

what does this say about the state of the u.s. military? the postal service is critical to our economy, delivering mail, medicine and packages. yet the house is considering a bill to close thousands of offices, slash service and layoff over 100,000 workers. the postal service is recording financial losses, but not for reasons you might think. the problem ? a burden no other agency or company bears. a 2006 law that drains $5 billion a year from post office revenue while the postal service is forced to overpay billions more into federal accounts. house bill 2309 is not the answer.

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u.s. army is putting the brakes on its decades' long

partnership with nascar. barbara starr is joining us from the pentagon. fill us in, barbara. what do we know? >> it's a big surprise, wolf, but the pentagon thinks nascar is now for the old folks. nascar has some 75 million fans. the army says they're just too old. so after ten years of sponsoring a nascar sprint cup team, the army is ending it all stopping its $8.5 million sponsorship of ryan newman's number 39 car. nowadays the army insists only 5% of nascar fans are men aged 18 to 34, the target audience for army recruiters. >> it was a good investment, not a great investment. and so we made a change. >> the military has long used sporting events to advertise and encourage young people to sign up for military service. when i visited the daytona 500 preps in 2010, i spoke to newman

about his main sponsor. what is it about representing the u.s. army? what's different here? >> i'm representing people. it's an honor to represent people that are not just people, they're people that are fighting for our freedom or have fought for our freedom or will fight for our freedom. >> reporter: now nascar fans at a florida hangout have a mixed reaction to the army's decision. >> the army or any military branch sponsoring a car is a way to instill pride in our country. >> men and women on the front line, i would rather see it go to their families instead of a sports car driver. >> reporter: some think it's time to get out of nascar in the face of the federal deficit. >> i started looking at ways in which we could trim the military budget and found out that the sports sponsorship is not an effective recruitment tool. in fact, we've spent tens of millions of dollars and recruited no one. >> you know, wolf, even the army says they're not sure how many

people they really can count as recruits from these sporting events. so many young people of course are online today. that's where they see advertising. but they're not totally getting off the track. the army is going to stick with hot rods. apparently that's the racing where most of the young people are. so, wolf, we've got to get out to the drexter track. >> i guess. what does this mean for dale earnhardt? >> that's a great question. that's the person so many people follow of course. and the national guard, not the army, the national guard says it will continue its nascar sponsorship of the very legendary dale earnhardt jr. >> all right. thanks very much, barbara, for that. the mayor of washington, d.c. is now under fire. he's on the defensive. we're digging deeper in our brand new 6:00 p.m. eastern hour. mayor vincent gray insisting he stay put even as he faces some growing calls to resign. and a cnn ireporter takes a

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a suicide bomber striking in yemen. lisa sylvester's monitoring that and some other top stories in "the situation room" right now. what's the latest, lisa? >> wolf, at least ten people are

dead after a suicide bomber set off an explosion outside a police academy in yemen's capital. officials say the bomber targeted police officers and cadets as a crowd of people departed through the academy's main gates. at least 19 people were injured. one person blames the attack on al qaeda. a shocking story out of tennessee. police say a woman who left her mentally disabled daughter by the side of the road outside a bar cannot be charged with a crime. they say that's because the daughter is 19 years old and is not assigned to a guardian. the woman allegedly stopped at the bar last month when her daughter needed to use the restroom. the woman then went home alone. authorities took the daughter to a hospital and only discovered her identity this week thanks to an anonymous tip. and on a lighter note, cnn ireporter is telling us all the about a trip to one of the strangest vacation destinations on earth. we're talking about north korea. she and a friend headed to the

reclusive nation in april for kim il-sung's anniversary. his birthday anniversary is north korea's biggest holiday, so huge crowds poured into the streets. they also turned out to celebrate a rocket launch, which the government initially did not tell them had failed. wolf, i understand you've been to north korea too, haven't you? >> i was there in december 2010. six days in pyongyang. there's the picture of the former governor of new mexico. he was on a mission there. i was talking to some military cadets. they were learning english. i spoke slowly, but some of their english was actually pretty good. driving around taking pictures. it was a pretty strange trip for me as well. it was no vacation, but it was very, very interesting. i hope one of these days i'll go back. maybe kim jong-un would like to do an interview for "the situation room"? >> that would be pretty neat to see.

