>> go, mom! >> he is one great guy, one great dancer. that is all for "early start." i'm john berman. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. "starting point" with soledad o'brien starts right now. our starting point this morning, hitting the campaign trail hard. mitt romney and president obama are on a campaign blitz, trying to win over the undecided voters. >> i believe in you! i need you to keep believing in me. >> i need your help. we're going to take back america and keep it the hope of the earth. thank you! >> reporter: this as key swing states, one, specifically, changing its color. why he quit. the former goldman sachs banker who made waves with his public bombshell resignation letter will join us live this morning. he says the company is morally bankrupt. they say he's disgruntled. an unbelievable feat on the diamond with three incredible home runs. pablo sandoval helps the giants tame the tigers in game one of

the world series. will detroit even things up tonight? and her tv career has spanned decades. melissa joan hart will join us live to talk about her latest projects. it's thursday, october 25th, and "starting point" begins right now. welcome, everybody. our "starting point" this morning, the high -stakes struggle for eight must-win swing states. the president obama and governor romney tapping into their travel budgets, both men crisscrossing the country, targeting those toss-up states that will decide this race. ohio could be the most critical. and a new time poll has the president ahead there by five points, largely on the strength of early voting in his favor. but the romney campaign has something to celebrate this morning as well. cnn shifting the state of north carolina from a toss-up to a leaning romney column. let's get right to cnn's chief white house correspondent,

jessica yellin. she's in tampa, florida, this morning, she's traveling with the president. hey, jessica, good morning. >> reporter: hi, soledad, good morning. the president has just arrived here in tampa, florida. i think he's headed to do some off the record stops, maybe he'll stop and get a cuban sandwich before he heads here to the rally. >> let's talk a little bit about what's going to happen for him today. we talked about some good news, the nice lead, at least if you're lacking at this specific "ti "time" poll. but challenging news if you're looking at north carolina. looks like the romney team is packing up and moving out because they're so confident of a win and cnn has moved that into the leaning romney campaign. talk about what the analysis of those states is at this point. >> so that's obviously very good news for the romney campaign. they need lock up as many states and put them away, so they can focus on other battlegrounds. the president is taking his tour through six battleground states that the obama campaign still

feels that they can win or challenge romney to continue to spend money in. and we have been hustling through them. in the last days, we've been in florida, now i'm here twice, ohio, colorado, we'll be going to virginia. the president was in nevada last night and he's also been in iowa and he's making a stop along the way to vote, to early vote in illinois, because the early vote is so crucial for the obama campaign to turn out their forces. part of this, soledad, i think is a mind fake, a little bit to get out the -- to force romney to keep spending money in some of the states where he might actually have an edge, although the obama people won't admit that, states lake florid s likee they insist they still have the wedg edge, the obama folks do, but

our polls show that romney might. >> let's talk a little bit about what we were discussing yesterday, richard mourdock's comments about rape and i guess what he would say, the life, you know, an abortion. a tricky question that was put to him at the end of a debate, which he then answered in a way that had people with a massive backlash. he has, yesterday, clarified his opinion, saying that the lack of clarity in my words came from an impression that those i stated, which is, life is precious and i abhor violence and i'm confident god abhors violence and rape. if you came away with any impression other than that, i truly regret it. my question to you is a political one. what's the impact of this upon this race? >> reporter: well, the obama campaign is seizing on those comments to do what they can to sway undecided, the remaining undecided women voters, that the

democratic ticket is more -- going to do more to defend their interests than romney, who has endorsed mourdock and actually taped an ad for the senate candidate. and in fact, the president himself made that point when he appeared on the j"the jay leno last night and taped this. listen. >> let me make a very simple proposition. rape is rape. it is a crime. the second thing this underscores, though, is this is exactly why you don't want a bunch of politicians, mostly male, making decisions about women's health care decisions. >> reporter: so soledad, the president, again, making that direct appeal to women voters and trying to tie the governor though those comments, as much as possible. again, this is about targeting key demographic groups in these final days. women, latino voters, and then, of course, getting out that

early vote. soledad? >> and i'm sure that you expect to see more of all of this as we enter the final days. jessica yellin for us this morning. thank you, jessica, appreciate it. in a few moments, we'll be talking to congresswoman and dnc chairman, debbie wasserman schultz. she'll be weighing in on all of that. but first, john berman has a look at the day's top stories. >> all eyes on hurricane sandy, now starting to move into the florida straits. it slammed into cuba as a strong category 2 storm earlier this morning. two deaths now being reported, blamed on sandy. one in jamaica, another in haiti. meteorologist rob marciano is tracking sandy. rob, we want to know, is this coming our way. a powerful category 2 storm right now. >> in one way, shape, or form, it is. it's going to be a combination of things as we go forward. but first off, still a category 2 storm as it comes off the coast of cuba, into the bahamas. northerly movement at 18 miles an hour. 105 miles an hour sustained winds now. it will likely decrease in intensity a little bit as it goes further to the north. speaking of going further north,

tropical storm warnings have been extended all the way up to daytona beach in florida. you're starting to see the feeder bands getting into miami, into the keys as well, where winds are already gusting over 40 miles an hour. large circulation is going to batter all this coastline, and potentially curve later next week, in monday, tuesday, wednesday time frame, anywhere from the delmarva up through maine, either a direct impact or going offshore and having an indirect impact in terms of big waves, big wind, and coastal flooding. we'll keep you posted. new developments in the september 11th attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi, libya. a 28-year-old man suspected of taking part is now in custody in tunisia. u.s. officials say the fbi will be allowed to question him. the suspect was reportedly posting details of the benghazi attack on social media websites as it was happening. we also have new developments in the shooting of

anti-taliban activist malala yousufzai. pakistani police say they have six people in custody i, but th man they call the main shooting suspect, atta ullah khan is still at large. malala is making good progress, she's reportedly fighting an infection, but she's able to move her fingers and toes and stand up with help from the nurses. and one man known as the kung fu panda destroyed the tigers in game one of the world series. pablo sandoval tied a home run record. he's just the fourth player ever to accomplish this feat. he's the first to do it in his first three at-bats in the world series. and sandoval did hit two of these home runs off of detroit ace, justin verlander, who has been pitching better than anyone in baseball. verlander lasted just four innings. the giants' game once starter, barry zito, he was on top of his game, he kept the detroit lineup

at bay the desire game. and he was retired by lincecum. the tigers will try to even the series in game two tonight. this was a surprise. a lot of people thought the tigers were going to win game one. >> not me. >> you always knew the giants had it in the bag. >> no, i didn't know that, but i'm kind of happy they did, because the tigers beat my yankees. back to our starting point this morning, the battle for the white house is being waged in a shrinking number of states now. president obama and mitt romney touring those crucial battleground states, trying to get out every last vote. congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz is a chairman of the democratic national committee. it's nice to see you this morning. thank you for talking with us. appreciate it. >> thanks, soledad. >> let's first talk about president obama who was on nbc's "rock center" last night and he was asked about how close this race is and he said this. >> you guys have some short memories. folks in your business were writing me off a year ago, saying, there's no way i would

