marks. >> reporter: now, in fact one of the strongest comments has come from john leonard, the executive director of the world swimming coaches. he has said that hperformance ws incredible but also disturbing and suspicious. there will be a lot of people scrutinizing that in the time to come. >> atika, i assume they will test her. is there a rule that they test sort of sporadically or test any winner or just tests anybody who seems to fall outside the bell curve of what would be a normal improvement in anybody's performance. >> reporter: the answer is all of the above. the athletes continue to get tested, not just in the run up to but afterwards, there was an irish swimmer in the atlanta olympics who again broke all of the records, stunning performance but was tested later and found to have actually violated the doping standards and banned from the sport tore several years. we'll have to wait for the test

results. >> rrkable performance, so disappointing if it was because of doping. let's talk about the men's gymnastics team. what a disappoint. what happened? >> reporter: yeah, it really was. they were first in the trial. there were high hopes going in. they were so confident. then basically disappointing appointments. leyva had to restart his routine and that a huge draw back then john orozco landed sitting down rather than sitting up. both of those places the u.s. in fifth place, a big disappoint, china came first and japan won the silver after a recount and britain, the surprise out of all of this won the bronze. the first time for 100 years. >> john orozco known for sticking landings and doing clean landings. let's talk about missy franklin and michael phelps.

>> reporter: this is what everybody is looking forward to. he has the opportunity to become the world's greatest o limb pea yan an. >> if he can win a medal at the 200 meter butterfly, he'll be tied for 18 medals, the most any one individual athlete has won. he then has a second chance at the men's 100 meter freestyle. if he wins a medal there, he will have surpassed that goal and officially become the world's greatest olympian. missy franklin, known as the new phelps, she has won a gold and bronze and now we're looking to see whether she can also win a gold in today's 200 meter. high hopes running on her. she hasn't done well in the run-up. >> thanks, atika, jealous of you getting to see all of that in person. in a couple of minutes we'lltic

alicia sack ramonny and john roethlisberger. let's get right to zoraida sambolin. >> mitt romney is in warsaw, poland, delivering a speech telling the polish people america can learn a lot from them about turning around the economy. >> when economists speak of poland today, it's to lament chronic problems but describe how this nation empowered the individual and lifted the heavy hand of government and became the fastest growing economy in all of europe. >> and romney is still generating a few of the wrong kind of headlines on his trip. palestinian officials call him quote racist for telling israeli

donors their culture is the reason they are more economically successful than the plinz. the white house pounced on that stumble, senior strategist, david axelrod tweeting, is there anything about romney's rolling ruk us that would inspire confidence in his ability to lead u.s. foreign policy. serious fighting in syria overnight. government forces are stepping up the shelling of rebel held locations in damascus and homs with rockets, artillery. but rebels have been able to hold a grip on aleppo as thousands flee. leon pa net at a had strong winds for the regime. >> i'm sure deep down assad knows he's in trouble and it's just a matter of time before he has to go. >> reporter: what would you say to him? >> i would say if you want to be able to protect yourself and your family, you better get the

hell out now. >> and panetta meets with egypt's new president today, morsi. michael haly's office says his one year deployment is expected to begin in january. governor haley said it is a honor to watch him serve the country but there is not a military spouse who doesn't worry. right now at penn state, the football team is starting its first season in more than 60 years without coach paterno at the helm. they are holding their first preseason workout and there's a rally at the school to show support for the players who decided to stay in the wake of the jerry sandusky sex abuse scandal. two prominent members have announced they are leaving, quarterback rob bolden and safety tim buckley because of sanctions. an african-american couple turned away from a mostly white church before their wedding day have inspired unity. we first told you their story

yesterday. charles and teean dra wilson were married by the church's pastor but in a different location. they held a unity rally last night, some of the members of the church did not want them to mary there, soledad. >> that's a nice ending to the story, makes me feel better about their community, because that was disappointing to talk about yesterday. let's get to more about team usa efforts at the olympic games. the women's gymnastics team will take part in the all around after the mens team collapsed. john roethlisberger is a three time gymnast and alicia sacramone. what happened to the men. they went in with such a sense they were going to take it all and it all fell apart. what do you think went wrong? >> there's really never been this much positivity around a

men's u.s. gymnastics team leading into a team finals. you know what happened? the olympics happened and the sport of gymnastics happened. and that's how our sport is. ask alicia, i've been there too. it's so unforgiving. it's like mother nature. it's always in control. at the end of the day, gymnastics no matter how good you are or prepared you are, it can come up and bite you. that's what happened to the men. they had a little mistake on the floor and it shook their confidence a little bit and they went to horse and things fell apart a little bit and that's what makes the olympics so special when you do succeed and makes it heartbreaking when things don't go right. >> the agony of defeat. leyva said this when he was talking about his mess-up. i'm someone who is very visual in his training, i've never been to an olympic games before. now i know what the feeling and air is going to taste like when i'm training.

it's going to help me in training in the next four years leading up to rio. what did you think of that explanation of what happened? >> well, you know, that's for him to decide and let us know what he was going through and what his experience was like but the thing about the olympics, you might home get one chance. you have to mentally prepare yourself the best you can when you go on the floor. i know alicia has done the same thing, you put yourself in that situation mentally and once you get out there, you've gt to mentally put yourself back in practice and i'm sure he was prepared for the competition. but it is a weird animal once you get out there. there's olympic rings on the equipment and it's all over the venue and the reality of where you are and what you are doing hits you and sometimes it can be overwhelming. >> did it feel like that for you, alicia, that everything was stamped with olympic rings and you were never allowed to let up thinking this next thing really really matters? what pressure.

>> you are not going to forgive you're at the olympic games when you're there. there's the extra media hype and the pressure from wanting to be successful from your parents and friends and everybody. you want to go out and compete and have the best showing poobl to come home with the medal. sometimes your nerves get to you. i didn't have a picture perfect olympic performance and i got so ahead of myself in for getting the olympics is one more competition, it's not anything different from world championships or visa championships. >> for those of us who watch, we would say it's olympics, everything different. how do you think that will effect orozco and leyva. >> you hope they can regroup. the funny thing about life in sport, some of the greatest lessons come at the lowest points. i'm hoping he can realize what

happened and don't forget it or pretend it didn't happen. just feel that sour disgusting feeling in your stomach and just take it home with you and put it in a little pocket in your bag. every time you need to refocus, revisit that experience you had and try to get that laser focus he had at the trials. unbelievable at the trials, same with john orozco, you have to have a short memory in sports. it's like being at the masters, you just bogied a hold and you've got to get a birdie and forget what happened. >> alicia, talk about the women as we were talking about the stunner with not having a chance to have jordyn because i thought that was a real shocker. now it's going to be gabby douglas and aly raisman and that two per country rule. how do you think the women will do? >> our womens team is to unbelievably strong. it is sad jordyn won't be

competing in the all around but it's great we have a strong enough country that we do have two girls to even qualify. i think they are going to do phenomenal. they both have worked so hard for this. and going as the two per country rule it affected me in beijing, i couldn't compete in beam finals because the top three scores were -- it's hard because you want to compete in the best in the world and sometimes the best don't get to compete. >> we're looking forward to seeing it. i love watching gymnastics, thanks you for -- that's great advice you gave, not just for gymnastics, you've got to move on and keep trying to figure it out. thanks, guys, appreciate it. >> thank you. >> still ahead on "starting point," opening statements today in the drew peterson murder trial, accused of killing his third wife. jurors won't be hearing much about his fourth wife, her body has never been found. our get real, olympic fail, nbc

spoils results of the biggest race of the day before it airs on tv. that's head. stay with us. >> the london olympics are finally underway. there is nothing like the thrill of see gs team usa triumph in an internet headline and waiting to see it confirmed on nbc seven hours later. i mean the suspense did the cameras capture what happened? did my cable go out? this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com.

