talking about it. hello, everyone. ahead in the "newsroom," it's beginning to look a lot like november. the battleground blitz is in full force. iowa, ohio, virginia, colorado, just some of the turf being covered. and that's just today. plus, they may have been passed up for vp. but don't feel bad for new jersey governor chris christie or florida senator marco rubio. some primetime consolation prizes are headed their way. also -- >> he is saying you want to go back and drive faster through the intersection because there's a sniper. >> dodging bullets and taking cover. a cnn reporter takes us along his daring trek inside syria's most dangerous area. and how facebook could get you fired. you might want to watch what you like because someone could be watching you.

and good morning and thank you for joining us. i'm deborah ferric in today for carol costello. snie the countdown is on. 85 days until election day. and both sides are crisscrossing the country looking for votes. take a look at this map. this is where they are today. president obama continues touring in iowa. mitt romney is stumping in ohio. vice president joe biden is in virginia, and congressman paul ryan will look to rally votes in colorado and nevada. republican star chris christie getting the spotlight on one of the party's biggest nights. the new jersey governor has now been tapped to deliver the keynote address at the republican national convention in tampa later this month. he was considering his own presidential run, but instead backed romney. the romney camp and the republican national committee decides the key speakers at the rnc. well, he was on the vp list but did not get the nod.

instead, florida senator marco rubio will be introducing mitt romney on the final night of the republican national convention. rubio is also campaigning for the gop ticket. he spent yesterday on the romney bus with the prumptive gop nominee touring florida. rubio was warning voters about the need to save medicare before it's too late. >> just like paul ryan's mom is on medicare, so is mine. both of our moms are on medicare here in florida. and not to protect medicare. i want to save it. it's going bankrupt. the only way to save it is to come up with a solution that allows our parents and grandparents to see no changes to their medicare but people like me and paul ryan, our medicare will look different. i'm willing to do that for myself so that current beneficiaries, retirees, people like my mom, people like his mom, don't have to see any changing in their medicare. i think it's an important issue. >> and when asked why he was not picked as mitt romney's running mate, rubio simply said that romney made the right choice. as for the republican presidential hopeful, his bus

tour rolls on. today, romney travels the swing state of ohio. ever sinc his bus tour began this wednesday, the romney campaign has been looking to rally support for the gop ticket. monday in miami, he urged voters to think about their bottom line. >> if you think jobs are plentiful, if you think home values are good, if you think your health care needs to be taken over by the government, why, you know the person to vote for, and that's barack obama. but if you want someone -- if you want someone who will get good jobs and rising wages again and rising home values and finally get america on track to have fiscal sanity, then i'm the purpose that shou person that should be the next president of the united states. >> he will wrap up his bus tour with stops in north carolina tomorrow. now back to president obama and his three-day tour of iowa. let's check in with brianna keilar at the white house.

you need 270 electoral votes to win tpresidency. >> you can tell where the president is spending his three days. he is on his second of three days on this bus tour with several stops throughout iowa. he won the state in 2008. and even though it doesn't have a lot of electoral votes, it's really shaped up to be a battle ground state. and you'll notice that paul ryan was also there yesterday. it's also got a symbolic aspect for president obama because it was the caucuses that really gave him the momentum in that primary battle in 2008 that ultimately propelled him towards the presidency, deb. >> how interesting. really each side right now is in full attack mode. yesterday, the president invoked paul ryan's name in connection with the failed farm bill. is this personal? >> you know, i would not say this is personal. i would say that this is political. i don't think that there is personal animosity between president obama and paul ryan. but president obama certainly

took the opportunity to make his case and take this hit against a republican member of the house of representatives. when the house left for august recess, they were unable -- they failed to pass a bill for drought relief, which as you know is huge right now because of all of the farmers, allof the cattle ranchers who are suffering through this terrible drought in the midwest. and ryan is someone who is supposed to help the romney ticket in the midwest. president obama certainly aimed right there, deb. >> all right. and polls are showing right now that the ryan pick hasn't exactly swayed independent voters. at what point does team obama redirect its aim back at mr. romney? or now are the two, romney and ryan, simply inseparable? >> i think there is an element of romney and ryan being inseparable. and this was an election that was shaping up to be very of a referendum on president obama and the economy. and you saw the main strategy of the obama campaign to just portray mitt romney as out of touch, as this rich guy who

doesn't understand what middle class americans are dealing with. i think you're going to see that continuing to happen. but the ryan element, and democrats, were of course salivating over this when paul ryan was picked. they love that medicare has now been introduced into this because of paul ryan's plan for entitlement reform and tax reform that includes changing medicare into a voucher system. medicare referred to often as the third rail of politics. and this is definitely an opportunity that president obama will take to hit paul ryan and to hit mitt romney for his support of the ryan plan. this will keep going until election day, deb. >> it is going to be really interesting to watch. thank you so much. well, it started with an eviction notice. now people in college station, texas, are mourning three people killed in a half-hour shootout. police say a sheriff's deputy went to a house near texas a&m university to deliver an eviction notice. a man opened fire on the deputy. police responded. when the firing ended, the

gunman, deputy, and a bystander were dead. four others were injured. constable brian bachmann had been a sheriff's deputy since 1993. >> he was a pillar of this community. and it's sad. and tragic. that we've lost him. >> he was just a really good person. always went out of his way to help everyone. >> it's a great loss for our community and a senseless tragedy. >> and the suspect has been identified as thomas caffall. his mother said he had been ill. and this morning, a former member of syria's embattled government is giving new hope to rebels. syria's former prime minister says the regime is collapsing. one defector says that even throw rebels are struggling with dire weapons shortage, their victory is within reach. >> i can confirm to you given my experience and the position that i had that the regime's morale,

economy, and military has completely collapsed, and is only in control of no more than 30% of syrian lands. >> still suffering in syria is far from over, and the u.n. says 2 million people have been affected by the civil war. more than 1 million people internally displaced. aleppo is the country's largest city and has been under siege for weeks. ben wideman and his team has a rare look at the inside of the war zone. >> reporter: we made it. we left our safe house at 11:00 in the morning. now it's 10 minutes past 10:00 at night and we finally made it to aleppo. all right.

we're now going in the direction of salahadin, where all the fighting has taken place. what we're going to do is go to the mushhud neighborhood, which is adjacent to sahahadin. and there we'll make our way slowly and cautiously towards salahadin, which the rebels say they have largely retaken. but, you know, if you have to take everything they say, everyone says, with a great big sack of salt. [ speaking in a foreign language ] >> he is saying at the intersection, go faster. ok. we're going through an intersection where he says to drive fast. so have to get on the gear.

