energized crowds and democrats are blasting the stance on taxes and spending and entitlement programs. what is the so-called ryan budget plan. we'll talk about that. prayers for a quick recovery as 93-year-old ee vank lift billy graham is taken to the hospital with a lung infection. we have a packed show. spiritual leader t.d. james and picabo street and representative chris van lol den and bob mcdonnell and debbie wasserman shultz all joining us this morning. it's monday, august 13th and "starting point" begins right now. this morning we're talking about congressman paul ryan, mitt romney's new running mate, one man who knows him very well is ryan lizza, he was writing an

in depth article about how ryan won over the gop. ryan is with us this morning. it was eight days, nine days ago we were discussing paul ryan, the article in "the new yorker" called fuss budget. did you know then he was actually on the fast track to be a pick for the vp? >> no, we barely talked about it in my interview. the reason i wrote the piece, i wanted to think about what is romney going so do if he wins. if you want to understand what republicans will do if they gain the white house, paul ryan is the guy to understand. it was his policy agenda that you knew romney was going in the direction. i didn't think he would take paul ryan himself. >> you could have said yes and told us you did -- >> i want to be honest. i did say he was a long shot for veep. >> we're talking all about paul ryan today. in fact, we want to get up close and personal with the congressman. mitt romney says he is very happy with his new running mate, ryan seems genuinely moved by the appointment and at point practically crying with emotion.

last night on "60 minutes." paul ryan said romney has been battling on an uneven playing field for too long. >> going to help him win the race to do it for the american people. we're going to split up more f often than not and double our efforts. it was one against two for a while now it's two against two. we'll bring a message to the country. here's how you get the country back on track. >> we're going to talk more this morning about that message. president obama is leaving chicago kicking off a three-day bus tour across iowa. vice president biden has a campaign event in durham, north carolina. and ryan will make his first solo appearance as romney's running mate at the iowa state fair in des moines. while romney makes two stops in the state of florida. all of that brings us to jim acosta, joining us from saint augustine. good morning, jim. >> reporter: good morning,

soledad. i had a chance to talk to a couple of advisers and they do like the response to the romney/ryan ticket. they had some of the biggest crowds at the campaign as seen over the last 48 hours in states like virginia, north carolina and wisconsin. and they do recognize that the ryan budget plan you just mentioned has stoked some controversy but they emphasize mitt romney is at the top of the ticket. they also like the visuals coming out of this team. paul ryan as they like to point out, first generation x vice presidential candidate in this country's history. he's got a young wife and family that they had out there on the campaign trail as well. but these two men have gone their separate ways. paul ryan off to iowa and mitt romney in florida. we saw the two of them shake hands and get on separate planes last night on a tarmac in wisconsin. but not after the wisconsin congressman had an emotional home coming at an event in wisconsin late yesterday.

here's what he had to say. >> i'm fifth generation from this state. my family came here back in the 1800s. made a go of it. it's where we've all raised our families ever since. this is such a phenomenal place to live and to work and to raise your family. my veins run with cheese, bratwurst and a little spot of linies and some miller. >> now, for our nonwisconsin viewers, soledad, that linies, he's referring to are line and koogle's and other wisconsin beers there. paul ryan flexing his wisconsin muscles talking about his wisconsin roots. we should mention getting back to the medicare issue. the obama campaign has released a new campaign video hitting romney and ryan on medicare, featuring seniors down here in

florida. we'll get a chance to see how this ryan plan for the budget will play with seniors later on this week. and the romney campaign is pushing back on the notion that they are hiding paul ryan from florida. they say he will be down here for a campaign event later on this saturday. soledad? >> we're going to be watching. thanks, jim. in a couple of minutes we'll talk to congressman randy forbes from the state of virginia. he spoke at the rally when paul ryan made his running debut. first let's get to john berman with a look at the day's top stories. >> good morning, an illinois man charged with shooting his air rifle at the mosque during ramadan services will appear in bond court. the leader of the mosque thinks david conrad should be charged with a hate crime. but police say prosecutors rejected hate crime charges in this case. gabby giffords is back home 19 months after being shot at a political event.

they moved back to tucson yesterday permanently. giffords had been spending most of her time in houston rehabbing. her husband mark kelly tweeting, gabby has been waiting for this day for a long time. >> ee vank lift billy graham is alert and good spirits. he was battling a pulmonary infection believed to be bronchitis. no date has been set for his discharge. nfl star chad johnson, formerly known as chad ochocinco is known as a dolphin. he was arrested for head butt being his wife. according to the arrest report, lasada was asking for a receipt for condoms she found when he grabbed her and head butted her

causing a laceration. johnson -- >> a lot going on with that one. >> next stop, rio. london promised a party and they delivered. spice girls, george michael, the who, annie len ox and even an appearance by monte python, eric idle, so what do these olympians do next? coming up next hour, soledad sits down with picabo street. >> i'm guessing they go to a bar and take a week off from practice. and go back at it. >> they don't all make it and come back and get the big whe wheatty's box. >> thanks, ryan. >> moving on now. >> i was sad to learn that. >> our "starting point" is the new romney/ryan ticket.

they are trying to earn some of the key swing state votes. as we mentioned they will hit iowa and florida separately. they gave their first joint interview last night where mitt romney gave paul ryan high praise. listen. >> paul could become if it were necessary, could become president. he has the experience and judgment and capacity and character to become president. that was the first and most important criteria. >> randy forbes is a republican congressman from state of virginia and member of the arms services and judiciary committee. he spoke at the rally on the "uss wisconsin" when paul ryan made his running mate debut. thanks for talking with us. i know we have great photos you took in virginia where folks were going wild cheering. do you think you'll be met with cheerls from -- i think what's a critical group here, the independents and undecideds,

will they have the same energetic take on paul ryan being added to the ticket zpl. >> soledad, i thenk think they . i've known him politically and personally and governmental capacity. he has such a strong character and strong family man. most importantly paul ryan is a brilliant guy. has more good ideas about breakfast than most people have in their entire career. what most independents are looking for, they are tired of this these political attacks and want new government ideas. that's what paul is going to bring to the table. i think it's going to excite them. >> he's an unknown if you look at the polling. and there isn't a lot among independents and this was done before he was tapped to be vp pick, favorable 27%, unfavorable 22%, no opinion, 15% and never heard of the largest there at 36%. which is most concerning statistic of those that i just