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welcome back, we are minding your business, policy makers kick off a two-day meeting expected to keep interest rates near zero percent. nasdaq and s&p 500 all point

higher suggesting a bounce at the opening bell. former yahoo! ross levin son is leaving the country. marisa meyer beat him out for that spot. opening arguments begin in the much anticipated trial of ex-cop drew peterson. charged with the murder of his third wife kathleen savio, found drowned in her bathtub. her death was first ruled an accident but the case was reopened in 2007. after peterson's forth wife, stacy disappeared. peterson is not facing charges in that case. cnn's ted rowlands is live in chicago. what can you tell us about that, ted? >> absolutely. there's a very good chance when this is said and done drew peterson, the former ex-cop will walk out of this courthouse a free man because it is such a challenging case for prosecutors.

and the reason is two-fold. first off, there's no direct physical evidence that tie peterson to his ex-wife's death. it was first ruled an accident. there's an autopsy report that was done in 2004. and there was a jury that, coroner's jury that looked into the case at the time at the request of the family and came to the conclusion it was an accident. a huge hurdle for prosecutor then there is the stacy factor, the fourth wife, prosecutors cannot bring that into this trial. it's a huge part of the overall equation but they can't talk about it. the defense team was talking about it outside the courthouse the other day. take a listen to what they say. >> what do you make of the stacy factor in this trial? >> who? >> stacy factor. >> stacy who? >> she's on your witness list. >> that stacy, we're hoping she shows up. maybe she'll show up. >> if she got the subpoena. >> does anybody think she's really alive?

>> reporter: clearly soledad, the defense is very confident in this case. prosecutors will paint a picture of a man that threatened his ex-wife then carried out the threats. they do have hearsay statements that are very valuable that the judge is allowing in but it is an uphill climb for a guilty verdict here. opening statements start in a few hours in joliet, should be a fascinating trial. >> that is amazing to hear the defense attorney sort of mock a stacy who's been missing. she had filed for divorce as well and is presumed dead, not to mention that the whole thing is around this other murder trial that's going on. that's really creepy. ted rowlands this morning, thank you for the update on that. still ahead on "starting point," here's a spoiler alert, nbc airs a promo with results of one of the biggest olympic races before airing the actual event. it's our get real this morning. "starting point" team is heading

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welcome barks, a woman who admitted she stole a baby 20 years ago has been sentenced to 12 years 234 prison. white became suspicious of her mother when she was an adult. she searched online and found her real identity on the website of a national center for missing and exploited children.

a man recovering with bites on both legs after what appears to be a shark attack off the cape cod. this videoey the cape cod times of the man being carried from a stretcher. witnesses saw a dorsal fun come out of the water before the attack. the man is expected to survive and keep both limbs. first pisa and now the coliseum is leaning on its southern side, possibly because of a cracked foundation. they are saying it may need urgent repairs. i wonder how they do that without destroying the integrity of the coliseum. >> it's tough. >> our team this morning, republican congresswoman nan hayworth, only female physician a member of congress and continuing to work as a physician? >> actually not but once a doctor, always a doctor, just not in office practice. >> okay, and democratic

strategist hank shienkof and ryan lizza. >> have you been watching olympics? >> yes, my kids are obsessed with it. >> what do you think of the tape delay? >> there's a conflict between being a news organization whose job is to report what's going on and having the rights to covering and relaying the olympics to the american people who don't want to know what happened until they see it at night. so nbc doesn't seem to be -- they don't seem to quite have mastered this yet. >> they are get a lot of heat because the tape delay, the events happen hours before the network airs them with social media, you can find out so you're constantly being spoiled. biggest delay fail so far was missy franklin's gold medal win, swimming fenom took the gold in the backstroke, six minutes

before airing the race and the win, nbc aired a promo for the "today" show which in the promo announced the win. people went crazy. despite all of the complaints, they have incredible ratings on average 38.5 million people tuned in, that's about 5 million more people than watched the beijing olympics and 11.more than athens. it's not such a fail ratingswise, it's been doing well. >> they've been killing it. one frustration i've had, rooting for the usa and love when we're winning, but the total and complete lack of coverage of the other winners. >> that happens every year. >> it's a little frustrating. >> when the u.s. gets a bronze and chinese get a gold, you might as well not know who won the gold. >> i wonder if that will change as the world becomes more local and people can understand and know and learn much more easily

about chinese swimmer or the weight lifter, i think that -- >> these games are really very nationalistic in so many ways and americans are obsessed with how they do as opposed to the rest of the world. we're going to keep focusing on that and they will be much more about gossip and entertainment, looking for who did what to whom. what the athlete ate for breakfast. >> i'm going to guess that's the same in every country that's covering their own olympics and i know when we were in japan, and we had matsui playing for the yankees and every 15 minutes there would be the matsui report. >> i don't care, i love it all. i do not care the delay is driving me crazy. >> you have to stay off twitter. >> north korea they are making the dictator into the greatest

champion -- >> i won this one. >> he does it all. still ahead on quts starting point, lawmakers are about to go on a five-week vacation. we'll talk about the fiscal cliff because the threat of those tax cuts expiring for everybody at the end of the year could be an issue. are they going to cut a deal? we'll speak in just a moment to elijah cummings in just a moment. plus, president obama's roots, new study shows he may be dexrended from the first african sleeve. here's a twist nobody saw coming, his mother's side, she's wife and from kansas. we'll explain. we're back in a moment. rolling s bag of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback signup for 5% cashback at gas stations through september. it pays to discover. a living, breathing intelligence teaching data how to do more for business.