win, right? so, you know, these things go in ebbs and flows. and the one thing i've tried to always be is just steady, in terms of what i believe in, who i'm fighting for, and, you know, i think that one of the qualities i bring to bear in this campaign is people see what did i say i was going to do in 2008, and what have i delivered, and they can have some confidence that the things the i say, i mean. >> cnn has just changed north carolina as a toss-up state to now a lean romney state. and our sources tell us that the obama campaign officials think north carolina is moving out of reach, as a possibility, sort of a path for winning that. where does the campaign stand, considering how tight this is in that particular leaning column for that state? >> well, we've been -- first of all, cnn is entitled to their

opinion. >> why, thank you. >> but we don't -- we don't agree. we know, particularly north carolina, remember, our convention was in charlotte, north carolina. we planted a flag there and have had a really strong organization, ground game, that we're executing, because early voting has begun there. and we were there from the beginning of the 2008 campaign and have never left. so we're very confident in the grassroots strategy that we have, all across the country. but particular in north carolina. we've done tremendously well in voter registration, and now in turnout. now, just in general, i would agree with the president, this election, we always knew, was going to be tight. we knew it was going to be close. and our plans and the way we've structured this campaign has been such that we're focused on executing the largest, most significant grassroots presidential campaign that really has ever been waged. and so through early voting, and cutting the republicans' advantage, which is their

traditional advantage in absentee ballot requests, getting voters turned out, really hundreds of thousands of door knocks and phone calls, we're confident that our ground game is going to help to carry president obama to vaerictory. >> we have reports that the romney campaign has been closing up shop in that state, correct? haven't they said that they're so confident -- i would think that if i heard my competitor felt so good about his chances that he's closing up his campaign shop, because they feel that that's a win -- >> well, they're not going to campaign in a state where they don't think they need to push him over the top. and we got a report today they're kind of mocking president obama for not going to north carolina. there will be republicans on a tarmac in north carolina as president obama flies ahead going from florida to virginia today. but i don't think either democrats, with my apologies to the chairman, or republicans right now think that north carolina is seriously in play. but it also is important to know that president obama doesn't need north carolina to win. it is not a key part of their equation. >> okay, let me run this

videotape by you, if i can, congresswoman. it was released by something called project veritas, and this videotape shows patrick moran, a son of the virginia congressman, jim moran, a democrat from virginia, giving advice to an undercover reporter from this conservative group on how to cast votes for 100 people that he says weren't planning to vote. at the time, patrick was field director for his father's re-election campaign. he has since resigned after this tape became public. i want to play a little chunk of this and then talk about it on the other side. >> now, you're going to have, you'll have somebody in house, and if they have what you feel is legitimate, they'll argue for you. >> a lawyer? >> an ofa lawyer provided by the communities. >> it's got to look good. >> yeah, i think, it's going to

be a matter of -- >> i need to find a computer guy. that's probably my next step. >> yeah. >> all right. >> you're hard-core, jason. >> what do you think of that videotape? >> it's just indefensible and he was right to resign. but look, the difference here is that when something like that happens, in our -- on our side, first of all, that's one person, and he was quickly taken out of the campaign and we stressed our commitment to making sure that there is no tolerance for voter fraud. but let's look at the republican party, soledad. in three states, the republicans have gotten caught payi ining nn sprou's firm for voter registration fraud. my state, virginia, and one other state, where the republicans paid a firm that was

caught, deliberately, fraudulently registering voters, tossing out some registrations that were democratic voter registrations. so the deep-seated, widespread voter fraud that the republicans are seem to have been continuing to contract this firm for, that's what's very disturbing. you know, isolated innocent ed when they come out on they should be dealt with like this one was and there's zero tolerance for voter fraud. that's the bottom line. >> patrick moran, the young man in that video, released a statement to "the washington post." he said, "at no point did i take this person seriously. he struck me as being unstable and joking, and for only that reason did i humor him. in hind sigt, i should have immediately walked away, making it clear that there is no place if the electoral process for even the suggestion of illegal behavior, joking or not." and his father says, "patrick is well liked and was a well respected member of the campaign team. this incident, however, was

clearly an error in judgment. the campaign has accepted patrick's resignation, effective immediately." i think i have time to ask you about richard mourdock and comments on rape. we were just talking about it a moment ago with jessica yellin. how do you think it impacts the race? >> i think it impacts the race, because it's another example of how deeply embedded the extremism is when it comes to women's health, whether it's todd akin's comments about legitimate rape or richard mourdock's comments saying that a pregnancy from rape is a gift from god. he's only had his spokesperson say he hasn't agreed with his views. mitt romney hasn't asked mourdock to apologize. he hasn't pulled his ad or his endorsement. and that's because mitt romney has said things like he would be delighted to sign a total ban on abortion. so women should be very

concerned about whether or not mitt romney would be supportive of their health. he's clearly, consistently, not been. he's embraced extremism when it comes to women's health, and the richard mourdock endorsement and ad is the latest example. >> congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz joining us this morning. thank you for your time. still ahead on "starting point," he claims his former employer fed on the fear of clients, called muppets. coming up next, he will join us to explain the letter and talk about his critics too. christine, what's happening in business? >> bank of america being accused of, quote, brazen fraud. details on this big new lawsuit. you're watching "starting poi " point." questions? anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah.

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welcome back, everybody. he quit his job in quite a spectacular fashion. it was an op-ed in the new york tooi times, blasting his employer, goldman sachs, accusing the

company of being corrupt and toxic. greg smith raised a lot of eyebrows with that move, including goldman sachs, who after several months finally commented. here's ceo and lloyd blankfein yesterday. >> we went and we investigated and we turned over everything. and you know something, at the end of the day, with all the stress, and i wouldn't want to go through that again, i'll tell you, we're probably going to be a better firm for it anyway, because we really, really, really did look at everything again. but as far as the book itself, i think the consensus of those who review the book is there really was nothing there. >> greg smith's book is called "why i left goldman sachs: a wall street story" and he's with us this morning. nice to have you with us. >> thanks for having me. >> why did you leave like that? people quit their jobs all the time and they don't write an op-ed in "the new york times," that's pretty scathing. why that? >> i was at the firm for 12 years, i was at the forefront for recruiting for the firm, i flied out to stanford twice a year, recruit kids, even appeared on a recruiting video.