read to you as you look at that list right now? what worries you on that list? >> none of those statistics. he's been announced a little over a day. and i think in just a few weeks america is going to know paul ryan. the more they know, the more excited they are going to be. if in fact the economy is the number one issue in in country for most people and jobs are the number one issue in the economy, they can't find anybody better than paul ryan to bring the ideas to the table that we need to turn this economy around and start rehiring people across the country. >> we'll talk budget in a moment. i want to talk about medicare, best known for the dra mat in , inc.,ic changes he would like to see am medicare. 55 and older as he proposes it wouldn't change. under 55, the goal is a voucher system where seniors could pick what they want go into effect in the year 2023. do you worry that talking about dramatic changes for medicare is

going to be of great concern for the people in the swing states that have an older population, like the sat of florida and pennsylvania and iowa? >> soledad, i don't. a couple of reasons for that. first of all, i think the most dangerous approach to medicare is vice president biden's approach. i think the second most dangerous approach is what the president wants to do in taking $700 billion out of medicare, which he's proposed to do. the third thing and what i think is going to be very concerning to people in rereassuring to them is the fact that paul has made it clear for people 55 and older, they won't have a change in medicare. medicare is going to go bankrupt if we don't do something to change it. he wants to make sure he strengthened it and preserves it for generations after us. >> elaborate for me when you say vice president biden's plan. give me some specifics on that. but i have to tell you as i'm sure you know, $700 million

figure has been -- billion dollar figures has been debunked by cnn and the congressional budget office. that number has been battered around a lot. and that's very much political spin. tell me vice president biden, what plan does he have. >> soledad, that's just it. he doesn't have a plan. if you have no plan at all, then medicare is going to go bankrupt and we won't have it at all for people under 55. we decide we're going to do with the vice president has done and put our head in the hole and do nothing and led medicare go bankrupt or do something to make sure we're preserving for people 55 and under. paul is trying to fut ideas on the table, if you're on medicare, approaching the time to be on medicare, you're not going to be impacted at all. for those who are younger than 55 and know that they won't have medicare when they are there because it's going to be bankrupt, we want to do something to make sure we're shoring that up and it's going to be there for them.

i think doing nothing is not a satisfactory approach. >> always good to see you. >> i appreciate that, thanks. >> ryan, you heard from the congressman, the theory that do something is better than do nothing. i was sort of confused when he brought in the vice president biden. >> i was too, didn't understand what he meant. he was just saying he's proposing nothing. >> as opposed to paul ryan who proposed something. >> they will be debating in the vice presidential debate what congressman forbes is aing, rather than obama he's pointing to biden. >> it seemed very deliberate, i wonder if he's trying to change the debate to paul ryan to the man he'll be running against, joe biden. in a way it raises mitt romney. he was somewhat diminished because we were talking about ryan's plan not his. >> interesting strategy, do something versus do nothing. if that's the plan when you're going to have clearly over the next i'd say starting yesterday

to continuing on, an attack and focus by the dems on this budget and medicare. >> the medicare -- look the republican line on medicare is to point out to this $700 billion figure. they are going to say, you want to say paul ryan is going to hurt medicare, wait a second the president of the united states took $700 billion out of medicare and used it to pay for obama care. what's important to point out as you were getting at in the interview, that $700 billion was not cuts to beneficiaries. they took $700 billion out of payments to actually decrease in the rate, in the rate of increase to providers. it's not beneficiaries that got -- we'll hear that number a lot. >> clearly. >> important to spell out what went on. >> he was signaling a lot of what we'll see in the debate as we move forward. we'll keep talking about this this morning. still ahead, delaware's democratic governor jack markell

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they've only been running mates for 48 hours, but they are dividing and con quering. ryan is make being his first solo appearance at the iowa state fair. romney is holding an event in saint augustine florida. at 8:45 cnn will bring you live coverage when it happens. i want to bring in jack markell.

-- >> former head of the -- >> that's right. we talked about why are transition up u that must free up your time for other things like talking about paul ryan as vp. >> i want to congratulate him and his family, must be an exciting moment for them. it sets up a very stark contrast between the two. i think as more americans become more familiar with his approach, with his plans and policies, they'll see there's an incredible mismatch between some of the rhetoric and the reality. and particularly around helping the economy. >> let's talk specifically about that. you see cheers, it seems and i was over the weekend talking to upstate where i live, some of the folks in the republican party there, we're thrilled, like, he's a strong choice, bowled choice, these are their words, that he's defined and true conservative. he puts solutions on the table. they were lift rally he is

static about his choice. >> are those solutions the right solutions? if the only thing that matters growing the economy and particularly for the middle class, i think the answer is no. let's take a look at the two choices. the romney and ryan approach is very much focused almost exclusively on cutting taxes for the very, very wealthiest. we all want low taxes. but then you take a look, how do you really grow middle class? you need investments in education. you need investments in infrastructure and need investments in science and research. those are things that the ryan budget cuts cuts cuts, different approaches. if you're trying to build an economy, from the middle class out, i think that's a much better approach. >> paul ryan has said his strategy for building a middle class and upward mobility is clear out government, move it out of the way. it's not -- i think his words were more about don't enable the poor but instead enable

entrepreneurship and enable people to make their way better and that they are being hampered by the government. a lot of people agree with that. >> we certainty don't want more government than we need. but there are things only government can do. only government will make the necessary investments in basic research that then gets commercialized. government is in a very strong position with respect to public schools to make sure that we continue to provide opportunities for kids across this country. his plan, cuts pel grants for 10 million kids. it kicks 200,000 young kids off of head start. these are not the kinds of investments going to lead to a prosperous future. i think it's important that americans of all parties understand in some detail what his specific approaches are. >> can i ask a question. there's a lively debate over medicare and a lot of republicans are saying, this

president is not -- can't attack paul ryan and mitt romney, he took $700 million they will say out of the program and others will say boehner and obama were this close to a deal that would have raised the age. the president is pretty much on record for raising the age to 67. how do democrats have an advantage on the issue? >> the congressional budget office has the affordable care act extends of life of medicare, number one. >> that's -- what about the $700 billion? >> first of all, and i think one of your previous speakers talked about it. the difference is the ryan plan cuts the benefits for beneficiaries. essentially it's going to transfer more of a burden onto the beneficiaries and in contrast, the obama plan does not do that. here's the bigger point. bigger point, the president's plan recognizes what we have is

a sit care system, where providers and hospitals and the like get paid based on how many procedures they do. the affordable care act really shows how we get to rewarding people, rewarding providers for quality. all that the ryan plan does is cut, cut these are two fundamentally different things. no question we have to address the solvency of the entire health care system. but so much of that is moving away from the fee for service paying providers for how many procedures they do and actually we warding people for quality. >> always nice to have you with us. >> still ahead on "starting point" -- gucci and and doll si and cabani. top designers are going after our kids for back to school shopping. it is our get real and our

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, everybody, our team, will cain, a columnist for "the blaze.com. and ryan lizza, the washington correspondent for "the new yorker. all boy panel this morning. wow. our get real, how much money have you spent on your kid's stuff? i try to go as cheap as possible because they grow like weeds, $10 on a t-shirt, $20 on shoes. i'm cheap.

new designers or old designers in some cases charging crazy prices for kids for growing children. kids clothes that run into the thousands of dollars. a sequined dress cost $1200 for your kid. a wool hat and ballerina style slippers, $380 a piece. and it comes with card gans that are fur lined, $1200, i assume real fur. gucci too, dresses for under $500 and $800 for a kid's gucci backpack. >> you got to have the latest thing when you go to school. the target audience for this, rich gullible grandparents. >> i have a 4-year-old and ryan, you have a 5-year-old. with these apparently desiring consumers, the difference between a napkin and his shirt, if you're wiping your chocolate covered hands on a $400 shirt?