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welcome back, update on breaking news we've been following for you, a scare at a u.s. embassy in oslo, norway, a suspicious item is now being investigated. it was found under a parked car, large area around the embassy has been evacuated. that is all we know at this hour. we're going to continue to bring you more information as it becomes available. rest of the day's top stories, let's get to zoraida sambolin for an update. >> aurora massacre suspect james holmes facing 24 counts of first degree murder, 2 counts twor each he killed and extreme

indifference to human life. he is also charged with 116 counts of attempted murder. a decision on whether to seek the death penalty against him could be months away. george zimmerman's wife will not be in court for her arraignment on perjury charges. shellie zimmerman's lawyer says she entered a written not guilty plea and waiver on friday. prosecutors say she lied about the family's finances at her husband's bond hearing in the trayvon martin case. the judge ordered him back to jail over it. researchers say a compound in curry spice may prevent diabetes in people who are high risk. the compound may fight inflammation and cell damage. the results are preliminary and the best way to prevent diabetes is through a healthy diet and always exercise. migraines may be more common than we think. a new survey asks neurologists if they've gotten a migraine in the past year, 26% said yes,

that's double the average population. researchers say that may be because the average person may not realize when they suffer from a migraine. they also admit it's possible neurologists have a higher risk of migraines. and another hiccup for mitt romney's campaign, the traveling press secretary for romney lost his cool and cursed at reporters near the tomb of the unknown soldier in warsaw. >> do you feel your gaffes have overshadowed your trip? >> show some respect. show some respect. >> we haven't had a chance to ask him question. [ bleep ] this is a holy site for the polish people. >> he told reporters to show some respect at the holy site and to kiss his, you know what, soledad. >> tuck us, i believe my mother would say. he's right, it's a holy site, reporters should not be shouting

questions. >> really? you're not going to side with reporters on this? >> i see the inappropriateness of it's a holy site. so people are screaming questions, but then to go ahead and kiss my whatever it's ridiculous. i totally support reporters right to yell questions, i get it, you're covering a story. for you it is not a holy site but a location where you're trying to get an interview. you can understand his point up to the point where he curses out the reporters and then you're like. >> con tradition. >> never make yourself the issue. >> let me ask you a question, what do you do -- you have a staffer who has done something like that. what would you do? >> you have to take the whole team into account when -- this is what i do depends on also what everybody who speaks for me does. so if there's a problem, you have to take it by firm hand and

i'm sure governor romney will have a word with the -- >> rick goreka. >> you can tell the romney campaign and reporters covering him are ready to kill each other. they haven't had questions since he was in u.k., which doesn't seem that long ago. if you're traveling around the world with mitt romney your editors are back home saying what are you writing about? where are the interviews? and they are wondering why are we there? >> he does events and will not take question and has done that early on in the primary process. it's an interesting strategy, wonder if it will pay off? >> this confrontation will of help to romney, a lot of polls in targeted states where they've got to win to take on the president, more conservative, this moment will have value in those electoral contests. >> sadly, that's probably true. >> i don't know much about anything but i do know about politics. >> poland is an important

emerging economy, they've taken a distinct pro market bent, which has served them well. it's obviously a very wise decision for the romney campaign to visit that country. >> i don't know, yelling out a curse at a holy site may work against you. >> attacking the press does rally to your side. >> ultimately they'll judge the governor. the house of representatives is expected to vote this week on a pair of rival bills each offering a different plan for the bush era tax cuts. the republican plan would extend cuts for all americans. and democrats want an extension of tax breaks for individual and come up to families earning up to $250,000 a year and stop it there. the plan passed in the senate last week and starting friday congress will go on a five-week recess. elijah cummings joins us this morning. nice to see you, sir. thanks for being with us. >> good morning. >> the senate passed that

extended tax cuts for individuals, $200,000, $250,000 if you tax about families and allow the upper limits to expire. do you think this has a chance at all in the house? >> i think it's going to be very difficult. the boehner speaker boehner has already said that it's dead on arrival. that's unfortunate because basically what that's going to do, basically what the republicans are doing is hosting hostage the tax cut for the middle class. and basically going to pay another burden on people who are already struggling, the people i just watch going to work as i was on my way to the studio. it's -- unfortunate we're in a place in washington where right now where it seems like very little is going to be done. keep in mind, soledad, we only have -- once we get past this week, we have less than ten

days, i think it is, up until the election, that is legislative days. >> roughly that, that's correct. how house majority whip kevin mccarthy, republican from california, you're going to have 89 current members of the democratic party who voted to extend the tax cuts the last time who are going to have to answer why they are flip-flopping with a bad economy. do you think that's going to be a problem if you voted to extend it back in 2010? >> no, because basically as far as i'm concerned we were held hostage back then too. people are -- they can see through this. i know my constituents do. you hear the republicans say that they don't want to retax the job creators. i have seen absolutely no proof that these the tax policy of the president, by the way, which is now passed the senate, is hurting anything other than that

would hurt job creators. as a matter of fact, in my committee, what we've seen over and over again is a 29 hearings about regulations. so if -- i have not seen that taxes on the rich failing to extend tax cuts on the rich is making things any better for job creators and then they turn around and say, well, we don't want a situation where there are regulations. we've got a difficult situation here in congress. i've got a feeling that a lot of things will not be resolved. >> i have a feeling your feeling is right is how my feeling is going. let me ask a question of nan hayworth on the panel today. i'll take a moment, congressman, if you will. republicans holding the middle class hostage. when you look at the polls, the polls show that by a significant margin, people feel that it's okay to let those tax cuts expire on the people who are in

the higher tax brackets and protect the middle class if you look at it from $200,000 down or $250,000 depending on individual or family. >> everything we're doing in the house majority and do it with the votes we want to have as many votes from democratic colleagues as possible, john boehner especially is a ak menable speaker. everything we're doing is aimed at helping the hard working americans. the middle class prominently among them. it does not help our economy, it doesn't help jobs to take more from our citizens at a time when we need every dollar that can remain in the pockets of the people who work and save and invest and contribute to their communities. we need all of those dollars to stay there. government takes -- the tax dollars that government demands from us are not the government's property. and i think that message tends

to be conveyed somehow, the tax breaks are going to cost us, no, it costs us to take funding from taxpayers in the form of taxes. federal government needs to restrain its own budget in the way our families have to right now. stimulus resulted in an increase in the number of jobless americans. unemployed, underemployed. the number of americans in poverty has increased. record levels now. >> not because of the stimulus certainly but because of the economic crash and decline. >> yeah, go ahead. >> let me ask one more question of congressman cummings before i let him go. how would you describe how mitt romney's trip has gone, started in london and made its way through israel and now in poland. a moment ago we showed shouting between his press guy -- >> i would summarize it,

soledad, not ready for prime time. clearly the comment in england about the olympics, you would think someone who dealt with the olympics here in the united states would be much more sensitive with regard to those kind of issues and going into a country and criticize the organizers, then the -- i found the palestinian comment to be quite offensive. and i could understand the feelings of the palestinians and now this fellow here in poland making the comment he made, you know -- the one thing we're for getting, you've got a very frustrated press corps that have only had three questions answered by mr. romney during this trip. and it's basically consistent romney stuff. >> it will be interesting to see if the press gets more questions answered if if that means fewer returns. >> same thing with the tax returns. >> we're out of time. we will have you back, i'm sure

as we constantly talk to you. >> i'm looking forward to it. >> thank you. >> still ahead on "starting point," discovery that could make president obama's historic presidency more historic in some ways. you're watching "starting point." last season was the gulf's best tourism season in years. in florida we had more suntans... in alabama we had more beautiful blooms... in mississippi we had more good times... in louisiana we had more fun on the water. last season we broke all kinds of records on the gulf. this year we are out to do even better... and now is a great time to start. our beatches are even more relaxing...