but i actually saw things that were wrong and wanted the firm to introspect. and as you know, the firm did a year-long study on conflicts of interest, yet i saw that to be pure lip service. and over a one-year period, i spoke to nine different goldman officials about issues of ethics and culture. >> what did you say to them? because a lot of people have pushed back and said, if you have a complaint, go to your bosses. if you really love the company and hate what's happening, why not speak to your bosses? what did you say? >> let me give you an example. goldman sachs asked me to go to europe to start a new u.s. derivatives business. i would fly from georgia to france to switzerland to italy, and over and over again i would hear from clients saying, we don't trust goldman sachs. i would go back to london headquarters and say, look, we are in the business of servicing clients. >> making money. >> absolutely. but at goldman sachs, there's a trm called an elephant trade, which is when you make $1

million or more on one single piece of business, in one hit. the mentality is certainly about eat what you kill, getting big business. and the biggest big business comes from unsophisticated investors, which is philanthropy, a charity, a university endowment. and if banks were forced to make their earnings transparent and show who they made money to and how they made it, people would be outraged. >> isn't there an argument, if the clients were outraged because they weren't making money, goldman clients seem pretty happy. some of them seem like they don't even mind being called muppets, as long as they're making money. >> one thing about the muppet criticism, and goldman went on a hunt to find the word "muppet," what i think people miss, that the idea of calling someone a name is not the bad thing. the reason you're calling them a name is because you manipulated them or tricked a retirement fund into paying the firm an extra $2 million because they didn't understand a product. now, the question of trust of the firm.

i tell a story in the book where after the s.e.c. charges i flew to asia to meet with one of the firm's biggest sovereign wealth funds, and myself and a goldman partner sat in the room with a multi-million dollar fund, and the guy looked me in the eye and said, let me be honest, i don't trust goldman sachs, we do business with you because we have to. the goldman sachs' partner reaction is, this is great news. the client is not going to pull their business, we're going to keep doing business with them. and my thought is, if you want an organization to last another 140 years and you have this short run mentality, why should you accept that clients don't trust you? >> goldman sachs has portrayed you as a disgruntled employee, who didn't get the bonus that you wanted, which was $1 million, and the year before you had gotten $500,000, which for regular folks, is insane numbers you're talking about. they say you're disgruntled.

and you told anderson you would have done the exact same thing if you had gotten the bonus and if you had gotten the promotion to managing director. if you had gotten the bonus, you would go home and count your money and suck it for another year, at least. isn't it that you're just disgruntled? >> no, i started with 75 people and by the time i left, there were only seven left. and you are buying into a character assassination without actually asking goldman the hard questions. why when goldman released a nine-page document, why don't you ask them to release all my reviews, my entire career and read them on air. ask goldman to release all the e-mails that were sent in the year before i left that said what a terrific job i was doing. so are you ripping off teachers' pension funds? are you still betting against

klines? what i would tell your viewers, and i don't think people know this, is that four years after the crisis and two years after supposedly landmark financial crime, but wall street has spent $3 million lobbying against dodd/frank and less than one third of the bill has been implements and three quarters of the deadlines have been miss. there's a huge revolving door problem between washington and wall street. treasury secretary timothy geithner's aide work for goldman sachs. goldman sachs gives more money to politicians than anyone else. are we beginning to have any political will to fix this problem? right now, to be honest, the problems that led to the crisis are not fixed. >> what are you going to do? i'm going to soassume that you' to the going to be working in investment banking anymore? >> the one thing that wall street forgets sometimes, it gets stuck in its own bubble. it forgets what it really is. what wall street is, it's being trusted with the savings of

america. the hedge funds are for supposedly rich people, account for less than 5% of the market. the real big players are investors that represent citizens' interests, like pension funds and mutual funds that hold 401(k)s. i got thousands of messageses aft after the op-ed. but i actually think there's a value for people within the industry trying to reform it for the better. now, i'm not anti-wall street, i just think wall street -- >> what does that mean in terms of, the job you take next is? >> the job i take next is i want to advocate loudly for financial reform. i think we're at a pivotal moment. what's happened is, you've had the worst financial crisis since the great depression and you've taken a band-aid and put it on a leaking dam. i think there's a place for people within the industry to suggest smart things, make it more transparent, earn money a little bit more slowly, but keep

your clients' trust so they also make money and the industry will be more sustainable. >> the book is called, quo ecal left goldman sachs." greg, nice to have you with us this morning. we've got to take a short break and back in just a moment. all energy development comes with some risk, but proven technologies allow natural gas producers

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morning. welcome to "starting point." new details this morning about a suspect who's now in custody in tunisia in connection with the september 11th attack on america's consulate in benghazi, libya. cnn intelligence correspondent susan kelly has more details for us. good morning. what are we learning? >> well, we know that this is a person who they believe was involved in the attack, who left

libya, went to turkey, and then was detained by turkish officials and transferred to tunisia. and the u.s. is negotiating, going through the process of negotiating, getting access to this person. they want to pinpoint as many of those attackers as they can. >> how did they track this individual? especially since we know, from statements from the white house, and the confusion we've all talked about over the past few weeks, how were they able to zero in on this particular suspect? >> i don't know, exactly, is the fair answer. but this person apparently was posting details about the attack as it was happening on social websites. fg you think about now how much intelligence information is joined fri open sources, from the media, from cnn, facebook, twitter, that kind of thing, there's a lot of stuff out there. and to think of the audacity, though, someone, as an attack is going, put details about it on their so social website, you've got to wonder if they're

thinking about getting caught. >> i really wonder. thanks for being with us this morning. let's get right to john berman with a look at the other stories this morning. >> all eyes on hurricane sandy, now starting to move into the florida straits. it slammed into cuba as a strong category 2 storm earlier this morning. two deaths now being reported on, blamed on sandy, one in jamaica, one in haiti. rob marciano is tracking the storm. a powerful category 2 storm moving our way. >> winds moving the to the north at 18 miles an hour. that motion expected top slow down in the next couple of days, reemerging over the atlantic ocean, it will impact the bahamas. hurricane warnings out there. tropical storm warnings out for much of the east coast of florida. already seeing some of the rain bands getting into miami, into the keys. we've seen winds gust in the key, already over 40 miles an hour. stateside, big cold air coming down, and this is actually going to affect the path of hurricane sandy as it moves up the east coast. here's the forecast track.

it will be offshore florida, but close enough to get winds, rain and rain for the next few days. and then does it go east or go west? that's the big question, at this point, a little bit more than half of our models take it towards the northeast, in some way, shape, or form monday and tuesday of next week. rob? >> thanks so much, rob marciano. if senate candidate richard mourdock wants john mccain's support, he'll have to say he's sorry. he's under fire by saying that pregnancies caused by rape are intended by god. senator mccain telling our anderson cooper there is a way out for the embattled murdoch. >> i think it depends on what he does. if he apologizes and says he misspoke and he was wrong and he asks the people to forgive, then obviously i would be the first. >> mitt romney is appearing in a tv ad endorsing mourdock. the gop nominee says he does not agree with mourdock's comment, but has not asked for the ad to

be pulled. and colin powell says he is voting again for obama. a few minutes ago in an interview on another network. police in colorado have arrested a 17-year-old man in the murder of jessica ridgeway. formal charges are expected to be filed against austin reed sigg later this week. her body was discovered about a week later. police arrested sigg following a tip. in your a.m. house call, a man whose wife died in a fungal meningitis outbreak has now been hospitalized for the same thing. it is not contagious, but he got the same injections as his wife. the meningitis outbreak has now sickened more than 300 people. 25 people have died. oregon researchers have successfully made embryos containing genes from one man