i remember when you did that trip back in 2009 you also filed some great reports. i remember seeing a number of those. i'm sure many of our viewers do as well. we'll see. we'll see if the leader wants to do a sit-down. certainly welcome. >> if he wants to do it, i'm there. december 2010 that's actually when i was there for six days. pretty good trip, i must say. lisa, thank you. jack cafferty's joining us right now. jack, north korea not your everyday vacation spot. >> disney world it isn't. i remember when you went over there. it was kind of a cold and hostile and forboding looking environment. i don't think i want to go there. if you start out poor, nothing stands in the way, work hard, go to school and don't stop until you get what you want. there are no excuses. brian says race has everything

to do with anything achieving the american dream pt opportunities are not abundant. with any opportunity we've had to be three or four times as good as our white counterparts just to be considered. rick in ohio writes it may be related to how many children are being raised in two-parent families. that has a direct correlation to educational success which in turn is related to economic prosperity. michelle in san francisco, the dream has nothing to do with starting out poor. the one who is have the will to lift themselves up and out of poverty are succeeding and have found the dream. that's all there is to it. you have to want it badly enough. sadly, a lot of people feel it's too much work. gale in texas writes race has everything to do with achieving the american dream. we, the white race, have made it literally almost impossible for a black man to succeed. you're correct in that the president's an anomaly. trust me, you won't see the likes of him again. the gop will be sure of that. bernard writes from georgia, race is a hindrance to achieving the american dream, but it's not a prevention.

danny on facebook writes it's called the american dream for a reason. reality tells you an entirely different story of racism, hatred and inequality. and jerry in colorado writes president obama had a working white mother and working white grandparents who loved, supported and nurtured him throughout his sometimes chaotic life. and what do most black kids have? and whose fault is that? if you want to read more abilou this, go to the blog or through our post on the "the situation room"'s facebook page. we have a long way to go, wolf. >> certainly do. they're reaching for gold, many u.s. olympic athletes are broke. the medicare debate continues in washington...

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visit a local office, or go to libertymutual.com today. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? here is something you want to see later tonight. piers morgan and the actor, robert blake. >> you were a huge hollywood star, a great actor, no one can take that away from you. but in 2001, you were accused of killing your wife. you were acquitted, you spent a year in a prison cell, a cement box as you call it. but after you were acquitted, the family of your dead wife

sued you in a civil case, and you were found liable, weren't you? >> do you know why i was arrested? do you know why i was arrested? >> tell me. >> well, before you start asking questions, you should do some god damn research. >> why don't you tell me. >> i begged for a grand jury hearing. they'd have thrown the whole god damn thing out. there was no evidence. i was found liable in a civil suit. they didn't win it, i lost it. i went up there suicidally to lose that. i'm lucky i didn't lose my life. that's why i left town and stayed away for a long time. >> wow. what an exchange. you're going to want to see this, piers morgan tonight, 9:00 p.m. eastern, only on cnn. that's only just the beginning. we're only two weeks away from start of the olympic games in london. the games can't get here soon enough for some u.s. athletes because they're nearly broke.

they've gone nearly broke simply trying to get there. lisa sylvester joins us, has this story. what do we know. >> wolf, we watch the olympics, we see the final results of years of training. what we don't see, the sacrifice the athletes had to make along the way. they put incredible hours into their sports, but very few actually have a big pay day. they train for months, and it comes down to a few seconds. the blood, sweat and money all on the line. adam nelson is a three time olympian, his long time training partner, reese hoffa. >> working class people. >> sometimes behind the pageantry of the olympics are world class athletes living in poverty. these two men both are married. nelson also has two children. they both struggle to pay the bills, even as they strive to continue training. >> it becomes a true labor of

love and as someone once said, vow of poverty to pursue the olympic games. >> for those that are household names, lucrative contracts come rolling in, but they're in the upper tier. most work part-time jobs, hustle for sports contracts. a survey by the u.s. track and field athletic association found of the top ten u.s. ranking athletes in their events, about half make less than $15,000 annually from the sport. nelson even after he won a sill medal was dropped by his sponsor. he came up with a novel way to raise money. >> jokingly, said why don't i sell myself on ebay. my agent, also a good friend of mine were talking, said let's do it. set up the page, started pushing it out. ended up closing on a deal for $12,000 for one month sponsorship with a company, and while $12,000 doesn't sound like a whole lot, it was enough to cover my first year, first six

months of expenses. >> unlike other athletes in other countries, american athletes don't get financial aid from the government. even being great is not always good enough. >> in the u.s., we have very high standards. they're basically saying if you're not good enough to get a medal, you're not that good. there are lots of athletes in other countries. the fact that they're olympian, that's huge, support them the next four years. for me, i had to fight every year to validate, hey, listen, i'm still good. you can still hold onto me. >> both nelson and hoffa are lucky to have found corporate sponsors. nelson didn't make the olympic team, putting his financial future in limbo. hoffa did and heads to london. >> so what is the answer? the olympics rakes in tens of millions in corporate sponsorships. nelson and hoffa say it doesn't filter to the athletes.