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welcome back, a new discovery could make president obama's historic presidency more groundmaking, genealogists are saying the first black president may be dexrended from one of the first african slaves in the country. even more shocking is that the ancestry wouldn't be from his father but instead his mother, who was white. punch is the first documented

case of slavery in the colonies, it's believed that he fathered a free child with a white woman in virginia. about 400 years ago, joseph shim way is the lead genealogist for ancestry.com. so interesting, start us off with mr. punch, who eventually became the bunches. >> we've been working on president obama's family tree for the last four plus years since before he was elected president. we're always looking for interesting stories to show people how interesting family history can be. as we worked on president obama's family tree, we found that he was related to the family with the surname bunch. as we trace that family back further in time, we were able to find that dna testing done recently by members of the bunch family show that their an ses r tors were of african origin. that was a shocking discovery because previously we thought his mother's family was all of

european descent. we wanted to see, can we document this, put a name to the african an sest or which led us to working two plus years of research, spending hundreds of hours of countless documents to come to the conclusion that his 11th great grandfather is a man named john bunch. he was a servient who was going to be freed from his serve tud. and because he tried to escape, he in 160 was recaptured and given a sentence of lifetime serve tud. that is the first time we have record of that happening in the americas. >> how common was it for a black african slave to have a child with a white woman? >> it wasn't as uncommon as we

might think? actually the african population in colonial virginia was very small. at this time the racial attitudes hadn't really become as prejudice as they would later become because slavery didn't start in virginia until 1661. and so there were actually documented cases of interracial marriage back at that point. later as slavery became more common place, the para dime changed and that set the president for slavery as we came to know it. >> have you gotten any reaction from obama or anyone around him, the white house? have they talked to you about this? >> we haven't heard a response yet. we would love to hear what they have to say and what the president thinks about this. >> before you announce it publicly, did you see if they had any reaction? >> we did not, actually. it will be interesting to see as i'm confident the first family does every morning.

>> kind of mind blowing, not just a slave descendant but a historically significant person. >> the most exciting think, we have john punch the first documented slave and then we have him and then president obama, our first african-american president being directly related to each other. >> and through the mother. >> how common is that? i wonder -- >> it makes it a very american story, multiple cultures and races. >> and probably had no idea. i wonder how common that is for your average american family that's a white family to trace their roots back to some degree to some african ancestry in this country? >> it's uncommon for a white family in colonial virginia, nonetheless. that was what made the exciting all the more exciting. >>s uncommon? >> very uncommon to find that for a genealogist to have this

discovery, it's a highlight of a career no doubt. >> you are 100% sure, there's no ambiguity here? >> we're extremely confident in the evidence that we've compiled. ideally it would be great to have had a birth certificate from the early 1600s. >> we dont want to get into that. >> let's not open that can of wor worms again. the research has been well done and you never -- >> we're very confident in the work that we've done. >> i want to trace my ancestry. >> maybe we're related, ryan, in some way? wouldn't that be crazy. >> maybe we share a musical connection? >> that i doubt. >> thank you, appreciate you joining us, ancestry.com is how they did the work through that organization. we've got to take a break. "starting point" is back in joxt. and zoom... in your car. introducing the all-new cadillac xts with cue.

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millions in america's heartland. christine romans returns to her native iowa to look at the heartache there. and a new problem for the romney campaign. a spokesman says a word we cannot repeat on tv during the visit to the tomb of the unknown soldier in poland, telling reporters to shove it and worse. and former olympic champion pa paul hamm on the collapse of the men's gymnastics team at the olympics.

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welcome, everybody. our "starting point" this morning, losing his cool. a spokesman for mitt romney tells a group of reporters to kiss my blank and shove it. it's all on tape. drew peterson's day in court. the murder trial of the former police sergeant. his third wife found dead in the bathtub. his fourth wife vanished without a trace and is presumed dead. so why are his attorneys joking about the fourth wife's disappearance? and olympic doping. a 16-year-old chinese swimmer smashes her personal best by five seconds. that's a new world record. but there are allegations now about doping. we're live in london. it's tuesday, july 31. "starting point" begins right now.

congresswoman, did you so well starting us off. this one is a little slow for me, "take me to the river," talking heads. i have to put you in the category with ryan lizza. love his choices, just not this early in the morning. >> i gave you 14 songs. >> i blame the selection process. we have with us the only female physician member of congress, nan hayworth. democratic strategist hank sheinkoff is with us, as well as ryan lizza. the "starting point" this morning is about a hiccup or maybe the last string of hick jumpu ups for his campaign.

one of his spokesman cursed out some reporters at the tomb of the unknown soldier in warsaw. here it is. >> show some respect. >> governor romney -- >> show some respect. >> we haven't had another chance to ask him some questions. >> [ bleep ]. this is a holy sight to the polish people. show some respect. >> jim acosta is in warsaw traveling this group as well. walk us through how it went. i have to imagine things are very tense between the press and the romney campaign. and we were sort of seeing some of that right there. walk us through what happened. >> reporter: well, basically, soledad, we were watching mitt romney go through one of the many photo opportunities that his campaign has put on during this overseas trip. he visited poland's tomb of the unknown soldier. and i just want to make sure our viewers of aware of this. the press corps that travels with mitt romney, we all waited to ask these questions of him as he was walking away from this

national memorial here in warsaw. we were a good 100 yards from the tomb of the unknown soldier when we tried to ask these questions. and it was at that point sort of unprovoked when this press aide, rick gorka, came over to us and started yelling at us, berating us and using some ex-plitives there. in addition to what we just played, he told a reporter from politico to shove it. and i can tell you, soledad, about 30 minutes later we did hear from rick gorka who called and apologized to a couple of reporters there. and then after the speech that just wrapped up here in warsaw, we had a chance to talk to stewart stevens, a senior adviser with the romney campaign, and he tried to basically, you know, make it all sort of water under the bridge and went on to characterize this overseas trip as a great success. so even though they have had the string of gaffs, they feel like everything has gone pretty well out here. soledad? >> let's walk through some of that. first, did they give you access to some q&a time with mitt romney, which is really what all of those yells reporters were