and two women. the procedure one day could be used to keep babies from inheriting rare, incurable diseases, but it's not sure when or even if the controversial technique will be put to use. it is already stirred up an ethical debate. and if you're begging to be hacked, splash security has just released its annual list of worst passwords. number one on this list, "password." number two is "123456," number three, the creative "12345678," number four, "abc123." don't use the kind of password an idiot would have on his luggage. cue, "spaceball." >> did it work? >> i worked. we have the combination. >> what's the combination? >> 12345. >> that's amazing. i have the same combination on

my luggage! >> see, it's a bad idea! >> i can't believe people do that all the time. >> apparently, i'm like, 12345, and the next one is 1235678. >> password is no one's changed it. that's usually the one they set up for you. >> i think some people usually keep the password password. my mine are really obviously, but i'm not going to tell you. coming up next, virginia is a critical swing state. the latest poll shows you it's a statistical dead heat. tom davis will join us to talk about the strategy for republicans there. that's coming up next. so when you call, tweet, and post, we listen. that's why yoplait light and yoplait original are now made with no high fructose corn syrup. and why we use only natural colors and natural flavors in yoplait original. so, anything else we can do for you, let us know. but you'll keep it to yogurt, right? 'cause we shouldn't really help with your love life.

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welcome back, everybody. our team this morning, ryan lizza is with us, washington correspondent for "the new yorker." susie is back. a former reuters columnist, but best selling author. we had you on to talk about your book not long ago. richard socarides, a writer for

t thenewyorker.com. are you still with "the new yorker"? >> yes. and john berman is with us. >> what are you doing these days? >> i do it all, baby. a big change to cnn's electoral map. a key swing sate is no longer a toss-up, that updated just last night with the move north carolina from anyone's game to lean romney. that means there are just eight states where the race is still being fought, including north carolina, where a poll has it a statistical dead heat. our next guest knows that state very well. tom davis is the former republican congressman from virginia, ran the republican campaign committee as well. nice to have you not with us in person, which we always love, sir, but nice to have you with us this morning. if you look at how well the state of virginia is doing, it's below 8%. economy is what everybody's talking about. why is president obama not doing as well in virginia?

>> well, the economy is really good in northern virginia, where you have a lot of federal spending, but you go down to martinsville, southwest virginia, unemployment is still pretty high. this is a really bifurcated state. northern virginia, the president carried by 223,000 votes last time. that's really been his base. he's having troubles in other parts of the state. the president did better in virginia last time, statistically in florida or ohio. but this time the student vote is clearly not going to be elevated as it was before. and in northern virginia, which is the democratic stronghold, i think has got a lot of wealthy people in northern virginia. i think the tax issues, the oversequestering, those sort of thing, have hurt the president a lot. we're in a close race here. >> let's talk about richard mourdock. we were just chatting about the rape statements and what people are making of them. he hasn't apologized, but he's done a clarification of what he meant. let's play a little bit of that.

>> i made a comment that i made, quite honestly, from the deepest roots and the greatest base of my faith, which is to say that i believe life is precious. i believe that to the marrow of my bones. i believe that life itself is the greatest gift that god can give us. if, because of the lack of clarity in my words, that they came away with an impression other than those that i stated a moment ago, that life is presence, and that i abhor violence and i'm confident that god abhors violence and rape, if they came away with any impression other than that, i truly regret it. >> what do you think the impact will be on the race, with comments like that? >> you would hate to be on defense the last few weeks. i think what he's saying that we're all god's creations, but mixings that up with -- >> this is not a time in the campaign to stumble. this was already a close race. so he's on defense. he needs to, i think, apologize

and move forward. he's got two weeks left. >> we have seen john mccain say, until he apologizes, that he would not support this, john berman. we've also seen governor romney, who cut a spot for mr. mourdock, basically, kind of, sort of, back off, like, i still support you, was i don't support that kind of -- >> he clearly doesn't support the comments, but he doesn't want the ad pulled. >> which is a, i don't support you, but i support you kind of move. >> and he did not ask for mr. mourdock to apologize. this race is so close and the race for a senate as a whole is so close, this is a very important race for democrats. >> what should he be apologizing for? >> it's important for both parties? that's the problem right now. you've got missouri, where you had a candidate who really hurt himself with these comments, now in indiana stumbling. you want to put this behind you and make the issue about control of the senate and the agenda for the is next four years and not be on the defense on this. so i know he tried to walk it

back. i think, basically, what he's saying is we're all god's creation, but it didn't really come off that way, the way the press has portrayed it and he needs to get it behind him and move on. >> congressman tom davis, thanks for joining us this morning. we'll take a short break. back in a moment. ♪ ♪ ♪

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welcome back to "starting point." i'm christine romans. minding your business, a huge justice department lawsuit against bank of america over mortgage fraud accusations. the government wants $1 billion from the bank, saying it had a prom called the hustle that rushed through bad loans, which were ultimately sold to fannie mae and freddie mac. bank of america just provided us this statement. the claim that we have failed to

repurchase loans from fannie mae is simply false." u.s. stock futures are up after markets closed slightly lower yesterday. apple earnings, those are due out after the closing bell this morning. next hour, we're going to find out how many unemployment claims were filed for the very first time last week. and those have been so volatile, those jobless claims, soledad, and we're getting so close to the election, we'll be digging do them again this week. >> really interesting to watch. >> there's a song, "do the hustle," right? >> isn't it officially called "the you feel." >> they internally called it the hustle. >> anything called the hustle is bad. she grew up on tv with "clarissa explains it all," and then "sabrina the tv witch." melissa joan hart talks about the new season of "melissa and joey" next. good morning. and she's a long islander!

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melissa and joey where her character hires a male nanny or nanny to take care of the niece and nephew she is now tasked with raising. listen. >> it was you. you talked her into going down there. how did you talk her into going down there? >> people like me. >> no, really. >> i paid her 50 bucks. >> a bribe? that's terrible. not only is that wrong, that's horrible parenting. >> i'm not a parent and neither are you. >> can i have 50 bucks? >> no. >> melissa joan hart, nice to have you. when you were watching the early clips, this is melissa joan hart, she goes like this. >> that's 20 years ago, the clarissa footage. i was like 16.