[ speaking in a foreign language ] >> just put your foot down, mate. >> we're just going through this intersection. >> keep going. >> ok. now we're good. we're good. it was just that road here. [ speaking in a foreign language ] >> ok. he is saying here there's a sniper that's shooting. [ speaking in a foreign language ] >> reporter: ok. he is saying you want to go back and drive faster through the intersection because there's a sniper. he said get down.

get down. get down. >> hit the deck. that's all right. you're fine. come down. just get down. even if it's uncomfortable, just get down. >> how are you going to do it? >> we're off. >> all right. >> ok. we made it past that one. ok. well, maybe now is a good time to get out, get our bearings. what are you doing, karim?

ok. he's going to take us between the buildings. probably will park the car there. >> amazing. well, coming up in the next hour of "cnn newsroom," more of ben's report from syria including a show of kindness in a war zone. and they are off and running together. but is mitt romney running away from paul ryan's budget plan? we'll talk with a senior romney adviser to find out. [ "human" by the human league playing ] humans. we mean well, but we're imperfect creatures living in a beautifully imperfect world. it's amazing we've made it this far. maybe it's because when one of us messes up, someone else comes along to help out. that's the thing about humans. when things are at their worst, we're at our best. see how at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility.

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hello, everyone. i'm deborah ferric checking our top stories now. a wildfire in washington state is less than a full day old, yet already threatens some 100 homes. evacuations are underway about 80 miles southeast of seattle. fire crews are calling reinforcements in. firefighters in northern california battling two wildfires. some residents in lake county, about 100 miles north of san francisco, have been forced from their homes. nasa's separate key test of the unmanned experimental

aircraft called the waverider. it will be taken 50,000 feet over the pacific and then detach from the b-52 bomber's wing and hit speeds of up to 3,200 miles per hour. luxury cars didn't fare well in crash tests involving front corner impacts. only the acura tl and volvo s-60 earned good ratings in the test. the infiniti g ranked ok. you would think that the race for president would be about obama versus romney, but in many ways it almost seems like it's romney versus ryan. we're talking about their budget plans. and earlier, romney endorsed ryan's but now he and his surrogates are backing away from the controversial plan. listen to the exchange between soledad o'brien and romney supporter john sununu.

>> he said this. on march 20, in chicago, i'm very supportive of the ryan budget plan. he says, i think it would be marvelous if the senate were to pick up paul ryan's budget and adopt it and pass it along to the president. that sounds like a lot of support. am i wrong? >> it's support for the concepts that are in the ryan plan. but mitt romney for six months has had on the table his package, his plan, and his approach for dealing with medicare. and if all you want to do is keep repeating the garbage that comes out of the white house, then you've got a problem. >> well, joining us now is tara wall, communications adviser for the romney campaign. and, tara, let's set the record straight, ok? john sununu says that romney's plan has been out for six months. how does it differ substantially from paul ryan's budget? let's start with medicare. how does it differ? >> i would say first and foremost that this ticket is unified.

it is a unified ticket. i think with any ticket and any personality you have differences. you have different viewpoints and ways of handling things. but certainly they are 100% on the same page and on the same path relative to saying that we have to reform medicare. we have to reform the system because it's not sustainable. it's not going to be there period. i think at the end of the day, folks can talk about all these differences and similarities and all of that. the main thing is, both romney and ryan acknowledge and recognize the fact that we have to do something about medicare. we have to do something about entitlements and reforming the system and ensuring that our seniors are taken care of. and that this country is sustainable from a debt and fiscal standpoint. the bottom line -- >> i understand that. >> but the bottom line is that i think probably the big -- one of the things that the governor has talked about early on was making sure obviously that the folks 55 and over, that we will not touch

anything -- nothing will be changed for them at all. but offering options like vouchers and things like that and opportunities for folks to look at this from a common sense approach that will help to alleviate our debt and our burden on americans to start solving problems for this. something that this administration has yet to do. so i think there's boldness in that. and i think again there's unity with this ticket relative to going forward -- >> but, tara, hold on one second. i do understand there's unity. but you say both ryan and romney are intent on medicare reform. well, arguably so is president obama. so everybody agrees about that. that something's got to be done. but i guess the question is, when you say it seems that paul ryan is saying that medicare will not be touched for those over 55. it's the younger generation, like me and you, we're the ones who are going to be affected by that. but that's what paul ryan is saying. so is mitt romney -- i'm sorry,

is mitt romney saying something different? has he separated himself on that? or are they hand in hand? >> one thing president obama is not talking about is our generation. i would hope we start talking about what our generation needs to do to address this and not leaving debt to future generations. i would hope that our generation does not do that. and i think that we -- that is what paul ryan is talking about. i think he brings a fresh air and experience and excitement to this ticket because he is talking about these things for our generation. and i think that makes it very real and very relevant to our generation. >> but here's what i'm asking. john sununu was very emphatic that paul ryan's plan is not mitt romney's plan, that mitt romney's plan is different. but what i'm hearing is you're simply repeating what paul ryan is saying. so i'm asking for voters, for folks who are watching, what are the fundamental differences so that if there is a distancing of the paul ryan plan, saying no, no, we have our own plan, what is that plan? that's where i'm confused. >> there's no confusion. i think that this is a -- this

is something that people are just kind of putting out there. there is no confusion. i frankly don't understand what the confusion is. the point is, you have a romney-ryan ticket, and you have great ideas about how we address this issue, and i think at the end of the day this will be a president romney's plan to addressing entitlement reform, debt reduction, and reforming medicaid. at the end of the day, that's what we should be -- we are talking about, what we should be talking about, and there are no differences relative to how we address this going forward with these two great men at the top of the ticket. >> ok. tara wall in washington, communications adviser for the romney campaign. thank you so much. we really appreciate your joining us today. >> thank you. well, she frustrated feminists, but in the '60s she gave millions of american women a voice they had never had before.

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well, she infuriated

feminists by saying things like good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everywhere. helen gurley brown helped define the sexual revolution in the 1960s with her book "sex and the single girl." for more than 30 years as the longtime editor of "cosmopolitan" magazine, she empowered women. her death yesterday underscored the role she played in the women's lib movement. alina cho is joining us from new york. this was a woman who was truly ahead of her time in many respects. >> in many respects. and she really was an icon. it's a word we throw around a lot in fashion, but any time you see a scantily clad woman on the head of a magazine with the headline sex you can thank helen gurley brown. remember when she wrote "sex and the single girl" in 1962, june cleaver was the ideal girl, the perfect wife, mother, and cook. what gurley brown did was talk about sex and lots of it. and she also told women it was ok to be unmarried and have sex. which was revolutionary at the