ultimately hoping for, for him to stop and take a couple of questions. >> yeah, that's right. no. and i think that's part of what happened this morning. during this overseas trip, and keep in mind it went on for a week, soledad, we went to britain, we went to israel, and then here to warsaw. you know, it was only in london, outside of 10 downing street, when his traveling press corps was given the opportunity to ask some questions, and it was only three questions at that, and they were all basically about when romney was questioning whether london was ready for the olympics. and so before those questions were shouted to him, earlier this morning, we asked one of his other press secretaries, you know, are we going to have some kind of media availability today. and they said no, sorry, he's been doing interviews with the international news medias, you guys can't ask any questions. we moved what i thought was a safe distance away from that site to try and get those questions to him. and obviously ask him about the story of the week, which has

been some of these gaffes during the overseas trip. he did not respond to those questions, but obviously his press aide did, soledad. >> and probably now regrets how he responded. jim acosta for us this morning. thank you for updating that story. >> he does. >> i bet he does. interesting. a lot of pressure clearly, but at the same time it is a difficult sell to spin this as a successful trip. even the biggest cheerleader is going to have a hard time saying that london was a success, that some of the comments about the palestinians was a success, happening in israel, and that this thing happening right here in poland, and that's going to overshadow this trip. >> not to be too flip about it, but he's angered the american press, the palestinians, and all of the british people. that's what the take away from this trip is. that's what people are going to remember. that's what we've all been talking about. it wasn't a success. >> he did get some very positive comments, though, that were

powerful. >> basically endorsed him. >> yes. and he is an extraordinary figure in the history of the freedom movement in poland. i thought that was a very good moment for him. >> although other polish leaders criticized him for his criticism of president obama for his relationship with poland. >> there are issues in poland which are well known. but there are two sides. did he make friends with the press corps? the answer is no. will cameron like him and have him over for dinner? not likely, ok? but polish voters and critical states will look at this and say, wait a second. that's my guy. more conservative catholics are going to say, wonderful, poland, catholics, very important. presidential elections are won generally by combinations of southern protestants and northern catholics. that's what this guy is banking on. that's what he -- evangelicals will look at his performance in israel, way to go, mitt. he locks up the south. >> i'm interested to see how the

polling goes after this. if things move at all. >> nothing can move for months. so i doubt it. >> the polls. >> poles are pretty much in his favor. >> the polls, though. >> in ohio, pennsylvania, other states, you bet. let's get right to zoraida with the other stories making news today. a scare at the u.s. embassy in oslo, norway. there's word of a suspicious item being investigated that was found under a parked car. a large area around the embassy has been evacuated, and of course we will bring you more information as it becomes available. bloody violence in syria this morning. government forces are shelling parts of damascus and its suburbs as rebels hold their grip on the city of aleppo. barbara starr into ek to leon panetta. >> i am sure that deep down

assad knows he's in trouble, and it's just a matter of time before he has to go. >> reporter: what would you say to him? >> i would say if you want to be able to protect yourself and your family, you better get the hell out now. >> and today panetta meets with egypt's new president, mohamed morsi. and a lot of suspicion surrounding the 16-year-old olympic swimmer from china. she is denying she took performance enhancing drugs to help her shatter's world record at the london games. one u.s. coach described her performance in the 400 meter individual medley as, quote, disturbing. yesterday, she shaved five seconds off her personal best to break the world record by more than a second and win the gold medal. in the last 50 meters of the race, she swam faster than u.s. star ryan lochte in the men's event. soledad, back to you. a lot of controversy surrounding that young lady. >> all those numbers and statistics you're naming are

just very improbable. >> yeah. >> we were talking to someone earlier, and she said the likelihood -- they'll test her and see. >> is that right? >> people aren't jumping to conclusions here? >> you know, i think the five-second gap is a very big gap. it's that issue. you know, at this level, people do not break records by five seconds to beat their own record. >> tested ahead of time as well. so they are waiting for those results. the combination of the two should give them some answers. >> thank you, zoraida. but i hope it's not the case. >> yeah. >> it could another one of those great miracles that happen all of a sudden. >> i'm all for miracles, every day. in fact, the women's gymnastics team will try for gold. we hope that happens, making up hopefully for the men's team's devastating collapse. they blew what was a promising start on qualification day. mistake after mistake, they fell off the pom el horse, faltered

on the floor and the vault. at one point trailed dead last. they finally rallied a bit to end up fifth. paul hamm knows all about the pressures of olympic competition. he competed in two olympics, won three medals in. 2004 he was the first american man to win the gold medal for the individual all-around competition. nice to have you with us this morning. so what do you think happened? assess for me what fell apart after such a great qualifying round. >> things just didn't go well from the beginning. there was a fall on floor exercise. and then two falls on pommel horse. from that point on, it was very difficult to make any kind of rally to come back to the medal podium. >> does the psychology affect people so that if one team member is faltering it sort of ripples through others? >> yeah. there's no question that that's part of it. if you notice a mistake from a team member, you start to feel that pressure yourself because you have got to get the team

back on track and make sure to stop that bleeding. and that is a tough thing to do at times. >> dan el leyva said, i've never been to an olympic games before. but now i know, so tell help me in my training in the next four years leading up to rio, which i thought was a good insight into how he was thinking. but i'm like, you're still in this game. you still have the individuals to get through. >> yeah. >> it sounds like you're looking four years out. you've been there, and you're one of the rare, i think, you know, people we can talk to who can say your mind has been there. what's going through his head right now? can they bring it back around? >> i think that we can see some good solid individual performances. both danell and john had mistakes during the team competition, and they will be our two all-around athletes competing, and are both capable

of being on the podium in the all-around. i'm hoping they can take what happened and use it in the positive and hopefully not dwell on the mistakes too much, because there is a lot more gymnastics to do in this olympic games. it's not over right now. >> how hard is that? you're the second person that's told me you've got to put it behind you. but how hard is that? >> it's difficult. i'm seen danell have a mistake in the last world championships, and he came back and won a gold medal in the parallel bars. and i experienced it personally in the 2004 olympics. i was leading the all-around competition and fell on my vault. i had to pick myself back up and two do of the best performances of my life in order to secure that gold medal. so it is possible. you've just got to be in the right mindset and not let the emotional side get the best of you. >> good. well, we certainly hope they're able to do it. paul hamm is an olympic gold medallist. nice to see you. thanks for talking with us. >> you bet. >> i love getting into the

psychology behind these high level elite athletes. it's so amazing. still ahead this morning on "starting point," we'll take a behind the scenes look at the man who could be mitt romney's running mate. ryan sat down with wisconsin congressman paul ryan and he'll talk about his article which appears in "the new yorker." and banning baby formula. they are making it more difficult for moms to get formula after they deliver because they would love for the moms to try to nurse first. we're going to talk about that straight ahead. you know how i feel about that. hank's play list. "jefferson airplane." [ ross ] we are at the bottom of the earth: patagonia, chile. this is the first leg of our world challenge with the cadillac ats. this is actually starting to feel real now. [ ross ] this is the perfect place to test the ats's advanced aerodynamics. [ derek ] we've got crosswinds, tailwinds, headwinds. aerodynamics is all about