long time ago. >> really long time ago. you grew up in the same town almost that i grew up in. >> yep, long island. >> tell me what it was like to be 16 years old and starring on a tv show. >> i had been acting since i was 4 years old. it wasn't -- i was used to sort of the schedule of it a little bit. with clarissa from the ages of 13 to 17, i was working in orlando. i was kind of balancing high school and the show and going -- and my family. my family is in new york. i'm going down to orlando all the time. my family is in connecticut and i'm working in l.a. >> three kids. just had a brand new baby. >> my third baby boy. my three sons, yeah. >> you're the producer of your new show. >> i was of sabrina and also of melissa and joey. >> does it help with the management of your life? >> in certain ways. there's benefits to being the load of a show as an actress, but also being producer, because you get to do things like work

with really great talent and bring them on the show and say i want -- i just worked with lucy devito, three 3 1/2 years ago. i wanted her on melissa and joey. she's hilarious, fantastic. >> it's a power grab. >> yeah. you get to have some fun. you get to have some creative control. i really enjoy that. >> you get to decide the hours, too, right? >> a little bit. usually we work friday nights on a live show. we're trying to push it to thursday. so friday will be like a two-hour day and i can take off for the weekend to get home and see my family more. >> you have been focused on health care for women around birth really. >> yes. >> tell me about why. youf got three healthy kids, thank god. >> i do. i'm very blessed. i had a very healthy pregnancy and shared my story on -- i partner with merck for their once upon a birth campaign. go for merck for mothers campaign page. i shared my birth story. for every story shared they will

make a donation to join my village, which is an empowerment program for women around the world. 800 women die every day in childbir childbirth. >> so, your paid by merck to do this. i have to imagine there are a million people who would love to stand up and talk about their project. why pick this particular one? >> anything related to mothers and babies is just where my heart is. especially just giving birth to my third child and being so blessed to have these healthy, beautiful children and know that doesn't always happen. i've seen it even in my town in connecticut, i have a friend who is pregnant right now who is at risk of hemorrhaging but she has great prenatal care and the rest of the world does not necessarily. and even in the u.s. they don't. >> we talked about this earlier in the week, the number of women who die. >> 800 a day. >> it's become a political issue now. you hear candidates occasionally talking about this. what do you make of that? >> 98% of these cases are preventable. you get them the right prenatal

ca care, teach people in the village to take care of themselves, train midwives, teach the husbands. these are preventable. most of it is hemorrhaging and preeclampsia. >> preventable is the key. mel melissa joan hart, it's great to see you. to test the 2.0-liter turbo engine. [ engine revs ] ♪ [ derek ] 272 horsepower. the lightest in its class. the cadillac ats outmatches the bmw 3 series. i cannot believe i have ended the day not scraping some red paint off on these barriers. ♪ [ male announcer ] the all-new cadillac ats.

morning. welcome, everybody. "starting point" this morning swing state, president obama and mitt romney on a swing state blitz. as a key swing state changes its color, the president picks up a

big endorsement. that happened moments ago. sandy makes landfall in could you bea and jamaica. is the eastern u.s. the next? don't trust the b in apartment 23. of course, we all know him from dawson's creek. he will join us live, james van der beek. "starting point" begins right now. we should keep that as our theme song. i love it. i'm so excited to see him. and he's cute. he is. he's a handsome man, very funny. we'll talk about his new show. our team this morning also cute. ryan lizza from the new yorker. also cute, written a best-selling book, and columnist. richard socaretes. >> he has a great sense of humor. >> relax while i get to it. and he's cute. pipe down, everybody. >> thank you. >> it's going to be that kind of a day.

>> john berman, very cute. >> don't even want to go there. >> you all are working my last nerve. our "starting point" this morning, no surprise, on the road battling, moments ago president obama picked up a new endorsement from colin powell. here is what he said on cbs news this morning. >> you know, i voted for him in 2008. i plan to stick with him in 2012. i'll be voting for he and vice president joe biden in the next month. >> that's an endorsement of president obama for re-election? >> yes. >> he's sort of like, yes, did you just hear what i said? yes. >> updated cnn electoral math. how each state will go. from toss-up to lean romney, which we signify in pink. just eight battleground states in which both candidates have a chance of getting a lead and the presidency with that lead. whirlwind 48-hour tour, when

he's calling his all-nighter. which is really two all-nighters, hitting florida, virginia and ohio. governor romney will spend his entire day in ohio, where the latest cnn poll of polls shows him behind only by three points. richard lumenthal is the former connecticut attorney general and senator from connecticut. thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> we were listening to president obama talking about how tight the race was. a year ago everybody was counting him out as well. i want to play a little bit of that first. >> you guys have some short memories. folks in your business were writing me off a year ago, saying there's no way i would win. so, yeah, these things go in ebbs and flows. i've tried to just be steady in terms of what i believe in, who i'm fighting for and, you know, i think one of the qualities i bring to bear in this campaign

is people see what did i say i was going to do in 2008 and what have i delivered? and they can have some confidence that the things i say, i mean. >> so he says it's tight, but he has been consistent. is that going to be enough to really win over some of those swing states that we know are critical to whoever is going to try to win the presidency? >> i think the plan that he set forward to grow manufacturing, to grow middle class economic security, to bring back jobs from overseas, to train people for the jobs that exist right now and the future through our community colleges, focusing on strengthening the middle class will, in fact, resound in those swing states. and he has said from the very beginning that this race would be tight. but he has been steady. and i think at the end of the day, a lot of voters will be

decided on the basis of trust and accountability. and the trust in him, i think, is very strong. >> that brings us to an interesting point. there was this individuvideo rey project varitus, a conservative group by the guy named james o he'keefe. it shows patrick moran, son of virginia rep moran of virginia, giving advice to someone undercover and obviously rolling on it, how to cast votes for 100 people that he says aren't really going to plan to vote. patrick was the field director for his father's campaign and resigned yesterday. i want to play that clip and we'll talk about it on the other side. >> now you're going to have -- you'll have somebody in house that if they feel what you have is legitimate they'll argue for you. i imagine -- >> they'll pay a lawyer? >> provided by the committees.

>> but tess got to look good. >> it's got to look good? >> yeah. i think it's going to be a matter of -- >> got to find a computer guy. that's probably my next step. >> okay. how damning is that? you heard him say it's got to look good. >> you know, i think at the end of this election, as people really have to make hard choices about their own futures and make the choices in the presidential campaign, what they will look to is what these candidates have said about the economy and jobs. and the president has a plan to grow jobs. these distractions, the day-to-day clips whatever, i do not think, will be decisive for most voters. if you look at what's happening, for example, in the controversy concerning the indiana candidates, the quote from the president -- the senatorial candidate that pregnancy

resulting from rape is intended by god and the refusal of romney to disavow completely the ad that's endorsing that candidate, mr. mourdock, that will be much more important to women, who are making choices and who want a presidential candidate who sides with their right to choose or their right to health care and their right to equal pay for equal work. those kinds of bread and butter, nuts and bolts issues, growing the economy, the middle class and ensuring economics is much more important. >> i suppose as a democrat you're hoping so, right? a pretty devastating clip. i was watching richard socrates face. >> great for the democrat in that race. >> that's his son.