time. three years later in 1965, she became the editor of "cosmopolitan" magazine. she threw out the recipes for jell-o salad and replaced them with sex tips. she was that girl. the "cosmo" girl. >> i stopped working for a while to write books. but i was getting all this mail from a whole lot of constituents out there, because at the time there wasn't anybody giving advice to single girls. if you were having sex with a man, of any persuasion, you were supposed to go throw yourself in the grand canyon or put your head in the oven and get it over with. i just said that wasn't the case. single women were having a good sex life, probably better than their married friends. >> really? >> yes. and they weren't in bad trouble at all. so i'm getting so much mail. david said, why don't you start a magazine? we didn't know you couldn't do that. so we did it in a format and we got it to "cosmo" and they said

we could try the format on their old dying magazine. >> as you can see, gurley brown was a petite woman. about 5'4" and 100 pounds. she also said that she was five pounds over her ideal weight. meanwhile, she remained the editor of "cosmopolitan" magazine until 1997. 32 years. after she stepped down, she remained the editor of "cosmo's" international editions, and until her death she kept an office at hurst tower. now today, "cosmo" has 64 international editions. it is the number one selling women's magazine in the world. now hurst just released a statement this morning saying in part, helen gurley brown was the real deal. she was the most successful magazine editor in america, making "cosmopolitan" into the largest selling women's magazine in 64 countries. she had an empowering message for women that today continues to span the globe. and as luck would have it, i just got off the phone with the current editor of "cosmo," kate white, who said she was so authentic and a little bit

quirky in a way that makes people memorable and charismatic. she added, deb, that she only had the pleasure of having lunch with gurley brown once, but she wered very distinctly that she ate her salad with her fingers. and when she asked gurley brown why she did that, she said, because it's sexier. and that's exactly what kate white says made gurley brown distinctive and what made her stand out from the pack. deb? >> it really is amazing. i met her about a dozen years ago. what was so incredible she is such a strong and vivacious woman, so elegant, and yet so petite. you wonder how all of that energy fit into such a small elegant package. but she certainly is defined a generation. alina cho, thank you so much. >> you bet. well, be careful who or what you like on facebook. it could lead to big problems with your boss. one group of sheriff's deputies say they were fired because of it. we'll share their legal fight over the first amendment.

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stocks on wall street are set for a higher open today. alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange where the ringing of the opening bell happened just a couple of moments ago, and there was a little bit of star power down there ringing that bell. >> yeah, rob pattinson of "twilight" fame and more recently caught up in the cheating scandal. but he's not here to talk about that. he's here to talk about the opening of his movie that opens here in new york and l.a. on friday and then nationwide on august 24. and pattinson plays a financial

wiz kid and billionaire asset manager in this thriller as for the market, the dow is up about 45 points after a better than expected report on retail sales. sales in the u.s. rose in july for the first time in four months. also good news out of europe with france and germany reporting better than expected economic growth for the second quarter, although the overall eurozone economy shrank. we are also continuing to watch corn prices after the u.s.d.a. warned on friday of a massive slump in production because of the drought in the midwest. corn prices hit an all-time high last week climbing to almost $7 7 pnt /* /- -- $7.50 a bushel. consumers are feeling those rises prices at the gas pump. aren't you, deb? i know i am. >> no question about it. by the way, i still like robert pattinson from his role in harry potter. but that says more about the kind of movies i'm watching these days than it does about

robert pattinson. alison kosik, thank you so much. well, facebook and free speech are the focus of a battle brewing over your freedom of speech in social media. it begins with six sheriff's deputies who were fired for liking the pages of their boss's opponent's page. they sued over freedom of speech. but the judge said now. now facebook and the ucla are jumping into the fight to define your rights. paul callen is joining me now. just for the wider audience, paul, basically when you click like on facebook, you're letting somebody know they enjoyed something they posted. the judge ruled that liking a person or a group is a symbolic expression. how is that not protected under the first amendment? >> well, you have to understand first of all that in the workplace, a lot of things are not protected under the first amendment. business week had a great headline recently. it said workplace, where free speech goes to die.

in other words, you criticize your employer, if you're in the private sector, you can clearly be fired. maybe you'll get some union protection if there's a contract in place. even if you're a public employee, you may be fired depending upon what the expression is. but the judge in this case went way beyond even that concept by saying, this isn't even speech. he's saying by pressing the like button on facebook, you're not really saying anything, and i'm not going to even view it as speech. so he doesn't even get to the level of analysis as to whether it's protected or not. he says not speech at all. >> you know, ok, well, all things being equal, certainly it was not the smartest career move on the part of these men. but still, facebook basically said, the ruling was based on an apparent misunderstanding of the way facebook works. how so? when you click like, you don't necessarily have to leave a comment. >> no, you don't. and i think facebook has a point. and they submitted a brief in

the case. the ucla submitted a brief indicating that the judge maybe doesn't understand how facebook works because people who use facebook know that generally when they click like next to a posting on a facebook pe, they are endorsing some aspect of that posting. and in a sense, it's political speech. it's like two thumbs up at a political rally. i think it's clearly political speech. and i think there's a very, very good chance that on appeal this ruling will be reversed. but we're in a brave new world of social media. and we have new rules, and a lot of people don't know how facebook works even in this day and age and what the like and dislike symbols mean, although i don't think there's a dislike symbol. >> i think you delike or unlike. >> oh, you can unlike something. yeah. >> facebook has been playing around with that. but you get to the bigger issue about social media, and is it free speech like publishing in the newspaper or giving an actual speech. >> sure. and clearly, you know, sheriff bj roberts won re-election. his political opponent did not.

so as i said, careerwise, not really a smart move on the part of these men. but the sheriff blamed the firing on poor job performance, and the fact that their facebook activity hurt the harmony and efficiency of the office. so it is on some levels -- don't they have a case of retaliation? >> well, yes. if this is speech, free speech and protected speech and they were fired for expresses that speech, they most certainly do have a case. they have a very strong case to be reinstated. so they really have got to establish to this judge that this is speech. then he looks at speech and says, was that type of speech legitimate political speech or was it disruptive of the office? now, if it's disruptive of the office, you can still be fired. so these employment cases get very, very complex. but he starts out right in this very important area, is social media speech, protected speech. >> it's fascinating. >> most judges say yes.

>> it's like creating laws in the wild west. all of it is new and unique. i tell my friends when in doubt, just stay out. paul callan in new york, thank you for joining us. now that the tickets are set for both sides in the upcoming presidential election, what's the buzz been since paul ryan officially entered the contest? we track some social media numbers. with creamy peanutouutter or rich dark chocolate flavor. 90 calories. 100% natural. and nature...approves. granola thins. from nature valley. nature at its most delicious.