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all right. i like this. this is ryan's play list, animal collective, "my girls." we were talking this morning about ryan's article. it's all ryan this morning. "the new yorker" article is called fuss budget, about paul ryan's rise in the gop. fascinating to learn about his childhood, which i think really was the core development of his ideology. >> i think so. you always have to be careful when you're writing about a public figure being too much of a psychiatrist, putting someone on the couch. you can't, you know, truly know everything about someone. but his father died when he was relatively young. when he was in high school. and paul ryan was the person who actually found his body at his home in janesville, wisconsin.

and as he explained to me, he sort of went through -- he didn't use this word, but not existential crisis but a real search for, you know, what his life was all about. >> started reading ayn rand. looking for literature that would talk about the framing of the government and individualism versus collectivism. >> it's rare when you write about a politician that you can see that early intellectual development, the authors they are into, and see a sort of straight line from that to their public policies. and with this guy, the straight line is right there. >> social security for him, which was back in 2005, 2006, was a disaster. >> yeah. and i wrote extensively about that first big bite at public policy he took on. social security privatization, social security reform in the bush era, because it was not successful for the republican party. and even george w. bush in his memoir rewritwrites he regrets

pursuing it in 2005. he told some of his colleagues at the time, don't worry. this isn't the third realm of the politics anymore. >> it was. >> and it was. and the reason i went through that history is because he's back now with much bolder, more ambitious plans and he's convinced you and all of your republican colleagues to walk off the plank and vote for what democrats think is a very controversial agenda. >> oh, my. >> well, it's a very compassionate budget actually. >> i want to hear your response to this. about y but at the time that ryan put his budget out first in 2008 and then he modified it in recent years, a lot of republican pollsters are saying don't vote from this, stay away from this. and boehner, the republican minority leader at the time, made sure that republicans in the house of representatives did not embrace it in 2010. >> i did. >> you did? >> yes. >> and you ran on it? >> i did. >> and you won? >> yes. in a challenger race. >> in a challenger race.

so this is a success story. >> so new crop comes in. >> new crop comes in, including yourself. >> yes. >> he talks about these are the kinds of politicians that are not -- >> and i think we have an example of one sitting right here. >> citizen legislator. >> this is a paraphrase, these aren't career politicians. these are d.a.s and doctors not here for careers, they are here for causes. and they helped him pass in 2011 what just a few years before was a budget that no republican wanted to touch. >> in your article, though, you also talk about some of the contradictions. you go to janesville, which is in his district, and as much as he is -- his budget to some degree would remove a lot of things that have made janesville come back, right? >> i was surprised by this. >> and there's government that has resources that have gone into making janesville great. >> yeah. i was surprised. you go to janesville. former auto town.

the big gm plant closed a few years ago. i get a tour by a very pro republican. he shows me one company that is there because they got a federal research grant. two is a medium sized business whose only interest in janesville is as a distribution hub. so their big issue is federal transportation dollars. >> good highways. >> and third, he shows me this new incubator where entrepreneurs can come and help start their businesses. and i said how did you get the money for that? he said it was a federal grant. >> stimulus. >> so i couldn't help as a journalist see some irony in that. but, you know, i asked ryan -- >> maybe i can help you with that. >> i asked ryan about that. and he said we're not against all government. these are very reasonable federal policies. >> this is an article in "the new yorker," called how paul ryan captured the gop. it's a fascinating article and great insight into him i thought. >> thanks. [ female announcer ] why not try coffee-mate?

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welcome back to "starting point." so you'll remember, we've been talking about the u.s. world soccer championships women's team, the men's team both went to turkey to play. and last week we told you about their game against germany, their game against poland. they had to play russia for the championship. and take a look. >> hi. it's the women's deaf world cup soccer team. we won 1-0. whoo! yeah! >> whoo! >> yeah! >> whoo! >> back to you, soledad.

>> nice. >> can you guess what happened? they won. you can probably hear it, 1-0, they were able to beat russia. they are now the world champions. and they got gold medals. and they'll be heading back to the united states soon. that was alison galub, midfielder, and she's been filing these reports for us. you know, they have to take off all their hearing aids and anything that helps them hear on the field. they have to remove them to play the game. she said it was a lot of -- trying to signal to your teammates, it's just amazing. we're really proud of them. we've been covering their progress while the olympics are going on. we're happy to support them. still ahead, the drew peterson trial is what we'll talk about. former police sergeant charged with murdering his third wife. his defense attorneys mock the fourth wife, who's been missing now for three years and is presumed dead. you've got to hear this yourself. also crop busted. christine romans takes us back home to iowa to look at how

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welcome back to "starting point." let's get ride to zoraida sambolin. opening statements today in the much anticipated trial of ex-cop drew peterson, charged with the murder of his third wife. she was found drowned in her bathtub in 2004. her death was first ruled an accident. but the case was reopened in 2007 after peterson's fourth wife, stacey, vanished. peterson is not facing charges in that case. cnn's ted rowlands is in joliet, illinois. and this is far from an open and shut case. prosecutors face a lot of challenges. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: yeah, zoraida. there's a good chance that peterson will walk out of this courthouse at the end of this

trial a free man. and there are a few different reasons. first off, you mentioned that this case was reopened after the fourth wife, stacey peterson, went missing. that's when they changed the death from an accident to a homicide. but the original coroner's report is still on the record. and there was a coroner's jury after that. a jury panel that looked into the case. ruling it an accident. the defense is going to hammer that to this jury. the other thing is there's no direct evidence tying peterson to his -- to his third wife's death. he was not placed at the scene. it's a very difficult case. and then you bring up the fourth wife. stacey peterson, who has been missing, and is presumed dead. she's been gone for years. over the years, peterson has made some very callous remarks about his ex-wife that is missing, saying that she was off being a dancer or this or that. take a listen to what his defense team said about stacey peterson, who has been missing

for years, just outside of the courthouse. it gives you a sense of where this defense team is coming from and their overconfidence, some might say. >> what do you make of the stacey factor in this trial? >> who? >> the stacey factor. >> who? >> stacey who? >> stace whoa? >> she's on your witness list. >> oh, that stacey. >> we're hoping she shows up. >> yeah, maybe she'll show up. >> if she got the subpoena. >> does anybody think she's really alive? >> i do. >> absolutely, she's alive. >> yeah. >> zoraida, they have actually put her on their witness list. the prosecution of this case is going to paint the picture of drew peterson in a few hours here in front of the jury as a guy that made threats and followed through with them. they are allowed some hearsay statements that will work to their advantage. but as you mentioned, it is going to be a very, very tough but interesting case to watch. >> i have to tell you, it is outrageous to watch the team laugh like that about a missing