most would like to see more prize money. the winners of wimbledon each got $1.8 million check. a u.s. gold medallist in london gets a big check. >> good report. thank you. happening now, mitt romney upstages president obama in the campaign for african-american votes. washington, d.c. top official under fire in a corruption scandal. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." here is something i like to say to president obama. you should have attended the naacp convention in houston today. mitt romney did. it was the right thing to do. the republican knows the nation's oldest civil rights group isn't exactly friendly turf but went anyway. on the whole, got a polite reception, but was booed when he

said this. >> i'm going to eliminate ever nonessential expensive program i can find, that includes obama care, and i'm going to work to reform and save -- >> despite the boos, it was a smart political move for mitt romney to address the naacp. he knows he is not going to win over a lot of black voters, but attending these kinds of events is important in reassuring a lot of the suburban white voters that he is a moderate, decent politician, someone that wants to work with all americans. i'm surprised the president was a no show. he is sending vice president joe biden will send a video. i checked the president's schedule for today. he is here in washington, d.c., over at the white house. he's got meetings. i assume those meetings are very important. but he could have found time to pay his respects to the naacp. the president should not take the african-american vote for

granted. let's not be under any illusions. he received 95% of the black vote four years ago. he'll do almost as well this time around for sure. but his problem is voter turnout. the president needs excitement, he needs enthusiasm in the african-american community, especially in the battle ground states he carried in 2008. fewer african americans may go to the polls this time. they might not vote for romney, but might not show up, especially now that black unemployment has risen to 14.4%. it's a lot higher than the 8.2% for all americans. so in my opinion, the president missed an opportunity today. my bottom line is this. romney did the right thing on this day, the president did not. now some folks will disagree with me, kate. that's just me offering my sense of what's going on. >> and as you know, the white house not surprisingly was asked about this. jay carney really didn't answer

the question, only saying the president enjoyed speaking to the naacp in the past. this will be much more, we'll talk about it with the panel later. first, get you caught up on other stories we're watching. you hear about scandals brewing in washington, d.c. the mayor is in the middle of one. involves a $650,000 shadow campaign. mayor vincent gray said he is not going anywhere. brian todd is coming in. what's the mayor saying? >> mayor gray says he is the best to lead the city. has no plans to do anything other than serve out a full term that ends in two-and-a-half years. vincent gray voiced concern about the scandal that cast a shadow over him and his 2010 campaign. today, the mayor said, quote, this is not the campaign we intended to run. this week, top federal prosecutor for washington, d.c., ronald machin described a shadow campaign in 2010, compromised by shady back room deals.

he said gray's campaign got $653,000 in secret money that was not reported to campaign finance authorities. the money came from a wealthy local business man and contractor, according to prosecutors, and they say it was coordinated with members of gray's campaign. yesterday, one ally of gray's as part of a plea deal admitted she helped hide and disperse that money. today, gray defended himself for not scrutinizing where he was getting the money. >> i don't think any candidate can say i'm going to sit down and review with everybody every check that you get. it's just not possible, mark. you think about that from a campaign finance perspective, yeah, might be desirable, but you can't do it. it's not possible. >> this investigation is on-going. the woman that pleaded yesterday said although the money came from a wealthy d.c. business

man, he didn't hatch the plan. that was done by someone else that wasn't named. >> obviously this is far from over, brian. as you look into this, what are the chances the mayor could lose his job over this? >> a lot of questions about this. maybe early to speculate, but two d.c. city council members called on mayor gray to resign. gray as you mentioned earlier said he has no plans to quit. it's also worth remembering, this city endured huge scandals before, like former mayor marion barry caught smoking crack an hotel room. it didn't force him out of office while still in office. he didn't run the next time, but then of course he come back and won the mayoral. >> no one ever forgets mayor marion barry. brian todd, thank you very much. another blow to the syrian regime. the second high profile defection in a week. we are told the ambassador is on the way to a safe area right now. this comes amid unrelenting violence in syria.

it continues. 34 people were reportedly killed in attacks just today. and there's an ominous new warning from the pentagon. iran's missiles are getting more accurate and deadly. the report finds iran may be technically capable of flight testing an inter continental ballistic missile by 2015. that type of missile could hit the u.s. if it worked. that means rather than capable of hitting countries close by, it would mean iran might be able to hit countries in europe. no more daily show or jersey shore for direct tv customers. they lost access to about 20 channels owned by viacom after they couldn't reach an agreement about programming fees. viacom wants 30% more money. but direct tv says their ratings are down. that means 20 million customers are without channels like comedy central, nickelodeon, mtv, and spike. an ohio man struck cardboard

gold cleaning out his aunt's house. baseball cards that could fetch millions at auction. experts say they're one of the most significant baseball card finds ever. talking about cy young, ty cobb. some in mint condition. they go up forbid if you wonder august 2nd. wanted one of those, yard sale, get the picasso. >> you're young. cod still happen. you never know. baseball cards. my mom threw mine away when she moved. but that's a long time ago. >> you're better, i know. >> maybe they would have been valuable today. >> i'm going to go look for them. >> thank you. i was watching today the house of representatives voting for the 33rd time to repeal president obama's health care reform law, even though it is sure to die in the senate. should have had some popcorn.