>> oh, you're talking about mr. mourdock. >> i'm not even thinking of this young mr. moran. this is like somebody having a privately recorded conversation. mr. mourdock is making a statement in a debate, public forum, the candidate for senate. >> and as well when you talk about, for example, veterans' issues, the president openly, directly in the last dealt with the need to provide more jobs, counseling, health care as well as training for our veterans coming back from iraq and afghanistan. but all veterans, no matter which war or when. i think that kind of real issue really matters to people in the swing states but also across the country. and i think that the economic issues will be dominant. >> let me ask a question of john berman. he did a funny -- people talk about distractions, which is the thing you don't want to talk about, the looming discussion.

do you think he's correct that this is, john, a distraction, this tape from james o'keefe, known to do these hit jobs and run around and do that kind of stuff? >> i don't think it's a distraction in virginia. >> how about nationally? >> i don't know what kind of legs it has. debbie schultz called it -- and they've distanced themselves as fast as they can from this. i don't think there's evidence of voter fraud. any time you see evidence of it, where people are thinking about it or talking about it, it does not reflect well on either party. >> thank you for talking with us. you're in stamford. you have to come in in person next time. >> i would love to be there. thank you. >> we appreciate that. you bet. president obama taking some time to campaign and actually sat down with jay leno. the president was joking that

he's just now getting the hang of the debates now that they're over. and he said to jay a little bit about his contentious relationship with donald trump, which is also kind of funny. listen. >> this all dates back to when we were growing up together in kenya. >> yeah. i got to give you that one. i've got to give you that one. >> we had constant run-ins on the soccer field. >> yeah. >> you know, he wasn't very good and resented it. >> he had some pretty good joke writers. i thought the jokes that both romney and obama had at the dinner were quite good. that was a good joke. >> jay leno seemed genuinely impressed. >> i think he literally was like, i'm going to give you that one. you have other stories making news. what have you got? >> i do. hurricane sandy hit cubas ay strong category 2 storm erthis

morning, two deaths being reported, one in jamaica, the other in haiti. rob marciano is tracking sandy. category 2 storm and may be headed our way. >> that's true. it will get through the bahamas first. category 2 with winds of 105 miles an hour, off the coast of cuba, moving northerly at 18 miles an hour. it will get close enough to florida such that it will see some rainfall and wind as it does that. the forecast track from the national hurricane center, lose a little bit of strength over the next two days, getting into slightly cooler water, interacting with the jet stream, which is powerful this time of year. it may dig deep enough to where it actually pulls what's left of sandy. it could be very strong, back towards the northeast. anywhere from the delmarva to newfoundland, can darks may feel an impact from this next week. it's a complicated situation and will be a big one, affecting millions of people.

>> thank you, rob. new developments on the september 11th terror attacks on the u.s. consulate in libya, the fbi will be allowed to question a suspect arrested. benghazi attack on social media websites as it was happening. new developments in the shooting of anti-taliban activist malala yousafzai. the man they call the main shooting suspect is still at large. we expect malala to be reunited with her father and other family members today at a british hospital. she's making good progress now we're told. pablo sandoval could not have picked a bigger stage to have the game of his life, leading the san francisco giants in game one, tying a world series record held by babe ruth, reggie jackson, albert pujols,

pretty good company. the first to do it in his first three bats in a world series game. game two tonight in san francisco. justin verlander was on the mound for the tigers last night. maybe the best pitcher in baseball, and he lost. >> he was unstoppable against my yankees. turnabout is fair play. do i sound bitter? a little tiny. this much. still ahead on "starting point," a new abraham lincoln movie, cover of "time" magazine and a new book because some say the candidates of today could learn a lot from lincoln. we'll talk to the time magazine offer, a new lincoln biography. who knew that science geeks were little monsters also?

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welcome back, everybody. with less than two tough weeks to go before americans decide who will be president for the next four years, with president obama and governor romney making the final stops in swing states. there is one person who thinks both of them could look to the past for good advice, 150 years into the past, matter of fact. a new article in "time" magazine, he says as obama and mitt romney reach the final hours of their race for the heavy prize of leading a polarized america through the next four years of challenges, they, and we, could learn a lot from the lincoln of 1862. a preview of david's new book is out next week called rise to greatness. it's nice to have you with us

this morning. >> thank you very much. >> why 1862? you've said that is sort of this one year you would focus on, not just in your book but in the article as well. why that year? >> at the beginning of 1862, all the smartest people in the world who were looking dispassionately at crisis in america believed that the south was going to win its independence. the south had control of the most important commodity in the world, cotton. they had military leadership. they had a huge expanse, bigger real estate than all of europe, c conquered by napolean. and with no experience, trying to raise an army to go and somehow force these people back into the union and people said that's impossible. by the end of the year, lincoln had signed the emancipation proclamation, tamed the

congress, had complete control of his cabinet. he had discovered ulysses s. grant. >> how? how did he do it? >> moderation. he worked from the center out. one thing people in the north basically agreed on is that it was important to preserve the union. partly because of the spirit of this american experiment that they were trying to save. partly for very practical reasons. there was no good border for dividing the country up. they understood that if the country split one way, north and south, it would probably split east and west and soon they would be like europe, one war after another. and he started with union and built out, built out, built out. >> enormous freedom that the leaders today don't have. i mean, there was no media. there was no twitter. he could lead in a way that leaders today can't. i mean, you said he had patience. what leader can lead with patience today?

>> he had more media than we think he did. every city in america had not one newspaper, but five, 10, 15 newspapers. and they were as partisan as any blogs or websites today. and they would take his words and twist them. so, he had more message discipline, you want to talk about that, as a political virt virtue. his message discipline was incredible, the time he would spend over every word he was going to say so that what went out from him was exactly what he wanted to say at any given time. and this was the beginning of the modern age. it's not the end of the past. he had the telegraph. he invented the role of commander in chief. before that, it was in the constitution, but nobody knew what that meant. the general would march out to fight in mexico and would soon be out of range of communication and whatever the president thought, the general was going to do what he wanted.

lincoln could be in communication every day. >> what's the advice? if you could sit down with governor romney and president obama and say, listen, i've just written this giant bok on lincoln, here's what you should take away? centrist today? >> you can't be more polarized than united states in 1862. they were shooting each other. they were killing oech other in huge numbers. carnage at shiloh, more people killed in two days than had been killed in all american wars put together up till then. you can't be more polarized, yet lincoln was saying no to his base, the abolitionists all year long. it's too soon. we can't do this now. we have to show that we're with the mainstream. that's how he moved the mainstream, by being patient. >> why isn't he remembered as the shape shifter that he was known for in his time? i remember being in springfield, illinois with with obama, actually, when he was running

for the senate and he pointed and said that's where abraham lincoln crawled out a window because he didn't want to take a tough vote. i thought it was interesting that obama appreciated that. that's not how he was known in his time. >> i think it's because he had one conviction, which is he was going to save the united states of america. and anything that got him there, he would try it. he would be willing to give it a try. and so it's the goal. it's the future is what i would say to either of the candidates, to both of them. this is an optimistic future oriented country. and if you can focus on that, that's where people agree. >> pick one message and stick with it and no one will remember you crawled out a window for a vote. the book is called "rise to greatness: abraham lincoln and the most perilous year." the obama campaign in a two-part strategy to get votes,s