woman, who many presume dead at this stage of the game. the big question is will drew peterson take the stand. do you know anything about that? >> reporter: well, that will be a last-minute decision. you know drew peterson, having lived in chicago, i'm sure he'll want to take the stand. i'm sure his attorneys will implore him not to. we'll have to wait and see what happens. a man recovering with bites on both legs this morning after what appears to be a shark attack. this is off cape cod. the video from the cape cod times is of a swimmer being carried off on a stretcher. witnesses say they saw a dors el fin come out of the water right before the attack. the man is expected to survive and keep both limbs as well. michael phelps looking for his first gold medal of the london games today in 200 butterfly. if he wins, he'll tie the all-time record of 18 career olympic medals. he tells piers morgan, when this

olympics is over, his swimming career is over too. >> i'm retiring. and i won't be coming back. >> that will be it? >> yes. if i can look back at my career and say i've done everything i've ever wanted, no matter how many medals, how many records, no matter how many this, that, whatever, if i can look back on my career and say that, it doesn't matter anything else. i consider my career a success. >> phelps already has the most gold medals of any olympian, 14. and shatter mark spitz's record with eight wins in one olympics. that was at beijing four years ago. mama said, knock you out. ll cool j playing whack-a-mole made by a 9-year-old boy made with cardboard, tape, and a lot of imagination. you may remember it from a viral video called caine's arcade.

>> do you remember this story? >> incredible. >> this little boy, 9 years old, his dad had an auto parts store and has the boxes. he hangs out with his dad. he would take the boxes and create a little fake arcade. one day a guy who comes in decides to invite people, you know, what do they use to -- i can't remember what it is, basically online brought everybody together. his arcade suddenly had lines out the door. hundreds of people showing up to play his fake arcade. and not only was he stunned, but he was like, all right, come on in, and he starts playing the games to. have ll cool j join him, that's hilarious. >> very cool. we have to talk about this drought. the nation is suffering. half the nation in the worst drought in 50 years. no one is struggling more than small farmers. vegetables failing in the soil. prices hit a record on monday. christine romans is live from her native iowa with an in depth

look at the drought. but first, to meteorologist rob marciano for a full sense of the scope of this as well. >> we'll start you off with the map that we've been showing you for weeks now, the drought monitor. over 60% of the country is under moderate to some cases severe drought. that does include iowa, especially the eastern part of the state, under moderate drought there. but if you note, even spots -- you know, outside of the so-called corn belt, along the mississippi, they are in extreme drought. so what happens there, we have the mississippi that has some issues as well, which we really haven't talked about too much. this is the mississippi. last year, you remember last year, we were at near record floods, ok? well, you compare what happened last year to what's going on this year, and you just wipe out all of that water. from memphis down to vicksburg, mississippi. we're talking about a 50-foot drop in the mississippi. and that has slowed down barge traffic. they've had to lighten the load. they've got barges stacked up up

and down the mississippi all the way down towards new orleans. back to crops. we've got missouri, illinois, indiana, arkansas, 98% rated very poor, and right in the heart of that is very poor. and although iowa is rated 46%, they have planted 13 million acres. the bread basket, it is in iowa. obviously the lack of rain and heat. if you thought june was hot, we had 4,100 high temperature records. july, one day left, we've had 4,700. >> that brings us right to christine romans in iowa for us this morning. exactly the centerpiece of what you were just discussing. ominous news there from rob. how is it looking in the future, christine? >> reporter: it looks dry. i mean, it's hot. there's no rain in the forecast. and these farmers need rain right now. they are hoping that the bean, which are a little bit behind, they have some hopes.

but the corn crop is withering out here. this is where i grew up. i haven't seen it this bad since '88. it feels a lot like '88. i talked to a farmer yesterday. and listen to what he's saying about his crop. take a walk through his field with me. what are the two things farmers talk about when they sit around with a cup of coffee? >> will it rain. did you get any rain, who got rain. >> three versions of rain. >> every farmer in iowa feels like they have a moral responsibility to do everything they can for this crop, to grow as much as we can, even though we know it's going to be short. this is one of the good-looking fields. >> reporter: this is good-looking? >> you know, from the road, this is a nice-looking field. and it's pathetic. >> reporter: when you hear in iowa a farmer say his corn is pathetic, this is heartbreaking because this is what they do, right? we're not going to know for sure, soledad, until the fall, until they mharvest this corn ad

see what their yields are going to be like. they quite frankly were ready for a really good crop this year. and the rain has not been there. it has been so hot. we're going to be 95 today. this corn, the leaves are going to start to shrivel up to protect themselves. you peel back an ear of corn, soledad, and there are all of these kernels that have just stopped growing. i mean, it just looks -- it's just not the way it should be here. it's going to mean higher food prices. no question about that. we won't know for sure what the crop does until they get in the tractors and pull it out of the field. but we know that food prices will be higher. so this is a story that will be felt by anybody going to the grocery store in the next year. >> terrible, terrible, on all fronts. christine romans reporting live for us from iowa. appreciate that. still ahead on "starting point," a woman who turned a small idea into a huge success. the founder of angie's list.

and new york city's mayor at it again, saying he knows what's best, this time for brand-new moms. we'll discuss what he is proposing. you're watching "starting point." we're back in a moment. [ male announcer ] at scottrade,

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welcome back, everybody. first there was that ban on big sodas. now new york city's mayor, mike bloomberg, is taking on baby formula. starting in september, he is going to implement his latch on new york city initiative, pun intended. under this plan, hospitals will be pushed to hide the baby formula, encouraging new moms to breast feed. they'll put it under lock and key. moms who still want to bottle feed can, but nurses would have to sign out the baby formula. and critics say it's an intrusion. where is will cain when we need him to talk about the nanny state? >> yes, yes. >> locking it up is a little bit much. i understand the encourage. but why do you have to introduce the lock and key? >> but here is the thing. you get now samples, right, if you're a mom. and 90% of new york city mothers start breast feeding. so the numbers are high. >> mike bloomberg is the greatest public health mayor in the history of the city of new york and maybe in this country. smoking reduction.

increased exercise. new yorkers are living longer. transfats. calorie counts. all of this means -- >> i agree with most of it. here's the difference. >> new yorkers are already living longer? >> yes, they are. the new statistics are pretty clear. new yorkers are living longer. >> so you want the babies to have the healthier option and breast feed, then teach them how to breast feed. it's hard. it's very stressful and challenging. i remember being yelled at by a nurse i think with my first daughter because i wanted to have the sample bottle so i could feed the baby. and she yelled at me. i was in tears. it was a really horrible experience. >> it's hard enough to be a new mom. >> until some nurse's aided snuk me a bottle of formula. >> at the heart of the soda container ban and all of this, you just want to make it a little bit more difficult, and put an extra step for citizens to do something -- >> for a woman who's just had a baby, really?

not a kid who is trying to get a 60 million ounce soda, but a woman who has just given birth? >> you have two women here who have given birth multiple times. life is hard enough when you have just had a baby. >> just had a c-section, but let's make it tougher on you. come on. >> no, you guys are totally right. >> i think he's wrong on this. i do. >> you want to have the mom think about the choice. >> educate her, and have someone in to teach her how to breast feed. it's really hard. >> when the nurse says i have to sign that out, and the mom says why, then you have the conversation. >> that is an access issue potentially. i can understand if they want to say in a given hospital, the hospital can certainly say, look, we're not going to distribute samples of formula. but to require that bureaucratic step now, lock and key -- >> that leads to a conversation about which one is better. >> it does, but golly gosh, new moms aren't going to be wandering around trying to open up the formula closet.