>> $5200 silk party dress and same thing, they go like this and it's like -- smear. >> get real. >> two words, get real. >> thank you, richard. exactly my point. i think i'm right about this one. we want to know about your think about it. you can send us a video, 20 seconds total max, about a point you want to make on the show. we're calling it my end point. we'll pick one and include it in the end of our show. go to our blog at cnn.com/starti cnn.com/startingpoint to submit your video. >> two wildfires are raging in california. mandatory evacuations in one city north of san francisco. we're talking about paul ryan and mitt romney, the number two hitting the campaign trail. chris van hollen will tell us why he says he has mixed feelings. he's going to be with us live in ten minutes. we're back in a moment.

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welcome back, everybody, you're watching "starting point." coming up, paul ryan's friends and counterpart on the house budget committee, chris van hollen will join us live. he has mixed feelings about the wisconsin lawmaker being named as mitt romney's running mate. we want to get an update on the top stories with john berman. >> two wildfires in northern california covering 5,000 acres, forcings dozens to evacuate in clear lake. 200 firefighters are on the scene. it could be another week before everything is under control. people evacuated from the area near this huge sinkhole in louisiana won't be allowed back in their homes for another month at least. these pictures are amazing. they are looking into the possibility that a nearby salt

cavearn is to blame. they asked the company behind the cavren to drim a relief well. the fast and furious, today the committee is planning to enter a civil suit against holder. earlier they held him in contempt of congress for not turning over all of the fast and furious documents that they wanted. the obama administration cited executive privilege. roy mcilroy did it in record breaking fashion. the 23-year-old blew away the field on the ocean golf course winning the championship by eight strokes. no one has ever won the pga by a wider margin. mcilroy is the number one player in the world after capturing his second career major, which by the way he has done at the younger age than tiger woods. he's on an interesting track,

worth watching. >> even i watched that. that was great. >> it will be interesting to see if this is a moment in history. i remember watching tiger woods, thinking, this guy is going to be something some day. and then it comes to fruition. i wonder if it will be the same way. >> it's always the young guys. >> that's what i thought about paul ryan, i'm older than the vp pick. oh, paul ryan, oh, my god, older than paul ryan. we'll talk about that about paul ryan joining mitt romney. ryan will campaign alone. democrats are starting attack focusing largely on ryan's budget. they say the vp want to be, would end medicare as we know. chris van hollen is the ranking member of the house budget committee. >> good morning, soledad.

>> you've been described as adversaries about friends as folks describe you. i know you congratulated him. but what do you think of him on the ticket. >> that's right, soledad. we get along very well personally and always have spirited debates in the budget committee and floor of the house. but the debates on the budget are always civil i told paul ryan, the more american people get to know his plan, the less they will like it. i welcome this debate about policy issues and we'll have a vigorous debate on the campaign trial. >> democrats have said paul ryan will end medicare as we know it. it is insolvent by 2024 anyway. here's what paul ryan said on "60 minutes." let's listen. >> explain. >> our point is that we need to preserve their benefits because government made promised that they organize their retirements

are on. we think reforms are good reforms. >> clearly the romney campaign thinks that's a great message and it's being cheered by republicans across the country frankly. isn't that a solid message that could appeal to independents? >> i don't think it's a solid message at all. especially for independents and obviously seniors in florida. look, there's no question that we have to modernize the medicare program. in fact, the affordable care act began to take steps to do that. the difference is how you do it. under the pred's approach, what you do is control the costs in medicare, which are symptoms of the growing cost in the health care system overall, whereas the ryan plan, the romney plan, simply transfers the growing risks and costs on to seniors and in the process, it gives seniors a much worse deal on health care than members of congress have. so you're going to be saying to folks on medicare, members of congress get a lot more health

care security in the plan they have than we're going to give to seniors on medicare. at the same time that they are proposing huge additional tax breaks for the very wealthy and in fact as you probably saw role call said the the plan would provide mitt romney with a tax rate of 1%, a huge tax break while you're imposing additional costs for seniors on medicare. it's not right and balanced. >> let's talk about the budget for a moment. he would slash entitlements and slide expenses to states and people who support paul ryan, that's gutsy at a time when he's a truth teller when it comes to we are facing this massive deficit, that everybody has to understand the times are dire and he's going to say it out loud. doesn't that ring comfortably for people who feel like there's been no real maybe work by congress in trying to confront

some of these problems. >> well, soledad, i think if you're serious about the long-term deficit, you take the balanced approach that the bipartisan approach simps simpson-boles recommended. i don't think it's fair to say another wind fall tax break at the expense of everybody else. if you're serious about deficits over the long term, these are important tradeoffs. those tax breaks for people like mitt romney come at a severe cost to everybody else. we can invest less in our kid's education and infrastructure and road and bridges, at a time when we have 14% unemployment in the industry and seniors on medicare will have to pay more in order to provide these tax breaks for folks at the very top. i just -- that's not a balanced approach. it's frankly for true fiscal conservatives, that's not a serious approach to the

long-term deficit. >> quick final question for you. i thought it was interesting, one question was why is congress so screwed up and paul ryan's answer was basically it's president obama's fault. >> i've seen this since i've been in congress in 14 years, it starts in my opinion with a fundamental lack of leadership. president obama has not provided the kind of leadership we need to bring people together. >> congress's approval rating is something like 17%. congressman, why do you think congress is so screwed up? >> it was interesting to hear paul ryan blame the president for why congress is so screwed up. look, we had a very idealogically group of tea party folks take over the house of representatives during the last election. it is now become the most obstructionist type of house and the republicans in the senate that we've ever seen. mitch mcconnell, the republican leader in the senate, said his number one priority was not jobs or economy, it was to defeat

president obama. we saw just last summer, that the house republicans and paul ryan is paul of this team, they threatened for the first time in our history, seriously, to default on the u.s. full faith and credit on our obligations. in order to try and pass their very extreme and radical budget. look, this is an uncompromising budget document. every amendment that was offered by the democrats and budget committee was rejected. just on a straight vote. so look, if you really want to come together, you need to look at the framework presented by simpson-bowles and other groups, the romney/ryan plan doesn't move one inch in that direction because they are wedded to the grover nor quist pledge that we won't ask folks at the top to contribute one penny more to reduce our deficits over a

period of time and that means you whack everybody else. >> chris van hollen, thanks for your time. >> thank you. >> no man's land, imagine a city district designed exclusively for women. it sounds nice to me. it could be. we laugh but really we're talking about -- kind of like that to happen right here on my own set. but in reality they are talking about this in saudi arabia. we have a live report straight ahead. and a glimpse of whitney houston's final performance in her new film "sparkle." td jakes will join us to talk about that. to provide a betters package... oahhh! >> you are amazing. >> make you want to dance, huh? [ duck yelling ] [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. ♪ ha ha!