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welcome back, everybody. president obama's campaigning in florida today while mitt romney makes stops in ohio. we just learned that the president will be campaigning next week with former president clinton. it's all a final push to try to win the swing states. ryan has a new article in the new yorker called the final

push. did you steal that from me right now? >> we lonely writers don't do the headlines. >> you talked about what could be a very risky strategy for the obama team. what's that strategy that's so risky? >> jim acino described the strategy, the sort of new romney strategy, spend over the spring and summer some hundred million dollars just to define romney when he was coming out of a tough primary, before he could define himself. now lock, this isn't brain -- this isn't rocket science. every incumbent who is in a little bit of trouble tries to do this with their challenger. i think this was important enough to -- that the decision to spend as much as they spent early on, on romney was important enough that very few decisions in the campaign actually went to president obama. they had to take this to obama, show him the budget and say we're going to spend this much money and might not have enough for the end game but it's important enough to assault him early on. obama himself had to sign off on

that. in the end they made up for it in the fund-raising. that was the bet part. we'll spend a lot early on and don't know if we can have the money in the end. if you look at what happened after that first debate where mitt romney comes into that dough bait as the first candidate in seven elections, democrat or republican, to have his approval numbers upside d n down. that is, his disapproval in september was higher than his approval. it was the first time in the last seven elections it has happened to either candidate. what happens in the debate? a week later all the polls show it reversed and he erases an entire year's worth of negative advertising. and the fact that he was able to do that, i think, tells you that advertising these days just does not have the same impact it once did. >> so, your piece, ryan, goes into the ground game of the obama team. i've covered elections for a long time. it used to be in the old days when ay campaign talked about its ground game, it was like, oh, man, they're in big trouble.

then it changed. in 2004 we saw the bush team in ohio do something remarkable and we saw it four years ago with the obama team turning out votes. is the ground game an important part, crucial part, decisive part? >> in '96, the union spent all their money on ads. 2000, they spent it all on the ground game, disproportionately. karl rove into the 2000 election, thought bush was going to win and significantly. we all know what happened. only because the supreme court ended the recount in florida. in 2004 as you point out they invested a massive amount in it. in 2008 democrats did the same thing and the obama campaign did something very unusual. they went out and tried to find new voters, young voters, aafrican-americans, latinos and expanded the electorate, right? if they had relied on the 2004 elect electorate and 2008, they would have won probably about by a point. instead he won by six points. that's what they're trying to do again this time.

>> you make the argument that the obama ground game is really in great shape. how is romney's ground game? what are they up against? >> they have over 700 field offices, the obama folks do, in these swing states. i don't know the exact number for romney but it's much, much, much lower. their belief in the ground game is all about people, recruiting people. they tell their volunteers to go out and find new people. they're much more focused on that. >> did you just compare campaigns to amway? >> yes. >> thank you, ryan. >> thank you, guys. still ahead on "starting point," hurricane sandy is causing serious damage in cuba and in jamaica. we'll took a look at whether the eastern u.s. is up next. an inside look of the statute of liberty before it reopens this end. >> my favorite part was making that climb with two disabled veterans and this, sticking me head out of the crown to an

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welcome back, everybody. start with john berman with a look at the day's top stories. >> thanks, soledad. hurricane sandy moving through cuba and the bahamas. it hit cuba as a strong category 2 storm. with two deaths, one in haiti, one in jamaica. rob, this may be head ed our wa. >> it will at least parallel the u.s. coastline. it has to get through the bahamas. 105-mile-an-hour winds, category 2 storm. it's lot a little bit of its intensity as it is going through could you bea but probably will get stronger as it moves over warm waters. close enough to florida where you'll see tropical storm force winds beginning later on this afternoon and then lasting right through tomorrow morning. and what it does once it gets

past cape h aatteras, that's up for speculation. what will drive it is some of the cold air driving it now down across the u.s., may steer things a little bit backwards to where we might get some action across the east coast. more of our computer models today bring it back this we mid woek next woek as opposed to pushing it off to sea. that could have huge impacts. we'll keep you updated on that front. >> it has us nervous up here. i'll tell you that. highest ranking republican to distance himself from senate candidate richard mourdock, who is under fire saying pregnancies caused by rape are intended by god. telling cnn's anderson cooper there is a way for the embattled republican to recover from his comment. >> eye think it depends on what he does, if he apologizes, said he misspoke, and he was wrong and asks the people to forgive him, then obviously i would be

the first -- >> mitt romney taped a tv ad endorsing mourdock. the republican nominee says he do not agree with mourdock's comments but so far has not asked for the advertisement to be pulled. >> a shark that killed a surfer this week was a great white. look at this photo. it shows a bite the shark took out of the surfboard. they believe the great white was at least 15 feet long. he was bitten in the upper torso while surfing with friends off the coast of california. a new genus of fern after the pop diva. plus the fe are. n, carrying a dna sequence that spells gaga. i've really made it when someone names a fern after me. >> it looks like her. >> looks like an outfit.

>> it kind of looks like her. christine romans joins us now. >> first time unemployment claims filed in the previous week. 369,000 jobs down 23,000 from the woek before. we like to lock at the trend, soledad. these get really complicated, especially when so many people are watching them so close to the election. this chart goes back to 2007. you can so the huge spike, 2008 and 2009 and now we've been banding between about 350,000 to 400,000 first-time unemployment benefit benefits the past couple of months or so. we'll keep watching that for you, soledad. >>christine, thank you. here is a live picture of the statue of liberty -- there it is. zoraida had a chance to get an exclusive peek. good morning. >> god morning. statue opens to the public this weekend on its 126th birthday.

i got to see what's new inside lady liberty along with some of our wounded warriors. the statue of liberty's crown and interior have been closed for a year. but for retired marine corps laer hughes, it seemingly has been longer. that's because the observation level of this iconic symbol of freedom with his not wheelchair accessible until today. >> wow! amazing. >> reporter: hughes, a vietnam vet, is taking the inaugural ride in a newly installed elevator to the statue's observation deck. >> just to be here was something that never really entered into my mind because i hate to be turned down. i hate to be rejected. so i'm no longer being rejected. i'm being here. >> reporter: the new elevator is just part of a year-long $30 million renovation that also

includes upgrading stairwells and making safety improvements. the end result, a more accessible lady liberty that will allow an additional 26,000 visitors each year a chance to enjoy her spectacular views. >> when these adaptions are made, it opens it up for all of us. >> reporter: i joined kirk b aauer, who lost his leg in vietnam, and jeffrey aacosta, who was injured by a rodside bomb in iraq. so you stuck your head out of -- >> the crown. >> very cool. is this what you expected? >> fantastic. actually, it's more tight than i thought looking up. but it is just incredible view. >> reporter: the renovation was full of challenges because of the statue's location and because they had to do it all

without drilling into any part of the historic structure. >> it was a challenge, huge challenge. we had to envision all of this, make this building more safe, more code compliant, more accessible, more welcoming and do it in a way that respected the historic fabric. >> it's very impressive to see what they did, to see the investment in a world haeritage site, to allow those with perceived disabilities, those that need access to see some of our historical sites, to be able to touch it, see it that much closer taechls really wonderful to be here. >> you guys been down here? >> reporter: got statue's superintendent, david lousinger, this moment among the most memorable. >> to be able to welcome our veterans home and welcome them here and actually get veterans up into the crown and up into the observe aation deck is just amazing. >> reporter: grateful construction workers saluting america's heroes on this

historic visit. >> we want to give you a token of thanks. first, for coming out and visiting with us. but, most importantly, for the service and dedication you've done for our country. >> they were thanking us. we should be thanking them. they are the ones that are making it possible. they're the hands that made this monument open to everyone, including those with disabilities. >> reporter: restored lady liberty truly representing a symbol of freedom for all to enjo enjoy. >> i love the music at the end. emotional. >> very emotional. work on the monument is expected to be xloeted early next year. if you are interested in visiting the statue of liberty's crown, it is open on sunday. tickets are available. however, this is a huge however, demand is so high they've sold out through the end of the year. don't give up. you never know. what an emotional experience it was for everybody yesterday. i want to mention this. i forgot this this morning.