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exploding onto the scene. well, it seems to be happening to paul ryan even though he's been in congress since 1999. that's what we're seeing on the world's largest social network, facebook. and we are tracking the numbers on our exclusive facebook cnn election talk meter. joining me now is cnn political director mark preston. mark, no doubt that the newly named republican ticket has really created a buzz on facebook. ryan even beating the president, right? >> he is. and this is according to the scale created by facebook that measures buzz and attention around a specific person, topic, or event. in this case, ryan is the most buzzable politician on facebook. and part of that reason why, is because ryan is on top is that facebook's decision making process is based on the increase in chatter both positive and negative about him as well as the number of people who have liked his page. to give you some perspective, ryan is just one point below

what michael phelps reached on the same scale when he became the most decorated olympian of all time, deb. >> now, he literally started from zero on his fan page. so this is a dramatic sort of increase, and the interest that he's generating. >> yes. and without a doubt. ryan's fan page grew from 0 to over half a million people in the last few days, and that number continues to rise as we speak, which just goes to show how much interest there is in mitt romney's presidential pick certainly on facebook. >> ok. so overall, let's dig a little deeper and look at the age and the gender breakdown for the two party tickets. >> sure. the average age of the person who liked president obama's fan page, for example, was 28 years old. mitt romney, 46 years old. paul ryan, 43 years old. as for gender, it's pretty much split right down the middle. for obama, vice president biden and romney.

but look at this, 63% of ryan's fans are men, while only 37% are women. which is kind of an interesting figure. certainly as we head into november and republicans are trying to make inroads with women, deb. >> that is incredible that president obama's attracting a younger crowd, and paul ryan coming in at 43. that means the people liking him are a year older than he is. mark, among the four candidates, there's an interesting gender gap also in the face of the data which you just referenced really. >> yeah. and, again, it all goes to what is now being buzzable right now on facebook. and it just goes to show that perhaps republicans need to do a better job of trying to get women, deb, to come to them. and they need to do a better job of reaching out to them. >> well, interesting. and certainly it's going to be very interesting to see how you're tracking this whole facebook phenomenon when it comes to watching the various candidates. mark preston for us in washington, thanks so much. >> thanks, deb.

well, medicare just jumped to the front of the line for the presidential candidates. and it's all thanks to the newest member of the gop ticket. dr. sanjay gupta helps us break down the revitalized medicare debate.

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how did you guys think of that? it just came to us. wh? bundling and saving made easy. now, that's progressive. call or click today. checking our top stories, your wallet is a little lighter this morning. that's because there's a new update on the cost of the auto bailout. the treasury department expects losses to top $25 billion on the $85 billion bailout. one big reason, gm's plummeting stock price. both presidential tickets are touring the country as they rev up their campaigns. now just 84 days until the election.

president obama is in iowa. mitt romney in ohio, a key battle ground state. his new running mate, congressman paul ryan, visits colorado and nevada. and vice president joe biden is campaigning in virginia. a set of quintuplets were born in dallas yesterday. the three boys and two girls are in stable condition in the hospital's neonate ol intensive care unit until they gain weight. the smallest was one pound, 12 ounces at birth. > well, with the addition of wisconsin congressman paul ryan to the gop presidential ticket, the debate over health care grows even more passionate. ryan says he has to change medicare to save it, and that could hit a lot of seniors right in the wallet. dr. sanjay gupta joins me now to help us understand ryan's plan. and the one thing i want to say is that we are hearing from romney-ryan that president obama has cut $710 billion. so what is that? >> well, this is interesting. and i'll preface by saying it's

really no different than what the ryan plan puts forth as well in terms of projected cuts. so what they are basically saying is, look, medicare grows at a certain rate and so does the economy and the gross domestic product. we're going to cap medicare. it's going to be gross domestic product plus half a percent. it can't grow any more than that. if you play that out over 10 years, it ends up being about $700 billion. but the point is there's no difference here. they are the exact same cap. the ryan plan or the affordable care act. with the ryan plan, what i'll point out it doesn't affect people who are 55 and older. so it's not immediate impact. but also the way it works ultimately is people when they get to retirement age are going to be given a choice. stay with medicare, or do they join a private plan that is set up to act like medicare. it gives the same sort of services as medicare does, or do you join sort of an exchange to buy your insurance wherever you want. that's what the ryan plan does. it's essentially how he is

getting at these costs. >> but we'll talk about that. for example, you and i, when we -- when it comes time for us to access medicare, it's going to be a fundamentally different plan under romney/ryan than it is today. can the same be said about president obama? said of presid obama? will it be the same? >> that's a good question. if you play it out and some of this is trying to assume certain things that will be true several years from now, i think the overall impact of the romney-ryan plan felt on the consumer in a position to stay with medicare or join a private insurance plan. what will they do? how will they pay for it? with the obama plan, with the affordable care act, it is on the provider side. hospitals, physicians, other providers having to decide are they going to take less money to achieve the costs? but again, the number that everyone fixates on, it's a total projection and what both campaigns are likely to tell you in the days going forward is

that our plan, whoever is speaking, is going to reduce costs. so it's not going to be $700 billion in cuts because we're going to reduce medicare costs in our various ways. with president obama, he says sething up an independent payment advisory board to determine what works and should pay for and they say that with the ryan republican they create a private sector competition to drive down costs. so this really gets at the heart of these two plans and really the principles of these two parties. >> just very quickly, seniors now, do they benefit or lose more under one of the plans? >> well, you know, again, with the ryan plan, if it goes forth doesn't affect people 55 and older. really for ten years you won't feel an impact. >> there's a cushion there? >> there is a cushion there. so with the affordable care act, harder to say but i think the implementation goes in sooner. >> sanjay gupta, thanks so much. great to talk with you. appreciate it. well, in music, taylor swift

announces when the new album releases. we have the details coming up in showbiz headlines.

well, we have good news for all of you taylor swift fans. she broke big news chatting with fans last night. the 2-year-old music sensation announced the fourth album "red" releases wo s worldwide in a co of months. we have more details. morning,ny shell. >> good morning. this is good news for fans. once again, she is turning turmoil, personal turmoil in to a pop hit. this has kind of become her thing, hasn't it? she released "we are never getting back together" and i think she said it like that. which is already number one on itunes and didn't identify who the song is about and did tell

abc she wrote it about someone she had a messy break-up with. boys, beware. if you're dating young taylor, odds are the song is about you. according to taylor, she called the album "red" because of the crazy love and lost chronicles. when you experience love out of control and mixing miscommunication and all of those lovely emotions in retrospect it all looks red. this album's available worldwide in october. deb, i don't know about you but for 22 years old, that girl seems like she's been through some things. >> i was just thinking the exact same thing. i did not have that much drama in my life at 22 years old. >> me neither! >> i know. >> she's got a lot to write about. >> take note, young people. appreciate it. much more ahead in the next hour of "cnn newsroom" beginning after a quick break.