quite a show as our senior congressional correspondent dana bash tells us. tell the viewers what happened in the house. >> reporter: at the end of the day, the vote was 244-185. five democrats crossed party lines to vote with republicans, all republicans, to vote to repeal the health care law. republicans did this knowing full well that is the last stop. it cannot pass the senate. there wasn't a lot of suspense in that, but there was drama. >> mr. green for five minutes. >> reporter: if it was just political theater, democrats figured why not put on a show. >> i shall read the replacement bill. >> reporter: al green's routine mocked repeal obsessed republicans for not having a plan of their own. >> let me just read half of it first. i shall now read one half of the replacement bill. now i shall read the other half of the replacement bill. that's the replacement bill. here is the bill that we can

read. >> reporter: another democrat evoked grandma's favorite remedy. >> republicans want to go back to the day when chicken noodle soup was the only option for hard working families that couldn't afford care. the truth is, chicken noodle soup might be mmm, mmm good for lunch, but as a health care policy, it is mmm, mmm bad. >> reporter: they tapped into 1980s movie trivia. >> ever seen the movie "fatal attraction." great film at the end of the movie, by going and boiling the douglas family bunny. well, mr. speaker, i would submit that having now had 30 different debates on this floor over repeal of the health care bill, republicans have hit their boil the bunny moment. >> oh, oh! >> reporter: not to be outdone, this republican chose '80s

character boss hog to make his point. >> i call this boss obama care. the only health care that citizens of this country can access are those approved by the boss. >> reporter: democrats are trying to turn the repeal rerun to their advantage with ads against vulnerable republicans. >> tell congresswoman mary bono mack she shouldn't repeal our benefits if she wants to keep hers. >> reporter: by the gop count, this is the 33rd vote to repeal it. even though it dies in the democratic controlled senate. democrats asked over and over, why bother. republicans say public opinion is on their side. >> we're going to keep at it until we get this legislation off the books. it was a bad bill. it has become a bad law. >> reporter: politically, what republicans are effectively trying to do, wolf, with this vote, gin up the republican base, remind them they're here and focusing on this issue,

especially since they know the only way they can do this, repeal this law, is if they win the senate, keep the house, get the white house with mitt romney. i should tell you it is not just republicans that take political votes. when the democrats were in charge of the votes, they took votes over and over to bring troops home when president bush was in the white house. they knew it wasn't going to happen. they were trying to make a political point as well. >> even if romney were to win the white house, if the republicans hold onto majority in the house, say they get a majority, slight majority in the senate to repeal the whole thing, they would need to break a filibuster of 60 votes on some aspects of that health care reform law. that would be very difficult unless you bring in a bunch of democrats it join them breaking that filibuster. you need 60 votes. >> reporter: here is what's interesting about that. there is a procedural tool that republicans can use. the same tool democrats use to get major parts of this

legislation passed into law in the first place. can make it so filibuster isn't allowed on major aspects of the bill like the individual mandate. they can possibly use it to pass this with 51 votes, and that means they would just need that majority. >> all right, dana. she'll be watching this on the hill. thank you. our own dr. sanjay gupta is standing by, joins us live from cambodia. i'll ask him about his direct role helping solve the mystery of why children, a lot of children have been dying in cambodia. and at 47 after the hour, a mid air incident so bad, it had grown men crying. you're going to find out how you can avoid the same kind of problem. it's scary. [ man ] ever year, sophia and i

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suddenly and painfully in cambodia. the mystery has been solved after more than 60 deaths and fears the illness may spread to other countries. cnn sent our chief medical correspondent, dr. sanjay gupta, a neurosurgeon himself, to cambodia to investigate what's going on. he asked very tough questions. he held officials accountable and most likely saved lives. young children's lives. i'll talk to sanjay after this report on the crucial medical discovery. >> the only thing doctors knew for sure, when the children arrived at the hospital, they were dying, and fast. a fever, convulsions, encephalitis, then the lungs completely destroyed. since the end of april, doctors in cambodia struggled with a medical mystery. and that mystery was ultimately solved right over here. blood samples from the sick and dying children were brought to this laboratory, analyzed like you see there, and eventually they concluded there were

several different path generals. enterovirus 71, strep calk us, and deng ee. those were made worse by use of steroids. to crack the case, the lab had to work backwards. first, eliminate known virus, afian flu, sars. >> first thing goes through your head is to try to determine whether this is one of the usual suspects you haven't detiktd before. if it is, has it mutated or changed in such a way it causes more severe disease, or is it something completely new. >> epidemiologist here and a viralologist solved the mystery. >> one of the things we heard several times from world health organization is no steroids should be used. they seem to say steroids made this problem worse. >> when you have a dying child, you try to use what you have at