>> against the soda ban. for the lock and key. >> completely opposite and disagree on that. you're sitting in the disagreeing chair. thank you for doing that. >> but not disagreeable. still ahead, we're going to talk to angie herself, she created angie's list as a small business 17 years ago. and turned it into a business that millions of people use. we'll learn angie's business secrets, when she joins us up next. stay with us. ♪ r snappiest peas all freshly steamed in just minutes. steam bags from lean cuisine. be culinary chic. energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy development comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing generations of cleaner-burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self-contained well systems. and, using state-of-the-art monitoring technologies, rigorous practices help ensure our operations

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there are 27 million small businesses in the united states. between 60% and 80% of all new jobs created in the united states are attributed to small businesses. but it's not an easy economy for business owners. a recent pepperdine university

study found that more than 60% of small business loan applications were denied last year. angie hicks has been on both sides. she started angie's list. yes, there's a real person behind angie's list. started it 17 years ago as a small business. now it's a powerhouse. more than 1.5 million subscribers much. nice to have you with us. >> thank you. >> you started your business in 1995. >> yes. so we've been through many economic cycles in the economy. and for us, you know, the business has prospered through all of that. and i think it has to do with having a service that relates to your consumers and is an important need and also sticking to your strategy. i think that can be one of the challenges as well. you know, listening to, you know, where you're going. our goal was to provide the best possible -- help consumers find the best possible companies to help them do great service. so that was our goal. and i think part of it is just sticking to it.

>> you have actually found that there are people who can leverage off a bad review, because to me it would seem like a bad review on angie's list would be game over. >> yeah, yeah. this is a big question. i get this question all the time from small businesses. like, oh, i have a bad review. well, no one likes bad feedback. but the key here is learning from it. you know, today, because of the internet, companies can listen in on those conversations that were just happening between people offline before. and they can get that feedback. so the key here is if you've done something wrong, go fix it. you know, fix the root problem, and you can make your business better. and that's what we see, and that is what we see these companies doing really well and growing because they are actually listening to their customers and improving their business. >> interesting. >> do you see any -- you lived through the 2000 tech bubble. and there are a lot of people now, a lot of commentary about tech stocks being inflated. facebook. do you see any parallels between 2000 and what's going on right now?

>> i think for, you know, the way i see it is, you know, we've been through this storm before. i think it's about, you know, providing a viable business model, and being sure that you're living by it. angie's list, you know, we have prospered through that stage. we've gone through this financial crisis as well. and i think that's where it comes down to, is having a good model with a good basis and being able to show how that model works. >> you make the person's name on the review. and that was a critical part of that. why is that? >> for us, we actually started pre-internet days. so i am a big proponent of having more accountability on the internet. so we started our role models were the journalists, you know. it was kind of like, you have sources for your stories? we have sources for our reviews. absolutely. and i think it's really important because consumers spend way too much time focusing and making decisions based on information they gather online, and it needs to be responsible.

>> what are the small business owners telling you about what's happening now in the economy? what are you hearing from them? obviously, you're interfacing with them every day, all day. >> yeah. i mean, i think, you know, there's certainly -- there is certainly talk about the gas prices that are hurting them. we are all about local services. a lot of them come to you. so we hear that. but they're being innovative, thinking about new ways. thinking about ways to not pass those costs on to consumers. and they are also focusing -- getting back to basics. you know, i'm encouraging companies to, you know, think about making sure they are dotting all the is and crossing all the ts, because i think creating that kind of culture in their company is going to pay off a long way down the road. >> angie hicks is the founder of angie's list. we need to talk about contractors. [ laughter ] >> i'm having a little challenge. just going to set that up for you. >> sure. >> we appreciate talking to you. thank you very much. >> thank you. [ female announcer ] why not try coffee-mate? with over 25 delicious flavors

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the latest innovation. only for ink customers. learn more at chase.com/ink our "end point" this morning, ryan will kick us off. what you got for me? >> the more i watch and think about this final moment of the romney trip, i can't help but think this may be a blessing in disguise for mitt romney. because i think most people are going to watch that, and they're going to -- look, this is a statement against interest because i totally sympathize with the reporters on that trip. but this is one of those moments where the romney campaign turns it on, and the press is accused of being rude. i don't think it will be like the olympics or the palestinians. >> this is a moment where there's a rope line. and the journalists as jim acosta told us are about 100 yards away from the tomb. >> the journalists shouting questions at mitt romney. >> those are the journals who

have been the traveling press. and mitt romney has been doing interviews with journalists back at home, but with the traveling press only taken three questions. the frustration. >> and one of the aides tells the press to -- >> kiss my -- >> whatever it is. >> the word for that. >> and my experience with these things is the public usually does not sympathize with the press. >> could be an upside for him. my other two panelists, why don't you start. >> romney. wax museum has to come to an end, and it won't until after the convention. after the convention, this campaign is going to be in on both sides. more negatives from the president. romney, has toughened that storm, and thou we go forward. that's what will happen. >> we are watching our olympians. and we know from our men on the gymnastics team, you have to overcome many challenges, obstacles, and sometimes failures before you get to the winner's podium.

so i think governor romney can take some inspiration from that. >> great way to end, i think. thank you very much to our panelists. tomorrow, olympic gold medal winning gymnast dominique dawes will join us. comedian dl hughley as well. too good to be true. china's 16-year-old swimming phenom beating ryan lochte time. and now a prominent american swimming coach has his doubts. this morning, new questions, and new concerns, about what really happened in the pool. losing his cool. an aide for mitt romney has a meltdown and starting cursing at reporters, asking questions about his gaffes. jim acosta is on the trail this morning pressing the candidate. shark attack. cape cod on alert this morning. a man bitten on both legs just 75 feet from shore. onlookers say a large dorsal fin broke the surface just before.

plus this. the drought is spreading across the midwest. there is no rain in the forecast, and it is hot. just how bad will the corn crop be? farmers won't know until they harvest the corn. but what is certain, food prices are rising for you. "cnn newsroom" starts right now. and good morning. thank you for joining us. it carol costello. we begin with a teenaged chinese supergirl who at age 16 swam at such an incredible speed some suspect she cheated. she won gold in the 400 meter. she swam the last 50 meters or 164 feet faster than american ryan lochte's time in the men's competition. an amazing feat, considering according to the bbc that she is 5'6" and 141 pounds, and lochte is 6'1" and 194 pounds. john leonard, the director of

e