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hello, everyone. ahead in the newsroom, it's beginning to look a lot like november. the battleground blitz in full force today. iowa, ohio, virginia, colorado. just some of the turf being covered. plus, democrats say there's funny business going on in one of those states and it's all over early voting. are some ohio counties given preferential treatment? plus, fire this under the category of fail. some luxury cars not making the grade. and imagine jetting from new york to london in under an hour. that is right. a test flight today could make that reality tomorrow. cnn "newsroom" starts right now. and good morning, everyone. i'm deborah feyerick in for carol costello.

four candidates, five states, it's a jam-packed day in the race for the white house with candidates giving speeches today. president obama continues his tour throughout iowa. he'll be speaking about two hours and follows that up with a stop of marshalltown and then water loo and mitt romney in the midwest. before the day's over visiting three cities in ohio. his running mate paul ryan hitting two states today with events in lakewood, colorado, and las vegas tonight. vice president joe biden not to be left out making two stops in virginia including remarks next hour. back to the president in iowa. dan lothian with the president and, dan, three days in a major farm state that only has six electoral votes. obviously the president's team feels it's a state they need to win. >> they really do. look back to 2008. this is a state that the

president won by ten points and look at the polling, a tight race. iowa with a handful of other key battleground states could hold the tickets to winning in this election and in addition to that, there's the symbolism behind the state. iowa is essentially launched the president in to the white house in 2008. the president has been talking over the last day, 24 hours or so about the importance of this state, what it means to him. he feels like he is a son of iowa. so this is critical for the president on two fronts, first of all, a state that launched him in to the white house and one of a handful of those battleground states that again the president hopes for a repeat performance. >> and dan, the president is giving two speeches since representative paul ryan named vice president. we're starting to hear a familiar theme. what is it? >> reporter: right. and the theme is you may not know a lot about him but the president running against mitt romney they're trying to paint it as mitt romney and paul ryan are one and the same and that

the paul ryan budget plan blueprint or rather plan is something that's bad for americans, bad for the middle class, bad for medicare and seniors, even though the proposal or the plan for medicare would not impact those under 55 years of age. but nonetheless, they're saying it's bad for seniors and if that's what paul ryan stands for that's what mitt romney stands for. you heard that from the president yesterday in two of his campaign rallies where on the one hand complimenting, saying nice things of paul ryan and hitting him on his record. >> he is an articulate spokesman for governor romney's vision but the problem is that vision is one that i fundamentally disagree with. he's an articulate spokesman for governor romney's vision. but it's a vision that i fundamentally disagree with.

>> reporter: today, the president will continue here in iowa making three stops as you pointed out, talking about jobs and job creation here in the state. focused on wind energy and extension of wind, a tax credit for those companies that are in the wind sector. but in addition to that, according to a campaign official, the president will continue trying to make that sharp contrast between his policies and the policies of mitt romney and to that extent will be talking about paul ryan. >> all right. dan lothian for us in iowa, thanks so much. we'll keep an eye on that. well, divide and conquer. that might be the plan for the two republican men who hope to become president and vice president. candidate mitt romney is spending the day in the key battleground state of ohio while his running mate congressman paul ryan starts in colorado lfr heading to las vegas. mark preston joining us now. and mark, why splitting up the

two candidates? are they simply trying to cover more ground? >> yeah. no question about that. trying to cover more ground, campaigning, rallying support for the candidacies to november and raising money. we'll see paul ryan raising money out in nevada later today. you know, we heard mitt romney and paul ryan both say this in the past couple of days, no longer two on one, meaning joe biden and back brahm against mitt romney. that's two on two in paul ryan and splitting off and campaigning by himself for at least the time being. >> coming as much ground as you can. congressman paul ryan, the budget plan front and center, but could romney backing away from the ryan plan? listen. >> i'm sure there are places that my budget is different than his but we're on the same page as i said before. we want to get america on track to a balanced budget. there may be, we'll take a look

at the differences. the items we agree on i think outweigh any differences that may be. we haven't said, here's a place where there's a difference. i can't imagine any two people, even in the same party, who have exactly e same positions on all issues. >> and that was from yesterday, mark. but could the ryan plan upstage the romney plan, not just now as it's doing, but even closer to the election? >> well, that's certainly what democrats are trying to do right now. they're trying to affix the ryan plan to mitt romney and saying, in fact, he's adopted it. he has in the past suggested he liked it and said some things and in the past few days ever since he named paul ryan to his ticket to be his running mate he's been careful not to adopt it. that's because there's very controversial parts of that plan, including the idea of making vouchers in to medicare and overhauling that whole program, especially in the key state of florida. now, deb, i can tell you in the past ten or 15 minutes i have

spoken to a romney spokesman and they told me this. they said expect us to go on the offense when it comes to the issue of medicare over the next couple of days. we have already heard this so far. but in addition to that, deb, they said that paul ryan will be down in central florida this weekend and he himself is going to carry that flag. deb? >> all right. cnn political director mark preston live for us in washington, thanks so much. well, republican star chris christy getting the spotlight on a biggest night of the party. the new jersey governor tapped to give the keynote speech at the republican national convention in tampa later this month. the outspoken christy considering his own presidential run but instead backed mitt romney. romney camp and the republican national committee are the ones that decide the key speakers at the rnc. and it started with an eviction notice. now people in college station, texas, mourning three people killed in a half hour shootout. police say a sheriff's deputy went to a house near texas a&m

university to deliver the eviction notice. a man opened fire on the deputy. police responded when the firing ended the gunman, deputy and a bystander were dead. four other people were injured. a nearby resident spoke of his own close call. >> i just thought it was construction at first because there's a lot of renovation of the building going on right now. and then i kind of ignored it at first and then i heard sirens and got me thinking and then i heard two bullets whiz by my room over there. i threw myself out of bed and like i don't think i should be by the window right now. >> well, the suspect is identified as thomas kathil. his mother said he had been ill. a judge in the colorado theater case ordered key records released to the media today despite objections of prosecutors and the defense. those records includes crime scene materials but other records remain seal like probable cause affidavits.

james holmes is accused of opening fire leaving 12 people dead and 58 others injured. both campaigns will tell you every vote matters in this election and there's a ballot battle going on right now in ohio. learn why all voters may not get equal access to casting an early ballot. ♪ [ acoustic guitar: upbeat ] [ dog ] we found it together. on a walk, walk, walk. love to walk. yeah, we found that wonderful thing. and you smiled. and threw it. and i decided i would never, ever leave it anywhere. because that wonderful, bouncy, roll-around thing... had made you play. and that... had made you smile. [ announcer ] beneful. play. it's good for you.