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welcome back to "starting point." sounds like something out of a myth, a city district for women only. officials in saudi arabia are planning to make it a reality. they are creating a business zone for women so women can work and run their own businesses and not risk breaking islamic law. nick robertson is live for us. why do they have to create a special zone, anyway? >> what it does do is prohibit women working alongside men. if you want to get more women in the workplace, which they do because relative say to other countries in the gulf here, united arab emirates, 60% of the population, more than half in the workforce in saudi arabia only 15%. this is a way to get more women in the workplace and sort of deal with the social issues that arise, dissatisfaction among population, educated women

leaving the country because they don't have anywhere to work. this is what the government appears to address here. >> it is kind of a work around sharia law. it's a sharia law that doesn't allow men and women to work next to each other? >> it's a total work around. it's a saudi solution to a saudi problem, if you will. they have a track record of kind of, if you will, throwing money at problems. rather than trying to integ rate and find a way to get women into the workplace alongside men, sort of dual factories or that kind of thing, they will spend the money, projecting perhaps another 40 other business cities like this for women, employing up to maybe 5,000 women, they will spend the money, $130 million on this one project alone to create this separate environment. it does create this parallel structure but it's a way that the leadership in saudi arabia

avoids the criticism of the ultraconservatives who right now women can't drive in the country. even the female saudi athlete who competed in judo was accused of being a -- so you have this conservative country. it's that kind of workaround the government is putting into place. >> i guess the interesting thing, nic, it's richard, how do women in saudi arabia feel about this? this would never work here. everybody is supposed to be able to work together. if it works there, it could be a good idea. >> i don't know. i think -- >> sure, i mean, you can look at it as being a good idea as well. in any country where you have change where women have sort of got a place in the workplace and right to vote and britain, for example has their own history. saudi arabia, the leadership has to do this slowly. they say they are committed to this. if you get women in the

workplace as crazy as it sounds in sort of a completely separate environment, it does empower them and give hem a stronger voice. this is the way you actually will affect change over time because right now women in saudi arab arabia don't really have a strong voice. >> i think i agree with that. nic robertson, thanks for being with us. to be part of a bigger sort of -- >> you can mark this as progress in saudi arabia. the saudis are used to throwing money at the problems, cutting checks for social unrest. does this suggest they are worried about the future and role of women and creating a revolution. >> that's a yes, i think it is. >> is saudi arabia responding on their own limits terms and only under pressure. you wonder how far they are willing to go. >> you have 5,000 empowered women. >> still ahead, the musical drama "sparkle" opens this week,

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six months ago this week the world lost one of our faces. whitney hughesed shot a project, the new movie "sparkle." in the film she plays emma, a hard working single mom who dreamed of a singing career that never really took off. here is a clip. >> i know the lord loves me and

he wouldn't torture me with something i want to do, can't help to do, so i figured it shall. >> you figured i was wrong? >> that i had a gift. >> sparkle, you can have a gift. it's how you use it. >> whitney houston was 13 years old when "sparkle" was first released in 1976 at a time she was chasing her own musical dream. she would eventually star and executive produce the remake, but she would not live long enough to see it come out on friday. the producer of the film is the founder and senior pastor of potters house church in dallas. thank you for talking with us. i have to imagine it's got to be a special burden to make sure that the last thing she ever did and that would be seen by so many people is amazing, is great. did that feel like a ton of pressure for you? >> we took it very, very seriously and really want ed it

to be just an amazing representation of her legacy and the wide span of her gift both musically and also as it relates to her acting career. >> what are the changes to the film because in the original it's a different storyline. it's been changed, tweaked a little bit to make it for more modern audiences. what have you changed? >> we've changed quite a bit. the woman who wrote the script did an amazing job with it, it took out the gratuitous violence that was in the first film. it added a little bit more faith to it as relating to the mother working to get her daughters to go in a faith way as opposed to seeking a secular career. we added some comedy so there are some comedic moment and some great music in it, incredible music. we have people like celo green in it. great music of course by jordan sparks and that together with

whitney just creates a symphony as it relates to music as well as cinematography. >> this is will cain. did you happen to make any or need to make any changes to the film after whitney died? >> well, we had shot all of the scenes and we were in post editing so we didn't have to do anything other than develop post editing and the things we would normally do and, quite frankly, whitney did such af amazing job and was so professional on the set there wasn't a whole lot of enhancement we had to do, just the normal things you would do at the end of the shooting of a movie. >> i would imagine as you walk down the red carpet, it's going to be tough because the red carpet is a big event, people going crazy, but you're missing the -- a big part of the film. that would have to be challenging for you, i would think. >> it is challenging. even looking at the film it's heart touching when you realize whitney is no longer with us. there's synergy between things

that happen in the movie and things that happen in her life. and there's a kiss good-bye that's seen in the movie that is almost eerie because it is so reminiscent of the fact that she is such a tremendous talent that has been taken away from us and we get to see her say good-bye in the film in a way that i think helps to give us some degree of closure to a long legacy of great music that she provided to us. >> the film opens on friday. can i take my kids to that? can i take my kids to that? they're 11 and 10? >> it has a pg-13 rating. it's a good movie. >> the producer says it's okay. >> he's a bishop. i'm thinking he knows what i'm asking. thank you. nice to see you as always. >> i don't think they'll run out the theater. it's very entertaining. >> good, good. good luck with it.

look i looking forward to seeing it. thank you. still ahead this morning, are the new vp pick, paul ryan, ready to hit the road. how does he change the race for the white house? we'll explore that question straight ahead. meantime, no surprise to see democrats sharpening their knives, getting ready to go on the attack. we'll talk to dnc chairwoman debbie wasserman schultz. you know, ronny... folks who save hundreds of dollars by switching to geico sure are happy. and how happy are they jimmy? i'd say happier than a bodybuilder directing traffic. he does look happy. get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. check out the latest collection of snacks from lean cuisine. creamy spinach artichoke dip, crispy garlic chicken spring rolls. they're this season's must-have accessory. lean cuisine. be culinary chic.