hand, and they were right to try that. now, whether or not it helps remains to be determined. >> i don't want to belabor the point, but they really seem to indicate that it hurt, that these infections a lot of times, they can be a problem, but they're not particularly dangerous, but something pushes them over the top, and they thought that the steroids emed to be a common denominator. >> from the cases that we reviewed, almost all of the children died and almost all of them had steroids. >> steroids can be a potent anti-inflammatory, but when given to children with aggressive infections, they can also suppress the body's own immune system, allowing that infection to become even worse, as was the case with enterovirus 71, also called ev-71. you hear about viruses, ev-71, as far as they could tell really

had not been in cambodia before for sure. why does it suddenly appear like this, and why does it appear with such a vengeance? >> it looks like this has emerged strongly probably because it had not circulated to the same, with the same intensity in past years. >> it is believed a slight variation in ev-71 made the virus stronger, and steroids made the body's resistance even weaker. >> so case closed. sounds like the case is closed now from your standpoint? >> yes, i think we can close the case. >> and sanjay joins us live from cambodia. sanjay, are doctors hoping because they found the source of the illness, they can now stop it before it is too late? >> i think they can certainly bank on the fact that they can stop it from progressing as aggressively and as deadly as it was, wolf. i mean, this is a part of the

world where a lot of infectious diseases occur. but the problem was these particular were behaving differently than expected. they're sending an alert telling doctors in several provinces to stop using steroids. i think it will stop this dangerous pathogen from turning deadly. >> you're not only a great journalist, you're a doctor, physician, neurosurgeon. modest guy. but you played a roll helping other doctors on scene come to this conclusion. i wonder if you want to share. you have tough important questions that pushed these guys in the right direction. >> you know, wolf, i think any time you put attention on this and you do ask the hard questions, i think everyone was sort of scratching their heads, and a lot of people were asking

questions. i think when you were able to come in there, say look, something is just different here, what is it, i mean, we've seen ev-71 in parts of the world, see it in the united states, streptococcus, dinky, doesn't cause death within 24 hours of admission. it was trying to figure out what was the other crucial ingredient. asking questions about the steroids, subsequently making sure they say to health care practitioners out there refrain from using steroids, this could be a problem, it can be a good medication, but it is a problem here, i think that probably did help, wolf. >> we're all grateful to you, sanjay, for what you did. not the first time you have been on assignment and helped save lives. a lot of viewers will remember what you did in iraq in 2003. you went in, you saved a lot of children at that time who were badly, badly hurt. you put on your surgeon's hat, you took off your journalistic hat and did the right thing and you did the right thing now.

thanks for doing what you're doing. >> thanks so much, wolf. >> sanjay is a great guy, a great journalist. now we know why he could have been the surgeon general of the united states. >> i am happy to hear the mystery is solved, all of the children, they know what's going on and can fix it. it is good that the mystery is solved. coming up, the fbi suspects that in some cases it's csi teams may have helped convict the wrong person. and also, is a wealthy socialite with a clinton connection going to extremes to avoid paying taxes? ...but washg to the american people. [ female announcer ] when it comes to the future of medicare and social security, you've earned the right to know. ♪ ...so what does it mean for you and your family? [ female announcer ] you've earned the facts. ♪ washington may not like straight talk, but i do. [ female announcer ] and you've earned a say. get the facts and make your voice heard on medicare and social security

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check on what's going on at the justice department and way beyond as well. what's going on? >> that's right, wolf. start with the justice department. the justice department and the fbi are teaming up to review thousands of criminal cases looking for anyone wrongly convicted or needs a new trial because of bad forensic evidence. the review will focus on work done by the fbi hair and fiber examiners going back to 1985 and possibly earlier. it is the biggest post

conviction taken by the fbi. and the consumer product safety commission has a message, be careful with the baby monitor. in seven years, seven infants and toddlers were strangled by the cords. cpsc and a manufacturer's association roll out a new safety campaign, saying keep the cord three feet from any crib or playpen. a big name democratic contributor renounced her citizenship, she will get out of a biggest at a time tax bill. denise rich now lives in london. she's also the ex-wife of mark rich, the money man that bill clinton got in hot water for pardoning at the end of his term. >> thanks, kate. mitt romney told african-american voters today that he would be a better president for them than president obama. i'll discuss that with two african-american lawmakers, one democrat, one republican. also, they had lots of money and drug problems. now, the wife is dead, the

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today, going after president obama's loyal base, african-american voters. kate, he talked about this, i talked about it at the top of the show, played a little clip of what was going on. he certainly did not hold back.