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hello, everyone. i'm deborah fererick. a wild fire in central washington state less than a full day old, yet, it already threatened some 100 homes. evacuations are under way. 80 miles southwest of seattle. fire crews are calling in reinforcements. crews in northern california battling two wild fires. turning now to the vatican. prosecutors say the pope's butler admitted to leaking hundreds of secret papers. they say he passed them on to a journalist to, quote, combat

evil and corruption everywhere in the church. he will be charged with aggravated theft. your wallet is lighter this morning because there's a new update on the cost of the auto bailout. the treasury department expects the losses to top $25 billion on the $85 billion bailout. one big reason, gm's plummeting stock price. scientists say the largest burr these python ever caught in the florida everglades and carrying 87 eggs. it was used euthanized and studied at the florida museum of natural history. so should one state have different rules for voting early? that's the debate going on right now in ohio. some counties plan to make early voting hours longer and other counties plan to keep the same hours. the difference is those staying

open longer predominantly in republican counties and those closing early are in democratic counties. lena turner joins me. senator, thank you for being here. this fight clearly far from over. >> good morning. yes, deb. it's tragic that in the 21st century, 2012, we have voter suppression going on. you know, jim crow is resurrected making repeat performances in the south and it's packed his bags and moved north in ohio in particular. >> the way this is set up, now, this changed back in 2011 and set up that the election's folks wanted to give the state secretary to give more power to the counties so you have two democrats, two republicans. why is it that there's pushback when it comes to extending hours in those democratic counties? >> it's not by accident, deb, that democrats and republican-lean counties get it.

democrats have been consistent in terms of us extending the franchise for the citizens of the state. but when we get to urban counties like cuyahoga county, franklin county, the republicans on those boards have voted to suppress the vote and the secretary of state sided with them in terms of suppressing the vote in the state of ohio. not by accident that president obama in 2008 won cuyahoga county by about 70%. when we get to butler county speaker boehner's county, it is the reverse for john mccain. you see very, very clearly in republican-leaning counties the vote has been extended. and in democratic-leaning counties, the vote has been suppressed. even ray charles sees what's going on here. flat-out voter suppression in democratic areas and areas predominantly african-american. >> we did reach out to the ohio secretary of state and waiting to hear back from them. he said, in fact, that he may

step in to make this -- to make the change, to extend voting hours across the county. you see it as voter suppression but you what are the answers given? some might say we're trying to save money. >> well, deb, you know, there's a cost to run a clean and fair election and then there's a cost to run an election that is a debacle to return us to 2004 that will make a mockery out of the democracy. yes, there's a cost and we should err on the side of extending the vote. you know, a lot of people work, they work two, three jobs. voting hours 8:00 to 5:00 doesn't help people that work. we have to have access to the ballot. this is united states of america. this is the state of ohio. we relish in folks having the ability to vote and why should it be suppressed in the state of ohio? again, it is not by happenstance this is happening. nobody should have to beg to vote. what's going on in ohio.

in cuyahoga county in particular, about 56% of african-americans who live in this county voted early in person, 56%. what does that tell you? they might as well bring back literacy test and the poll tax to keep this up in the state of ohio. >> i want to mention you mentioned the 2004 election and a lot of ohioans left waiting in long lines and unable to vote by the time the polls closed. we did reach out to the secretary of state there in ohio. but he did not get back to us. thank you so much for joining us today. >> thanks, deb. well, in the middle of the civil war you don't think about lights at an intersection. you worry about gun fire. >> he's saying you want to go back and drive fast through the intersection because there's a sniper. he said, get down. >> get down. >> cnn's ben wiedeman and crew

reach the city of aleppo. people with a machine. what ? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it ? hello ?

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we have a new account today

of how the syrian regime is losing control of the country. this version of events from someone when's part of president bashar al assad's inner circle until last week. former prime minister spoke to reporters in jordan today saying that the syrian regime is collapsing and only controls about 30% of the country. >> translator: it is my obligation the announce my defection from this corrupt regime. as god says, those who are shown to be enemies of god separate from them. i'm now only on the side of the people, a loyal soldier defending the people's rights. >> and cnn's nic robertson joins us with a new and potentially alarming development in the civil war. and nic, what you're discovering is al qaeda might be playing a role here. >> reporter: well, certainly they claim an expectation that al qaeda would exploit it. it's certainly not a got of

experience across the border in the east to iraq and evidence it's come across the board enand organizations or cells rather operating within syria. the former ambassadors who we talked to earlier in this year said they were already seeing indications of it and the fighting on the ground does seem to begin to bear that out. al qaeda taking the evidence of bomb making, roadside bombs, bashar al assad's forces and the evidence does seem to be there now. >> reporter: and nic, when's the suggestion, though? if al qaeda then is helping the syrian rebels, what does that suggest for future relations with that country? >> well, it's one of the very problematic parts of the sort of mosaic of opposition forces that

there are. you have people in the opposition. remember, it began as street protests and because the regime cracked down they began to pick up and take up weapons so this is something that's grown from a street protest in to an armed uprising that al qaeda has tried to take advantage of. al qaeda that's sort of core level pakistan, afghanistan. core level wants to exploiloit spring any way possible and exploit and how does that affect relations? well, it is going to complicate relations because when you support the opposition, how do you know some of that support, whether it's technical or communications equipment, whether it's military equipment is going to end up in the hands of al qaeda? what happens after al assad is gone? when you talk to those people who were involved in the grass roots protest at the beginning, they've for one do not support having al qaeda in the country. they don't want them and see it

as a worrying and troubling development and for people on the fence that don't know which way jump right now, this makes them very afraid and more likely to side with assad and make the war last longer and give al qaeda the chance to exploit the situation further, deb. >> fascinating. also, just quickly, nic, we know that al qaeda was coming, they were in afghanistan. they went in to iraq. is there any suggestion as to where they're coming from to get in to syria, for example? >> reporter: well, the expectation is that some of them will have crossed the border from syria. from iraq. which is on the easterly border of syria. crossed over that way and also a sense of many people that assad encouraged al qaeda to transit through his country to sort of set up on the fringes of it as long as they didn't destabilize syria in order to sort of undermine u.s. efforts in iraq so in some senses some of the al

qaeda members if you will have been lying low on the ground in syria. so coming across the border of the east iraq, syria and likely drawing in. we have seen some coming from europe. londoners reported al qaeda sympathetic cells in syria so far, as well. >> all right. nic robertson live for us in saudi arabia, thank you so much. aleppo, syria's largest city, remains a battleground between the regime and the rebels. that poses a danger for reporters on the ground. here's more from our ben wedeman in the middle of the fighting. >> reporter: okay. he's saying you want to go back and drive fast through the intersection because there's a sniper. he said, get down. >> get down. take this risk? there's a sniper. >> get down, get down, get down. >> just hit the deck.