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mitt romney's new running mate paul ryan on the road drawing huge crowds. the democrats are pouncing on the pick, blasting ryan's stance on taxes and spending and entitlement programs. and it's on to rio, a musical farewell to the olympic games. rio is next getting ready for 2016. picabo street will stop by. virginia governor bob mcdonnell will join us and debbie wasserman schultz as well as ari fleischer is also joining us. it's monday, august 13th and "starting point" begins right now. welcome, everybody. introing our team, richard is a writer for the new yorker.com. a washington correspondent for the new yorker.

will cain. john berman brings us the news. i'm surrounded by a bevy of handsome men. what a great way to come back from vacation. more, more. our "starting point" this morning, 36 hours at each other's side, they sound like a couple. mitt romney, his new running mate. they're splitting up and will go their separate ways. he says he is very happy with his new teammate and ryan seems honored by his new role. at one point he was tearing up with emotion yesterday. that was at a stop in wisconsin. and it surely sounds like he is ready for a fight. here is what he said. >> going to help him win this race so we can do it for the american people. we're going to split up more often than not and double our efforts. so, to me, this is -- it was one against two for a while and now two against two. we'll redouble our efforts and bring a message to the country. here is how you get the country back on track. >> president obama leaves chicago to kick off a three-day bus tour across iowa. vice president biden has a campaign event in durham, north

carolina. they, too, are splitting up. today ryan will make his first solo appearance as romney's running mate at the iowa state fair in des moines while romney's bus tour will make two stops in the state of florida. all that brings us to cnn's national political correspondent jim acosta in st. augustine. we hear how it sounds. >> reporter: yeah, that's right. i didn't bring my guitar with me this morning, soledad, so i'm going to have to do the best that i can over the music here. they are getting into a festive mood here in st. augustine, florida. the romney campaign is making a shift from the running mate to the runner-ups you might say this morning. paul ryan is off to iowa. mitt romney is here in florida but will be joined on stage behind me in a few moments from now by marco rubio who is said to have been very high on that vice presidential selection list for the romney campaign. he'll also be with mitt romney later on today in little havana down in miami. i will tell you that the romney campaign is facing some questions this morning about the

ryan budget plan that i know you've been talking about all morning long. the obama campaign has put out a web video going after that budget and a video that features florida seniors saying that they're not going to do well if mitt romney becomes president and that ryan budget plan is put into action. i will tell you that after the romney campaign said yesterday that mitt romney is at the top of this ticket it, in reference to that ryan budget plan, they have said in the last 24 hours that if mitt romney were elected they would sign the ryan budget into law. one other note to point out, how the race to define paul ryan is on, last night we were able to confirm with the romney/ryan campaign that paul ryan would be releasing two years of his own tax returns and making those public. they say as soon as they're ready to be released. soledad? >> one has to imagine they're ready since he had to turn a bunch of them over while being vetted. jim acosta, you can continue to

rock out. >> 8:00 in the morning. that is -- you are making a statement, mitt romney, in st. augustine. >> rocking out at 8:05. to bob mcdonnell, he is the republican governor of the state of havevirginia, the chair of republican governors association. he's also a romney campaign surrogate. he introduced mitt romney on saturday. brought paul ryan on to the stae to make his debut. you were very, very, very fired up. clearly you are excited about the pick. even though you were talked about as being someone who potentially could be on the ticket yourself. why do you like ryan as a pick? >> the biggest problems facing the country have to do with a $16 trillion national debt and a crushing unemployment rate that's affecting the middle class. and so paul ryan is the guy who understands the federal budget perhaps better than anybody and along with mitt romney has the right ideas and, soledad, look, we can't afford this anymore. we have to make tough choices. we have to reform medicaid and medicare if we're going to get

the country back on track. i think he's the right guy and i was pretty fired up in norfolk on saturday. >> very fired up. i don't even think it was pretty fired up. they were very fired up on saturday. let's assume that people who are strongly into the gop are going to go with romney/ryan. there's a 4% to 8% chunk that's undecided and i assume that's where some of the independents lie. when you ask those independents about what they think of paul ryan, here is what they say. 27% have the favorable opinion. 22% unfavorable. 15% no opinion at all. never heard of him is 36% and that moves the medicare and budget conversations right to the forefront of defining who paul ryan is. is that good for you or is that bad for you? >> well, this is a charismatic young leader i think when they get to know him the next couple of weeks -- keep in mind we have our convention in two weeks that will introduce mitt romney and paul ryan in a new, refreshing

way to the american people. they get to see the honesty of these two when it comes to addressing the problems that face the country. when they look at what they're going to say about this crushing debt and the unemployment rate and how they are going to get the middle class back on track to create new jobs. i think they'll like what they have to say because these are two serious candidates that will focus on the issues people care about and not some of the side issues the other side has been talking about. >> if you look at a poll, here is a question. cnn/orc poll the first week in august. romney cares about the rich and 64% agreed with that statement, the middle class 27% agreed, the poor only 2%. and some of that, i think, is success from the democrats who have been messaging hard on that. how is a paul ryan pick -- how does a paul ryan pick help you with that when you look especially at the budget which, you know, looks really closely and rips out a lot of the

entitlement spending which will affect the middle class. i think that could be potentially a big problem, wouldn't it? >> well, but first you have to look at leadership. i mean, this president has had no budget for 3 1/2 years. the president's budget would have increased the debt to $25 trillion by 2021. he couldn't get one vote for it in the united states congress. i mean, soledad, we are in a difficult time for the greatest country on earth and the president is talking about issues that really don't resonate with the people. and i think what paul ryan brings to the ticket is now a serious conversation with about debt, taxes, spending, energy, entitlement reform. these are the things that will determine what kind of country we have for our kids and our grandkids. they need to be talked about and paul ryan is a good guy to do it. so i think independent voters when they realize that we have these serious problems will say, yes, we do need to make some changes and this is the team to do it because the status quo with biden and obama is

unacceptable. >> governor bob mcdonnell is a republican from virginia. nice to see you, sir. thank you for talking with us about that. will cain, i want to ask you a question before we move on. the governor just said it brings up a serious conversation about debt, entitlement reform. i think that is that piece everyone talks about. he's courageous and he's gutsy. on the other hand those things might be reamly terrible to take on if you're talking about the overwhelming number of people who get entitlements. it's a huge percentage of americans, many of them middle class. >> that's right. i think i told you a minute ago that i think the selection of paul ryan is a sign of leadership. paul ryan has been a leader on many issues. the public doesn't want to hear about entitlement reform. now we'll find out in the next three months if they're willing to listen to ideas to reform those entitlements. it would be nice, also, i would suggest, if president barack obama and joe biden, put forward their alternative plans as well. the one argument that is untenable, that is not possible, continue these as they are. that's simply not the argument