>> he definitely did not hold back, that's absolutely right. romney spoke to the naacp convention telling everyone in attendance he would be the best president for them. listen here. >> if you want a president who will make things better in the african-american community, you are looking at him. [ applause ] >> bring in chief national correspondent john king. john, to say mitt romney faces an uphill battle with african-american voters is quite an understatement, yes? >> considerable understatement. imagine if you run a race at the track, you get to start a lap or two. say it is football. spot you at the beginning a 15, 16 points lead. that's what president obama has because of his lopsided advantage among african-american voters and other minorities. let's take a closer look, start with the battle ground today. that was african-american voters. go back to 2008. this was the result. african-americans were 13% of the electorate in 2008, and that's a thumping, 95% for

senator obama, 4% for john mccain. romney's strategists would say he is a little better than that, but not much better. the president maintains a huge advantage. why does it matter? go to north carolina. the african-american vote is critical in some of this year's key battle ground states. north carolina, african americans represent almost a quarter of the electorate. virginia, 20%. pennsylvania, florida, michigan, ohio, african americans makeup double digit, a double digit slice of the election trat that starts 95% in obama's court. that's huge. that's just african-americans. kate. look at it this way, talk about the big lead the president gets. look at the minority advantage. african americans, 13% of the electorate. president gets 95% of the votes. latino 10%, the president got two-thirds of their votes. other minorities, asians, native americans, 5%. the president gets two-thirds of that. 28% of the electorate is nonwhite.

when you add up this advantage, that gives the president heading in 15 or 16 points spotted in the race, the rest of the competition incident rest of america, meaning white america. >> so john, prognosticate. how can romney win the election if president obama can hold this coalition together on his side? >> it makes the math difficult. priority one, why governor romney went into the lion's den, to change that number, bring that african-american and latino number down. then governor romney has no choice. republicans traditionally win the white vote. he has to not only win it. john mccain won it in rural areas, small towns, but senator obama now president obama then carried the state. what does he have to do? romney has to win in rural areas and has to do better with whites, particularly white women in the suburbs. here is the ohio example. cleveland suburbs around cincinnati, see that blue. when george w. bush carried this in 2004, he won in the suburbs. another example. you come back to the big state

of pennsylvania, it has been a democratic state for a long time. come forward to '08. come here, look at the philadelphia suburbs, all blue. right? a lot of suburban women there. john mccain won the white vote in rural parts, you have to do it in the suburbs. go back to 1988, george h.w. bush, look where he did it winning pennsylvania, in the suburbs. governor romney's challenge, try to dent the president's numbers among minorities and also has to win big, keep president obama to about 38% of the white vote to have a chance to win. >> john king, thank you so much. let's talk with two united states congressmen. gentlemen, thanks for coming in. how do you think romney did? >> he gets credit for attendance. perfect attendance doesn't qualify you to be class president. i thought it was a good gesture to go, but i thought his content was lacking.

one example is his calling obama care a nonessential program he would cut. but he's had two years to come up with an alternative and he didn't say anything except i would like to lower health care costs and keep people with pre-existing -- >> i thought the president should have been at the naacp convention, pay his respects to the nation's oldest civil rights organization. i thought that would have been the right thing to do. he decided to send joe biden instead. what do you think? >> he sent vice president biden and the attorney general. he is going to national urban league in new orleans, and i think it provides him with an opportunity to see the continued rebuilding of katrina and to check on effects of the bp oil spill. it enables him to do more than just speak at a convention. at some point, you have to make a decision which ones you can go to. so it's almost like me and the president, i wish i could be at the white house every night, fly on air force one, but he has a job to do. >> maybe he should have gone to both, urban league and naacp. >> i want to ask a similar

question. first, listen to something that governor romney said to fox news following his speech at the naacp. listen to this. >> i expect to get african-american votes. by the way, at the end of my speech, having a standing ovation was generous and hospitable on the part of the audience, and i believe while we disagree on some issues like obama care, on a lot of issues, people see eye to eye. >> romney says he expects to get african-american votes, but you know, you look at the polls and look at the facts, president obama won with 95% of the vote. romney, here is a poll here, romney has 5% support of black registered voters. what percentage of the african-american vote would you predict mitt romney could get realistically? >> i think it is realistic he will get close to 10% of the african-american vote. i will start by being one of the 10%. no doubt, what we're looking at from a romney perspective, the fact that african-american unemployment since 2008 is up 40%. 40%.

home closures, 25%. so what we have is the same message that works for the rest of america, works for the black community, too. >> what he did today, did that back fire? he was booed. >> absolutely, it is disrespect, the booing was absolutely disrespectful. however, he gets credit for showing up. he gets credit for having one single minded focus for all of america, and that's jobs and the economy. that was the success. and most importantly i think his approach to education. charter schools, public school choice, private school choice, major part of the unemployment rate ten years from now. he addressed two important issues in the african-american community. first, the joblessness. huge. among young folks in the black community, almost 40%. and he addressed the symptom, which is joblessness rate as well as the problem, which is the educational outcome. >> he has to get, congressman, he has to get turnout, energize that base. they certainly were energized in