>> plug it, mate. >> i can't go any further. >> that's all right. you're fine. >> come down. >> come down. just keep down. even if it's uncomfortable, just get down. >> not because it's uncomfortable. are you going to do it? >> we're off. >> all right. okay. we made it. passed that one. >> you cannot see some of this section. >> okay. maybe now's a good time to get out. get our bearings. >> look ben gives clearly somebody who's been in a number of war zones. ben and his crew able to get out of aleppo and back to the safe house but that trip also took hours. and to politics now where people are talking about paul ryan's political resume.

we'll take a look at the foreign policy portion of that paper trail. [ obama ] i'm barack obama and i approve this message. [ male announcer ] you work hard. stretch every penny. but chances are you pay a higher tax rate than him... mitt romney made twenty million dollars in two thousand ten

but paid only fourteen percent in taxes... probably less than you now he has a plan that would give millionaires another tax break... and raises taxes on middle class families by up to two thousand dollars a year. mitt romney's middle class tax increase. he pays less. you pay more. mitt romney's middle class tax increase. you see us, at the start of the day. on the company phone list that's a few names longer. you see us bank on busier highways. on once empty fields. everyday you see all the ways all of us at us bank are helping grow our economy. lending more so companies and communities can expand, grow stronger and get back to work. everyday you see all of us serving you, around the country, around the corner. us bank. ♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader that's why we're supplying natural gas to

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stories we're watching right now in the newsroom for you. more problems for penn state in the wake of the jerry sandusky sex abuse scandal. the commission on higher education is warning the university it could lose accreditation and jeopardize federal funds and even membership in the ncaa. and florida lawyers for george zimmerman appealing a judge's decision to not step aside claiming the judge used language. zimmerman is free on $1 million bond awaiting trial. 32 tsa aufrss accusing some fellow workers of racial

profiling saying a training program for suspicious passengers unfairly targets blacks, hispanics and middle easterners. the complaints is boston's logan airport and the tsa says it will look at the problem nationwide. he was on the vp list and department get the nod and instead of running mate, marco rubio introducing mitt romney on the final night of the republican national convention. meantime, he's busy come paining for the gop ticket. he spent yesterday with romney on a bus tour of florida. but if he's disappointed with not getting the vp slot he's certainly not showing it. >> he made the right choice. paul ryan is incredible. he brings energy and enthusiasm, one of the first people to endorse me in washington running for senate. he is a great person. a tremendous amount of energy and policy gravitas.

mitt romney is an excellent decision maker. >> senator rubio was the first person in the romney camp it confirmed was yvetting for the vice president position. of course the one that won that spot is paul ryan. now asking where does ryan stand on international issues? jill dougherty is live at the state house with answers. jill? >> reporter: hey there, deb. you know how it works. obviously the vice president isn't the final person to make the decisions on foreign policy. it is the president. but their views are very important and just remember sarah palin. issues and views by vice presidential candidates can become an issue in the campaign so we took a look at what paul ryan thinks about america's role in the world. >> our fiscal policy is on a collision course with the foreign policy. >> reporter: paul ryan lives and breathes domestic policy, not

international issues, as he noted in a speec last year. >> why would a house budget chairman announcing a bunch of national security issues on american foreign policy? >> reporter: obama supporters say ryan has a thin resume on international issues and a charge barack obama heard running in 2008 but mitt romney brushes that off. >> he has the experience and judgment, capacity and character to become president. >> reporter: this seven-term congressman of wisconsin, chief architect of the republican plan to balance the budget, seals a link between america's economic policy and its national security. >> if we fail to put our budget on a sustainable path, then we are choosing decline as a world power. >> reporter: paul ryan has seen some of the world, afghanistan, iraq, vietnam, several middle eastern countries, seven congressional trips, 18 countries in 14 years.

on afghanistan, like the man at the top of the ticket, he's criticized president obama's planned withdrawal of u.s. troops but ryan said the u.s. can save a trillion dollars winding down the wars in afghanistan and iraq. and congressional democrats and the administration agree. on china, ryan's less of a hawk than romney who wants to designate beijing as a currency manipulator. he wants more money for the military, less for the state department. but he got in to hot water when he claimed there was a lot of smoke and mirrors in the pentagon budget. he later said he misspoke. okay. so what would he, for example, advise mitt romney to do on iran or on syria or some of these other really hot issues of the day? he hasn't been tested on these but he is about to go through that testing. deb, you'd have to say this is

really pretty much a domestic election, a lot of domestic issues at the top. so that was why he was chosen and yet he's going to have to be debating with joe biden who knows quite a bit about foreign policy so will become an issue. >> paul ryan about to get a crash course in international policy and certainly diplomacy, as well. jill dougherty at the state department, thanks so much. well, they cost a lot more but the extra money you pay for a luxury car may not go toward safety. we have the startling results of new luxury crash tests. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] its lightweight construction

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bny mellon wealth management your luxury car may not be as safe as you think. the highway institute of safety puts a dent in some car's stellar safety ratings.

alison kosik at the new york stock exchange with the latest. alison, what's going on with all of this now? >> okay, deb. so what the insurance institute of highway safety did is the front end crash tests where the quarter strikes a five-foot tall wall going at 40 miles per hour and what is this is meant to do is test what happens when the front corner hits a tree or a pole. no other independent tests are in the u.s. or europe has done this and luxury carmakers aren't going to like the results of this. 11 models tested but only 2 of them got what's considered a good rating. they're the acura tl and the volvo s60. one of the seven got an adequate rating, the infinti g. the poor is audi a4 and c class and picked top picks. deb? >> so why did the ratings change? you look at that video and it is really disconcerting to see just

how bad even when the front end is caught there, why did the safe ri ratings change? >> reporter: well, what they were essentially doing is testing a smaller portion of the car. so one thing that i have to mention, though, worth noting that all 11 models did get what's considered good ratings on the other types of front impact tests, where more of the car hit the object. now, the safety group does say over 10,000 fatalities in the front impact crashes, the smaller sort of portions of the car hit in the u.s. each year and about a quarter of those are the most dangerous kind of crash, once again, where just a small part of the front bumper hits an object. the good news is fatalities from these kinds of crashes are down 55% since 2001. but what these essentially do, deb, the tests really point out a potential weakness in otherwise relatively safe cars and some automakers say they take it in to an account and see what happened here and keep that in mind when they design new vehicles. deb? >> interesting, alison. sofa tallties down and would

suggest other safety measures inside the car are more effective. is that fair? >> reporter: we can only assume. >> okay. alison kosik at the new york stock exchange, thank you so much. >> reporter: sure. and new york to london in just one hour. sounds like science fiction but if ana is a test goes well today, that idea could be one step closer to reality. on't, ho. yes, you do! don't! i've washed a few cupcake tins in my day... oh, so you're a tin expert now. is that... whoa nelly! hi, kitchen counselor here. he's actually right... with cascade complete. see cascade complete pacs work like thousands of micro-scrubbing brushes to help power away tough foods even in corners and edges. so, i was right, right? i've gotta run. more households use cascade dishwashing detergent than any other brand. until i got a job in the big apple. becoming a fulltime indoor cat wasn't easy for atti.