that's fair. >> it's amazing that we agree. we agree on -- i agree with everything he just said. i think this will become -- >> write down this moment in time. >> i think the selection does show a lot of leadership. i think it shows he figured out he can't win by default but i think that it will make the election more a vision election, the election will be about whose vision going forward is best. but i think democrats will win. i think that's what the democrats are convinced of. >> i don't understand why romney has taken the focus off of the economy. what gets the economy moving and jobs and on to these very narrow fiscal issues which are very important. >> i think they scare people. medicare, a conversation about however you're going to reform -- that's what people don't talk about because it's the third rail and it makes everybody think i want to keep what i have even if it's 0 years and even if the country cannot afford it, people don't want to talk about it. >> ryan has done more than talk with about it. a very specific plan which changes the entire program and

puts all of the burden back on working class people who are needy. ryan's plan is to cut taxes on the rich and to shift more of the burden to needy americans. i mean, that's what we're going to hear. >> i disagree with that. >> the agreement ended right there. we're going to take a break. >> we had a quick moment. still ahead, the party crashing buzz. mitt romney touring some key swing states. democrats also hitting the road on a bus of their own, attacking the governor's economic plans. debbie wasserman schultz will join us up next live and a senior has a computer program to help students register for fall classes faster. school has pulled the plug because it's wildly successful. and they punished him. we'll tell you what happened there. there are a lot of warning lights

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welcome back to "starting point. "mitt romney announced congressman paul ryan will be his running mate, democrats wasting no time attacking ryan. the website for the democratic national committee now says, quote, he could be a heartbeat from the presidency. get the facts on paul ryan and the obama campaign has a new ad out and it looks like this. >> he's going to help the wealthiest americans. >> someone else needs to protect us and that's going to be our president. >> i was going to say, congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz is in her home state of florida which is where the dnc

is shadowing the romney campaign. nice to see you. thanks for being with us. here is a list of, from what i can recall from the republicans why they love paul ryan and we had a couple on to talk about it, it appeals to the base, he's young. they call him a truth teller. he gives a great speech. he's a genuine conservative and has a great personal story about his father who died as a teenager and had to help pull the family up from the boot straps. i can go on or you can jump in and tell me why you disagree. >> well, what makes severely conservatively extreme republicans delighted makes seniors here in my home state of florida really gravely concerned and rightfully so as well as the middle class because mitt romney's full embrace of the ryan budget by actually nominating and selecting its author and architect to be his running mate really spells disaster for the middle class, spells disaster for seniors

because mitt romney and paul ryan both want to end medicare as we know it. they both want to shred the safety net that is the medicare health care safety net for seniors that's been in place for more than 50 years that would add more than $6,000 in premiums under paul ryan's proposal that mitt romney has embraced to seniors premiums in medicare and that would really force them choosing between medicine and meals and had them choosing between health care and paying their rent and literally surviving. it's unacceptable. it's devastating and is another clear picture where mitt romney stands. >> some people might say that last portion right there is where you started getting very dramatic. picking between food and having to pay for your medications which is circumstances for sol people -- >> let's go back -- no, no, no, there's nothing dramatic about it. if you go back to before it was a safety net for our seniors, you had seniors who were not able to pay for their own health care needs, whose children went

medically bankrupt trying to care for them. and so what we did, we adopted medicare because we knew when seniors reached after years of working a point at which they were no longer going to be able to afford their basic health care costs, we had a safety net in place, medicare, that is a floor we're not going to allow. >> on " 0 minutes" and paul ryan in his interview spoke about his mother who is one of those very seniors, right? and here is what he said. >> explain florida. our point is we need to preserve their benefits because government promises them in order to make sure we can do that, you must for those of us younger. we think the reforms are good reforms. >> so, really, for someone like his mother, for those seniors in florida you see right now, their plan is not going to be touched, right? it's people 55 and younger. >> well, both my parents are on medicare and live in florida,

too. i can tell you that my parents and the tens of thousands of seniors that i represent are deeply concerned that paul ryan and mitt romney want to turn medicare into a voucher program. want to end the guarantee. there's going to be a safety net we're not going to allow them to fall. they embrace ending that guarantee. paul ryan is the architect of ending it. his plan would increase the premiums for seniors by more than $6,000. and, as a result, when the voucher is provided and it doesn't amount to as much as the cost of a private health care plan, a senior would have to make choice that is would be very, very challenging and that's the guarantee we said seniors would no longer have to worry about. >> fox news on sunday, you were interviewed and you were being asked about this priorities usa

superpac ad and they asked you should the democrats be releasing an ad that accuses a presidential candidate through inference of being responsible for a woman's death, and you said that's not a democratic ad. it's a superpac ad. and then he asked you, do you deny that they're democrats, and you said this. i have no idea the political affiliation of folks who are associated with that superpac. really? >> soledad, of course i know the priorities of the usa superpac is a democratic affiliate d superpac. the point i was trying to make that ad was produced by a separate organization, an organization that we don't coordinate with, that we have nothing to do with. and the bottom line of that ad, it was making the point and the individual in the ad was making the point that mitt romney's claim to fame is that he had private sector experience.

his private secotor experience bankrupted companies. it laid people off and cut their benefits and that had an impact on families like that gentleman's and that's the point the ad is trying to make and i think it's a valid one. people need to consider when they're looking at the choice between barack obama and mitt romney. >> congressman debbie wasserman schultz joining us, democrat from the state of florida, which is where she is this morning. nice to see you. thank you for talking with us. appreciate it. >> always great to be with you. our tough call is straight ahead. a florida university punishing a student who create add service that helps students register for class and then they announced they've it got their own version ripping off his idea. is that fair? our tough call this morning. [ barks ] beneful playful life is made with energy-packed wholesome grains... and real beef and egg. to help you put more play in your day.