2008, but you know in north carolina and florida, unemployment among african americans is way over 14.4%, which is the national average. approaching 20% in key battle ground states like that. a lot of these aren't going to vote for romney, they're just not going to show up. >> i think they will show up. part of what candidate romney did today was articulate a problem. what he didn't do is tell the full story and he didn't say the budget he adopts, the ryan budget, most of the cuts, 62% of the cuts come from lower income americans, including cuts to head start, which gives you a nine to one return on investment into young people. if you cut head start, you cut pell grants that helps almost half african-american college students pay for college tuition, which we know helps you get out of poverty and on a path to sustainability. he left that part conveniently out, the budget i want to adopt cuts those vital programs. i think that's the part that i was looking for. if you're going to go to the

naacp and tell it, tell it all. and i don't think he did that. the more you articulate that message, the more the african-american base will see what's at stake. >> quick question. allen west, caused an uproar the other day. republican congressman from south florida. >> he is clear though. >> but let me play the clip. it is a sensitive issue. the word slavery has a history in our country as we all know. listen to this. >> he does not want you to have self esteem of giving up and earning, having that title of american. he would rather you be his slave. >> he would rather you be his slave. talking about the president of the united states. he says he wants you to be his slave. >> i mean, there's no question about it, when you look at the issues that need to be addressed in the community, slavery is not one of them. bottom line, unemployment is. the foreclosure rate is. the high dropout rate among high

school students is one of the issues that we must address. the question we have to deal with today is how do we get people back to work. we can look at side issues if we want to, make a great story out of it, but the reality of it is that the average person in america does not consider the african-american community in any way a slave today. >> true. but is it appropriate for a member of congress representing a large segment of america to use this word, to say this in a public forum? >> about the president of the united states. >> i would suggest you get allen west to answer it for himself. >> probably will. >> i would simply say looking at mitt romney, mitt romney cannot -- mitt romney must focus on the presidency and how to win. and how do you win is by bringing the country together. mitt romney is doing that by going to naacp, you call it the lion's den. i consider it the place you go

when you believe every single vote counts. >> good surrogate. >> appreciate it very much. we know we're in good hands. you used to work for allstate. >> had to make the joke. you know it was coming. >> that's why i didn't ask you about allen west, congressman. thanks for coming in. an important day. stand by for a story of drugs, money, the mysterious death of a millionaire's wife. and the airline trip, another story we're working on, that made grown men cry. we'll tell you about a way to avoid turbulence. stand by. one is for a clean, wedomestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity,

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london police are investigating the mysterious death of an american woman married to the son of one of the world's richest men. her body was found this week and he is under arrest now. both had a history with drugs and drama. cnn's ateek a shoe bert is in london.

>> reporter: wolf, both hans and eva were known as devoted philanthropists. they were also notorious for hardcore drug use. staggering wealth, hardcore drugs. the tragic story of hans and eva rausing in the british tabloids since he was arrested for questioning in her death. this is the rausing home in london. a six story townhouse in one of the wealthiest parts of the city. police only came in here after apparently arresting hans rausing on suspicion of drug possession, and when police went into the house, that's when they found the body. the death is currently unexplained. police say they do not know how long the body had been there. a coroner's inquest is on-going, and police say hans rausing originally arrested for driving erratically is undergoing medical treatment. he is the wayward son of a billionaire.

she was the free spirited daughter of wealthy americans. they met in rehab in their 20s, and built a life in london with four children and a dedication to fill and throw pee. money came from this liquid container invented by hans rausing junior's grandfather in sweden, making the family billionaires. in 2008, they both were arrested for possession of heroin and crack cocaine. a few years earlier she put nearly a million dollars into mentor, a charity dedicated to preventing drug and alcohol abuse among teenagers. >> it is very, very clear to us that eva had her own problems and fights with drugs and drug misuse, but she cared passionately about young people and wanted to make sure that young people didn't fall into that trap. she knew prevention was important. she knew it was far harder once you're involved in drugs to get off drugs. >> reporter: in november, 2006,

eva rausing posted a blog on myspace that can be seen. she wrote i know what i need to do, but can't seem to do it. please send me some energy, motivation, good vibes, anything. i'll pass them on one day to someone else. eva rausing may have lost the battle with addiction, but she seemed to hope that others, perhaps even her husband, could learn from her mistakes. now, it could take time before we know the exact cause of death. we hope to get results from the coroner in a few days, but could take a few more weeks for results of the toxicology report. wolf, kate? >> what a story. coming up, turbulence can be scary, rarely like this. passengers on an american airlines flight talk about flying out of their seats. and in the video of the day, see an amazing way to survive a car crash.

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john ser ella joins us. what are you learning, what happened here, john? >> reporter: you know, wolf, for anybody that flies very much, chances are you've experienced some turbulence. but absolutely nothing like what passengers on a miami thunderstorms in the summertime, they are particularly hard to avoid. and when you're flying, the turbulence they cause can make for a bumpy, choke the armrest frightening flight. late tuesday was just such a moment. passengers on board an american airlines flight coming into miami thought it was over. >> i never felt something like that in the past. basically with the noise and the bumps, you just think it's going down. >> i thought we were going to die. it was scary.