the guys who participated in this, they're part of disabled sports u.s.a. what we didn't talk about here, which is very important to them, they say when you are disabled and severely disabled in the case of these three gentlemen, you've got to get out there right away again. part of it with his for these two guys to be able to go up those 146 steps. that was a huge accomplishment for them. they were also able to also summit denali. get out there and be part of society again. it was incredible. >> lovely piece. >> thank you. >> appreciate it. still ahead on "starting poi point," the star of "don't trust the b in apartment 23." you may remember him from this show, yeah, dawson's creek. where others fail, droid powers through.

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we know jon huntsman jr. from his failed bid for

president yam nominee. but his father is -- >> reporter: if the name sounds familiar it's no coincidence. this is jon huntsman sr. he says he was born with nothing and describes his upbringing aas tough. 42 years ago, he started a small plastics company in southern california. >> in 1973, a small team that worked with me, we invented the big mac hamburger container. >> reporter: over the years, that little company has grown into the huntsman corporation, one of the largest pet row chemical plastics and industrial firms in the world. he describes himself as a deal junkie, who has also developed an addiction for giving, donating more than $1.2 billion so far to thousands of charities and individuals in the united states and abroad. his main charitable focus for

nearly two decades, building the huntsman cancer institute. >> i just wanted to have the best in the world. and i bloev that we're -- that's where we are today. >> reporter: that's because cancer has hit his family hard. his mother died from cancer. as did his father and stepmother. and huntsman wasn't spared. he has survived prostate cancer, mouth cancer and two types of skin cancer. so he built a state-of-the-art cancer center that uses cutting edge technology and has top scientists searching for cures. >> because everyone is so happy. >> right. >> so kind. >> reporter: dr. sanjay gupta, cnn, reporting. to 100 calories? your world. ♪ [ whispers ] real bacon... creamy cheese... 100 calories... [ chef ] ma'am [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

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>> oh, michelle williams. >> are they going to play the whole intro? >> how long can weply this? >> we're waiting for james van der beek to come out. >> maybe we could all talk about what our favorite dawson creek episodes were. really? >> if you look at that show and why he has done so well in his new show called "the b in apartment 23," in that new show he makes fun of himself from dawson creek. he plays himself. when you look at those people who were all elevated to stardom from that show, who dod we see there, michelle williams, katie

holmes, of course. sometimes she's on the front page for tough things. >> she's been in the news. >> i think his strategy of -- he doesn't really mock himself, but plays himself in a way. >> it's a daring thing to play yourself as an aging sort of fading star. that's a great daring thing for him to be doing. >> it's a hard part to play. it would be harder to cast someone else in the role of james van der beek in this show. >> we've been showing clips. that's okay. we'll give you a mike. >> quite an entrance. >> nice to have you with us. i'm well. we got news you were in our elevator. >> yes. >> we were playing an entire episode of dawson's creek. >> i heard this song in the elevator that's been haunting me since i was 20 years old. >> we were talking about how it is to play yourself on your new

show. is it fun? was it weird to get that kind of pitch to do that? >> yeah. honestly, it's the most liberating, healthiest thing in the world. >> why liberating? >> everyone, especially actors, can afford to take themselves a little less seriously from time to time. and so it's really therapeutic to just kind of destroy the ego a little bit every single day. >> you had a funeral for your character. >> we did, a viking furm. we set a bunch of memorabilia on fire in central park, as one does. >> was it liberating to see the character go up in smoke? >> you know, it's really -- i've had an interesting relationship with the whole phenomenon. daws dawson's creek is something that happened to me when i was 20. i started out doing theater here in new york when i was 16. and a couple years later i got this pilot on this show on a network i never heard of. and then six years later, i had this thing kind of following me.

and, you know, now at 35, it's fun to appreciate just the fact that anybody remembers anything that i did ten years ago. >> is it true that the shot of you crying, which everybody knows, is the most -- what did you say, downloaded mean? >> yes. >> is that true? >> the research says that, sir. >> it's so funny. >> there it is. >> for you personally, it was almost like too much of a good thing, right? then you had to redefine your brand, right? i read that you did a lot of parts against type in order to get people to think of you differently. >> you know, i've always enjoyed shaking it up. for me, doing the same thing for too long makes me crazy. so, i don't know. i always felt like i had some tricks in my bag. it's been fun at times to -- it's a lot harder to get famous than it is to change an image, i think. when you have something going

for you that people are expecting and then you're able to pull something out that they don't, that's fun. >> which brings us to our new show. talk about playing yourself but at the same time, going against -- let's play that. >> i love ice cream. >> this is the invite for your halloween party? >> james is terrified of halloween. >> i hate being scared. hate it. hate it worse than i hate applause for other people. >> every year james throws a positivity party where we celebrate life and happiness. >> absolutely no scary costumes, just happy ones. it started as a kid when my dad played a vhs of halloween on christmas, ruined two holidays at once. >> tell me a little bit about this new show and the chemistry, because what they've done is kind of make a really edgy show -- it's getting great critical reviews. >> thank you. yeah. it's been -- it's the most fun i've ever had on any job. >> every actor says that, it's

the most fun, i'm working with the best people. >> if they're on another job, they're lying. >> it's not about this show. >> i've heard you say that. >> i've never said that. never. >> we work pretty short hours. and the writing is just really consistently funny. it's edgy. it's all of the brain child, who worked on "american dad." it's centered around the two girls and for all intents and purposes i'm the wacky friend who lives down the street. >> some of the jokes are fairly shocking. my wife and i were like, wow! is there ever anything that you find too shocking? is there anything that gets left on the cutting room floor? >> yeah. every once in a while they tell us we've gone a little too far. >> this is cable. you can say it now. >> huh? >> this is cable. you can say some of those jokes, right? >> oh, really? well -- so you know our

challenge then becomes when they tell us you can't say that, to come up withing something potentially worse that they can't argue with. >> thank you for joining us. we have to take a short break. thanks. list of almost two thousand corporate partners - companies like microsoft, american red cross and adobe - to create options for you. not only that, we're using what we learn from these partners to shape our curriculum. so that when you find the job you want you'll be a perfect fit. let's get to work. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing a reason...to look twice. introducing a stunning work of technology --

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