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our tough call this morning is a senior at the university of central florida said he wanted to help fellow students register for classes so created an app, of course he did, sends a text message to students whenever a class that they want opens up. but ucf busted tim arnold six days after the site went online saying he misused his access to the school's server and was tying up the network and, by the way, he had a great idea they didn't execute on so they seem to be mad about that, too. they blocked his site and put him on academic probation and they have rolled out their own new and improved registration process similar to ar thold's. they acknowledge arnold's outside site accelerated the development of their version. so they're like, what a brilliant eidea. you get -- >> not a tough call. >> they're punishing him now but in ten years they'll be asking

him for money when he's worth $1 billion. >> he had to give up his role as treasurer because of his academic probation. so doing that and at the same time this is what they said, they encourage and applaud innovation and entrepreneurship, but -- >> not really. >> it wasn't about innovation. it was about the execution. >> you like this story. >> i do. >> why isn't he on? >> let's bring him on. >> put him on the cnn technology team. >> maybe he could keep creating apps. >> bill gates left college early. >> see, see, now you're talking. still ahead on "starting point" a massive monsoon dust storm is blowing through the phoenix area. state officials say they're worried about some of the serious health problems it might cause. paul ryan putting a charge into his party's conservative base. can he impact the outcome of the election? we're going to talk about that

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[ all ] i'm with scottrade. welcome back to "starting point." is mitt romney's vp pick a game changer? in just a few moments we'll talk to ari fleischer, a cnn political contributor, a former press secretary to george w. bush. he'll be joining us to talk about that. first to 0 john berman with an update on the top stories. good morning. we have some big news overseas and here at home. more than 5,000 acres have be been scorched by two wildfires in northern california. one of them is forcing dozens of families to evacuate their homes in clear lake. that's about 100 miles north of san francisco. more than 200 firefighters are on the scene. officials say it could be at least another week before everything is under control. a giant wind and dust storm swept through arizona and a cnn ireporter caught these really stunning time lapse images of the phoenix area. experts say more and more of

these storms have been rolling through. this one brought high winds, as high as 40 miles an hour. billy graham is alert and in good spirits this morning. niece a north carolina hospital battling a pulmonary infection believed to be bronchitis. he developed a slight fever. graham's spokesman says no date has been set for his discharge. last year he was hospitalized for pneumonia. overseas big changes in egypt. president morsy is forcing several out and has is giving himself broad powers. the declaration gives him a key role in drafting the new constitution. that is news being watched closely in the state department. >> john, thank you. the newest member of the romney ticket wasting no time, congressman paul ryan will be campaigning in the swing state of iowa today.

democrats already taking the opportunity to focus on the sunshine state saying that ryan's proposed budget plan would hurt people there using medicare. of course elderly populations in the state of florida 0, that's why that message could resonate. brings to us ari fleischer, a cnn political contributor, was press secretary to george w. bush. he's also an unpaid occasional communication adviser to the romney campaign. when they call, you take their calls and give them some advice. what do you make of this pick? what do you think? >> well, i love it. i think what it does for mitt romney, it helps define what his top priority is. his top priority is fiscal. it's the economic crisis this country is in. that's what vice presidential selections tend to do for presidential nominees. they define what is most important to them. this is that type of statement for mitt romney and it's a welcome one from a conservative point of view. >> does it come with risks, though? you talk about fiscal. if you look at medicare, you're talking about 2023 but it's fiscal but down the road a bit.

if you look at the budget there are clearly areas the democrats are looking at this as an opportunity to try to hammer the romney/ryan plan together and, you know, use some of those polling stats on their sense of mitt romney caring about the rich i think was a question the polls asked. 64% said that was a problem. >> of course it comes with risks. this is exactly the type of risk that we should be talking about in the election, the future of our country. as governor of indiana, the red menace is all the red ink our government is leaving. are we going to confront those issues head-on and do something about trillion dollar deficits as far as the eye can see which are coming from wheat growth and then overspending on the nation's entitlement programs, medicare and medicaid included, or because it has political risk. that's why i think it was a smart decision by mitt romney. he's shown that he is interested in governing in a serious fashion and not making it a campaign of small issues and minor issues or personal issues.

the country needs to have a debate because the country is at risk. >> it's john berman here, one of the things mitt romney likes to say if you're trying to create jobs it helps to have had one. and what he's saying with that is barack obama has been in government his whole life, are he's never had a job in the private sector. paul ryan hasn't either. were you staffers with paul ryan on capitol hill in the '90s. he really never worked in the private sector at all. does this fight the jobs message that mitt romney is trying to deliver? >> no, john, because i don't think vote remembers going to go to the polls and say i'm veiting for the biography of the vice presidential candidate. the broader point mitt romney is making there is you need to have a president and people around the president who understands how private sectors work. and i think when you look at mitt romney's background and when you look at mitt romney's proposals and look at paul ryan's ideas, they focus on growth. barack obama, you didn't build it. the private sector is doing just fine. he doesn't seem to focus on economic growth from the private sector as more as he focuses on

fairness and redistribution of income. that's, again, a good, healthy debate to have. i'm not worried about the biographical issue. >> let me ask a quick question about all the advisers will tell you, number one, do no harm with your vp pick and, number two, you're trying to pick somebody who is going to get something for you. so let's talk about what paul ryan gets you geographically. and i think we have a graphic of this. clearly the state of wisconsin, although i think that some people will argue over whether or not outside of his own district that he won he's able to leverage some support. he went to college in ohio so that could potentially get you something there. >> a little bit of a stretch. >> i'm just throwing out what people say. give me a break here. is this the wishful thinking list? i'll help you with that. indiana, illinois, iowa,

missouri also saying like these shock waves could be sent. >> he was scheduled to be on vacation in colorado. >> there you go. a key swing state. >> just trying to give a little -- >> you really think this will change the nature of the discussion? you think this will mean we are going to have a debate in this country the next several months about the ryan budget and what it would mean for the country? >> i think that's mitt romney's intention. he's making his priority reform, fiscal reform, taking straight on, head on. >> did voters want that? >> i'm not a big believer in the demographics of the selection. john edwards didn't deliver north carolina for john kerry. i'm dubious that people really vote much on the basis of where the vice president is from or he can deliver an ethnic group. the race does settle down quickly when the selection goes right.

obama vs. romney. the only thing about the ryan selection is his district went for barack obama and in a close election in the state of wisconsin if you flip it to a district that goes for romney, can that move the state? maybe. i don't think you pick on the basis of geography. >> nice to see you that early. appreciate it. thanks. still ahead on "starting point" from school to prison. one county is accused of cramming students into cells, using mace as punishment even for minor infractions like talking too much. we'll tell but that school. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ every mom needs a little helper.