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we are finding out more about a gun fight that killed three people yesterday afternoon near the texas a&m campus. the constable trying to serve this man an eviction notice was shot dead. the gunman was killed by police in a half hour gun fight. an innocent bystander was also killed. syria's former prime minister says the regime is collapsing, saying even though rebels are running short of weapons and ammunition, they can win but there's no end to the suffering from the civil war and shelling of government troops. the government says 2 million people have been affected. help is on the way for cattle ranchers struggling to survive in the drought. the agriculture department says it will buy up to $170 million worth of meat of livestock producers, they're squeezed out by the high cost of corn to feed their animals, forcing many to sell off the herds at a loss.

a record-breaking giant burr these python found in the evergles. the biggest one ever found in the rk. nearly 18 feet long and, worse yet, pregnant with 87 eggs. pythons brought here from southeast asia and released by owners are now thriving in the everglades. and nasa and the pentagon are set for a key test of the unmanned experimental aircraft known as the wave rider. the test will take the hyper sonic plane 50,000 feet over the pacific where it will detach from a bomber and try to hit speeds over 4,500 miles per hour. joining me now is cnn pentagon correspondent barbora starr. barbora, this is incredible. it can fly so fast and may some day fly passengers new york to london in an hour. >> reporter: you bet. talk about the need for speed. this is it. this is the wave rider. it's going to be tested by the air force as you say today over the pacific off the coast of california.

and i think we have a simulation to show you, a video that's been put out. it comes off of a b-52 bomber. it's that test article vehicle hanging under the wing, fired off and what the pentagon hopes is they can fly this at hyper sonic speeds, mach 6. 4,500 miles per hour for about 300 seconds. if they can do it, it's a huge step forward. some of the previous tests we know have failed. they haven't really talked about the reasons. they're trying it again. the implications for the military are huge, of course, because if you could turn this technology in to a missile, in to a plane, you could put troops, you could put weapons on a target halfway around the world within minutes. deb? >> it really is remarkable. under the wing it looked like a missile itself. now the flight will end with wave rider crashing in to the pacific and intentionally being done. i presume the data evaluated in the flight?

>> reporter: that's exactly right. what you are looking at there when we call it a test article, that's bit of pentagon jargon. it's a test vehicle. it's not really an airplane, of course, yet. no one's on board. it's basically holding all the sensors, all the technology and the pentagon will analyze it as it goes through flight and then it deliberately does crash in to the ocean. they don't really recover it. that's certainly not the plan. but all those sensors on board sending back data to all of the, you know, to the air force at the pentagon and analyze it and to see what they have achieved and then make a determination what they next step will be and whether this is something that's really feasible to carry out in a practical fashion. deb? >> well, it looks very james bond-like. barbara starr at the pentagon for us, thank you so much. >> sure. well, the republicans, the democrats, both sides are giving late-night comics easy material and of course so many more months to come.

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so in comedy, it is all about timing and thanks to the presidential election it is a great time to be a late-night comic. they're getting a lot of material. just listen. >> usain bolt won the gold for the men's 100 and 200 meter dash. for the second olympics in a row. he's been running since elementary school. kind of mitt romney. you know? same thing. >> mitt romney is hoping to energize republicans by announcing paul ryan as his running mate. seriously? that's like trying to spice up a bowl of oatmeal with more oatmeal. well, president obama, mitt romney, joe biden, paul ryan all four men are likely going to find themselves the punch line for a lot of late-night laughs so how will the political campaign fuel the late-night

comics? a political comedian joins me now. dean, is there a topic that off limits or not when it comes to presidential elections? >> absolutely right. not when it comes to politics. if people are seeking power, they're in power or they're espousing views to get power, we can make fun of them. the hardest thing, honestly, in the clubs and i perform in new york city a lot, is having the audiences following the details of the campaign. last few nights i asked the crowds if they know who paul ryan is, 30%, 40% did. the rest did not yet. the audience needs to know to make fun of it. >> absolutely. relatible. people have to know -- >> yes. >> people have to be part of the inside joke. lately, it seems president obama and vice president joe biden dodged the jokes i should say. there's a lot of weight on mitt romney and paul ryan. comedy has a way of giving everybody equal time. it's fair that way. will the political jokes impact the two men in equal weight?

>> i think they will have an impact. i think my jokes in particular probably sway the election so both campaigns should be sending me contributions to tell jokes about the opposite campaign. i don't think our jokes sway people. i think we in a way just -- there's a stereotype or a perception of the candidate. we play on that and we escalate it for jokes so it's not like we're creating anything. if president bush spoke english better, we could not have done the jokes about him. if president clinton didn't have affairs, we couldn't do nose jokes. the opinion that we create the opinions, that's accurate. >> absolutely. sort of a caricature of behaviors and patterns kind of like the gifts that keep on giving. >> yes. >> thank you. hope to catch your act when i'm in new york city and see and get the read on the audience.

thanks, dean. >> thanks, deb. jay leno spoke with michele obama last night. the first lady set the record straight of, you know, the recent kiss cam incident at a preolympic basketball game. >> i had just walked in and sat down and i just saw my face on the jumbotron and i'm still a little embarrassed. i didn't see the kiss cam part and didn't know we were supposed to kiss and then malia came over after we were boo'd for not kissing and disgusted with us. >> really? >> she said, why didn't you kiss? i was like, kiss what? what are you talking about? she said, you were on the kiss cam. you were supposed to kiss. >> let's show what happened. here's your daughter. >> there you go. thank you. >> she orchestrated that second try because after the second half, we came back. she said, i've arranged for you

to get another chance on the kiss cam. and then she came and sat with us to make sure we didn't mess it up so, she was like, get ready. it is coming. that's when she was like, okay, go, now, kiss, do it. >> so you can see malia there encouraging her parents to kiss. all right. well, worried about fulfilling that chocolate craving? it may not be a healthy snack. now learning some types of chocolate may be really good for you. [ female announcer ] how do you define your moment?

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>> as a dermatologist and a physician, i'm very happy to report to you that chocolate is good for us. it's something we all enjoy. it's important to remember we want dark chocolate with over 70% cocoa in that chocolate and then we get the benefits. chock slat a powerful anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory protec us from heart disease, our brain and makes skin radiant and beautiful. it's also a natural stimulant and elevates the mood. if you want to enjoy life, enjoy a piece of chocolate. once again, moderation. one square of dark chocolate is all you need to elevate the mood, improve overall health, decrease the risk of heart disease and have more beautiful skin. enjoy your chocolate. >> all i say on that is yay. happy birthday to the most famous toy. lego turned 80 years ol