>> reporter: about a dozen people suffered minor injuries. two flight attendants and a passenger were taken to the local hospital, treated and released. 8-year-old xavier silva was in the bathroom when the plane started shaking. >> when i closed the door, the airplane started jumping around. >> reporter: the american flight was about 30 minutes outside of miami tuesday afternoon beginning its initial descent when it encountered what meteorologists say was severe turbulence. the violent shaking lasted about 15 seconds. according to airline officials, there was nothing on radar to indicate turbulence in the area. >> it is these cells right here where you see the reds that you're going to see the plane trying to avoid -- >> reporter: pablo santos says he's not surprised nothing was indicated on radar. santos, the national weather service meteorologist in charge of the south florida office, says the turbulence caused by

thunderstorms can be experienced miles away from the storm. >> planes do not fly through thunderstorms. you normally see them being routed around thunderstorms. but sometimes thunderstorms, especially very strong thunderstorms, they can disrupt the air flow for ten, 10 miles away from the thunderstorms. >> reporter: very simply, turbulence is a disturbance in the normal flow of the air. with their rising and sinking air, thunderstorms can really mess up the atmosphere. so what's the best time to fly to avoid turbulence? >> i would tell them the best time of day to fly is early morning. >> reporter: seven years ago, peter murray created turbulenceforecast.com. today, murray's site gets 35,000 visitors a month. they can view maps that display the potential for turbulence anywhere in the world, nearly realtime. >> the maps update every 20 minutes. most of them update every area. >> reporter: according to faa, there have been 64 sers injuries from turbulence incidents in the

past six years. the faa says two of three passenger who is died in turbulence-related events since 1980 were not wearing seat belt, even though the seat belt sign was illuminated. bottom line, every expert says when you're in your seat, whether the light is on, keep your seat belt on. wolf? >> good advice, especially for those of us who have lived through some of those turbulent flights. >> i'm not a good flier, to say the least. coming up, when you sing "the star-spangled banner," is it okay to cheat? a country star is caught red, white and blue-handed.

a sunroof is not the obvious way to get out of a car. one man did it involuntarily,

. do you have a sunroof in your car? >> yes. >> we're going to be thankful for that after watching this wild video from england. this car crashes into a wall. then you'll see a man flip out

of the sunroof. you see it right there. his girlfriend is driving and lost control of the car. and a security camera captures it all. he casually gets up, adjusts his shirt and walks away. i can giggle because we're told he is just fine. our director had a very good point. we should go to las vegas with that guy. he's very lucky. >> goes right through the sunroof. performing "the star-spangled banner" is a hard thing to do. and some get tripped up by the words. is it wrong to have crib nuts? here's cnn's jeanne moos. ♪ o say can you see >> reporter: so far so good. luke brian was singing the national anthem at the all-star game. he oh so subtly glanced at his

hand. some of brian's fans suggested he was just looking at his watch so he'd be on time for the flyby of the stealth bomber, but others suggest a cheat sheet, as one tweet says -- o, say can you see, the lyrics written on me? brian definitely didn't want to end up like christina aguilera, getting the words wrong. oh so proudly we watched as the twilights last screaming. by the dawn's early light, what was so gallantly streaming over twitter, but luke's confession -- >> i had a few key words written down to ensure myself that i wouldn't mess up. i just wanted to do my best. i promise it was from the heart.

the last key words we remember written on someone's hand were energy, tax cuts and lift american spirits on sarah palin's palm. >> we have to start reigning in the spending, jump-start these energy projects. >> reporter: luke bryan had mraept of energy he didn't come to a full stop like michael bolton. ♪ the rampants were watched were gallantly streaming ♪ >> reporter: on the bright side, by looking at his hand, michael bolton got an extra 1.6 million views on youtube. watching stars sing the national anthem is a little like watching a tightrope walker cross niagara falls, we wait for a stumble. whatever you do, don't look down.

jeanne moos, cnn. new york. >> you did it once. >> i sang once for president george w. bush. and, really, it's tough. >> you knew all the words -- >> i did not mess up the words. but it's easy to do it. >> would you sing that for snus. >> maybe someday -- no. >> is there a videotape of that. >> that's not. >> we have to go. "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. the house passes a bill for the 33rd time that has absolutely no shot of going anywhere. one lawmaker says he has a solution to fix congress. but is it really a solution or just another no-go gimmick? we'll ask him. mitt romney gets booed in front of a large audience. was this a miscalculation on his part to even take the stage? and the pentagon releases a report saying iran is

dramatically upping the capability of some of its conventional weapons. let's go "outfront." good evening. i'm tom foreman filling in for erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, fiddling in washington while bankruptcy burns across the nation. san bernardino, california, is the latest american town unable to pay its bills. the math is $46 million in debt. they've made drastic cuts in employees and services. and the city has only $150,000 in the bank. that's it. residents are coming unhinged saying, why wasn't this calamity headed off at the pass? >> what about two years ago when they took $10 million from the employees? what were they doing then? now the city is forced basically