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welcome back, everybody. a school in meridian, mississippi, is under fire for the way it put into effect its disciplinary actions. students in the predominantly black school being incarcerated for minor infractions including dress code, using profanity and according it to a probe listed a number of things saying they were crammed into small, filthy cells, tormented with the use of mace as punishment for even the most minor infractions like talking too much or failing to sit in the back of their cells. civil rights investigators claim that the water dale county youth court, meridian police department and the mississippi division of youth services operated, quote, a school to prison pipeline whereby children arrested in local schools became entangled in a cycle of incarceration without substantive and procedural protections required by the u.s. constitution. basically being arrested without probable cause and failing to have due process in court. the town itself denying any wrongdoing despite the findings

from the department of justice. the federal agency is giving local officials 60 days to negotiate the end -- an end of the constitutional violations or face a federal lawsuit. all of that brings us to dr. steve perry, cnm education contributor, founder of capital prep school in connecticut. this is such a shock. even in the scheme of shocking things when you hear about schools, this one, the school-to-prison pipeline, they weren't joking about that. >> reporter: they weren't. and what's most important, soledad, is the people who supposedly run this school have completely lost control. and as a result they're calling the police in to take care of what should be simple acts that children do. if the kids cussed or if the kids had a dress code violation, are we really saying the next step is it to call the police? and then we're going to continue to employ you as an administrator in our community,

employ you as a teacher in our community? the sad part about this is even though the justice department has found issue with what's happening in meridian county, the children are the ones who will have to go back to this horrible academic setting. i use academic very lightly. >> so let's talk about race and all of this as a factor because the fact it's a predominantly black school is not incident al to the story. >> reporter: no, not at all. we're having this conversation because it's about black kids. because we have somehow so criminalized the behaviors of african-americans that it goes all the way down to the littlest of us. some of these children are very young. some of the crimes they're being accused of are just being kids. but because they're being kids who are african-american it seems to be acceptable in this particular place to criminalize it to the extent that you now need to call the police. we have a school with 700 children.

we called the police twice last year. twice. we're an your bap school. we called twice. this is not normal behavior. it's disgusting, reprehensible, and every single child in the school needs to be given the opportunity to go to another school because the people who are offensive are the ones, to me, who are calling the police for actions that they should be taking care of themselves as skilled educators. >> and if they can't they shouldn't be in the job, i would imagine. nice to see you. nice to chat with you. still ahead, must willing their way through the mud, the water, the fox holes, all while battling other celebrities to win. we're talking about a new show. it's a military themed reality show called "stars earn stripes." and one of the contenders is olympic gold medal skier picabo street. ♪

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welcome back. i'm john berman with a quick look at the top stories right now. the mars rover curiosity is getting what nasa calls a brain transplant happening from 350 million miles away and if anything goes wrong it could be the last time nasa has contact with it. the upgrade should be wrapped up later today, let's hope. the "bourne legacy" took in $43 million in ticket sales. the comedy "the campaign" came in second. "the dark knight rises" was knocked to third. other entertainment news, jennifer aniston is heading down the aisle again. she is engaged to actor justin t

theroux. they have been dating more than a year now. he proposed to aniston and his birthday last friday so happy birthday. >> i'm so happy for her. i am. i follow that a little bit. she deserves a great guy. >> she is nice. i like her. >> me, too. >> i'm still stuck on the mars rover upgrade. the moment, are you sure you want to do this? the app update of the mars rover is important. >> it lasted a week? already needing an upgrade. picabo street has a new gig and it looks awesome. a new reality series called "stars earn stripes." they are paired with members of the armed forces taking on military style challenges for charity. here is a little clip. >> i'm intimidated at this point. they are tough. they are intense looking. they are serious. you start wondering about yourself, did i come in here ready? am i in good enough shape? are they going to put me through

something i'm not ready for, that i can't handle? >> are you in good muff shape, probably not. picabo street joins us from atlanta. so great to see you. we were talking about this earlier. this show looks awesome. why did you want to do this? and explain the whole premise. >> it was so great. it was an awesome experience. the reason that i wanted to do it is because i'm very patriotic and i am a huge supporter of the military. i have a bunch of family enlisted and i just wanted to take an opportunity to jump up and down and scream at the top of my lungs, thank you, thank you, thank you for your service. it's been an amazing journey and basically the concept is i'm paired up with a military operative. he teaches me as much as he can as quickly as he can and then we're thrown into a mission style competition where we're running and we're crawling and we're shooting and we're jumping and we're having to work together as a team and we're really struggling to pull it off and we all have to work together

as a team. >> was there anything -- and you're a phenomenal athlete. >> thank you. >> and yet is there anything in all the training that you've done that was helpful in the military mission that you were trying to get through? >> i think the thing that i was digging the deepest for was that old tenacity that i used to have when i ski raced and i saw a lot of that personality surface again in me and really had to deal with it, get it in check, get organized. it's not -- it hasn't been on the forefront for me for quite some time now. yeah, we all really dug deep. we went through a lot of emotional changes. i think the emotional roller coaster was bigger than any of the others we were on. all in all an amazing experience. >> this is will cain. we've been talking about the show. we're pretty excited and from everything we've read, todd palin, sarah palin's husband, seems to be the real star as far as action heroes go inside this cast. who is particularly terrible? who surprised you about how bad they were at these missions? >> you know, that's the thing

that really surprised all of us is none of us were. there were points we felt, oh, no, we're really going to struggle, but there are elements in each one of the missions that really challenge each one of us and so we all kind of really hit it and miss it during the show. and palin does, too. he's his own biggest critic and he will come out of the show saying, i shot horribly, where he didn't but in his own mind he did. so he was amazing. everyone was really amazing. there was a point in the show where every single person was on the brink of breaking down and had to get it together. >> i'm dying to see this. i am telling you. >> it is so good. >> i heard laila ali was crying. >> lee la is afraid of heights. >> i didn't know that. >> she fully broke down. >> amazing. picabo, we're excited about your show. thank you for coming on. looking forward to it. >> thanks, soledad. >> up first, this week's "cnn hero." take a look. i was adopted and i felt

that i wanted to adopt a kid that needed a home. my son was in foster care for four years. from the minute michael and i met i knew right away that we were going to be a family. i thought everything was going great but after a month michael was removed from my house. i was instantly cut off from him. >> finding a family for that child, it's nothing short of a miracle. we need to get ready for the horses. and sometimes families are faced with barriers because of a myth or a misunderstanding causing the kids to stay in the foster care system longer. my name is david wing-kovarik. i adopted from the foster system. i help others realize their dream. we're working together with you

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"end point" this morning, who wants to start? >> i'll start. and i think the ryan pick is going to look good for a little while. there are going to be bigger crowds. romney will be a bigger candidate. come october he's going to wish he picked portman. >> so sarah palin all over again. >> no, no, no. looks great in the beginning and then turns out to be not so good. >> someone said to me paul ryan, sarah palin with brains and charm. >> on that note i will say in ten seconds or less the one thing that you haven't heard anything about the last two days is vetting. there's no vetting issue here with paul ryan. this is a pick everyone thinks is responsible. >> 14 years in