we haven't been able to confirm that. 175 people on board, a california zepher hitting a vehicle on the track. we'll keep you posted as we get further details. martha: i'll see you tonight filling in for gretan the record. gregg: have a safe weekend and take all the precautions necessary. we'll see you, we'll be here owl throughout the weekend. "happening now" begins now. rick: i'm rick folbaum in for jon scott. we'll be joined by jenna lee in a moment. "happening now," hurricane irene is a category 2 storm packing winds up to 115 miles perdue hour. rain is already falling in the carolinas, and tropical-force winds are expected there by this afternoon. residents all the way up to new

england are prepping for irene. seven states have declared states of emergency. we are expecting a live statement from press which should happen in about a half an hour. let's get the latest path of hurricane irene from janice dean. >> reporter: we got the new path and advisory. this is still a category 2 storm. 105 sustained winds. moving forward at 114 miles perdue hour. a very large storm. we will feel the affects of the storm all along the coastline as it hugs the coast and possibly makes a landfall saturday morning, we're thinking somewhere between morehead city and cape hat ta rufplts you can secape hatteras. hurricane-force winds 90 miles away from the center of the storm, a very large expansive system that is going to affect much of the east coast within the next couple of days. category 2 storm, this is the

latest advisory from the national hurricane center. we are expecting a landfall, again, some time saturday morning, i believe anywhere between 11 and 3:00. again the exact time and intensity of storm to be determined upon landfall. we think it will make a second landfall some time sunday morning between 10 and 2pm on long island, western long island right now. again, that is the latest advisory and then moving very quickly up into new england. we could see a third landfall across southern connecticut again as a hurricane. i want to show you one of the computer models that we look at when we see the cone of uncertainty going further out in time. this indicates landfall 9:00am saturday across coastal portions of north carolina and making a beeline along portions of new jersey, long island, upstate new

york and into new england. thinks one of the computer models that makes up the cone. as we go a little further out in time we are getting a little more of a ken census as to where the storm is headed. it's a dangerous one, it's going to bring a lot of rain, battering wind and power outages all along the big cities. rick: thanks so much. the outer edges of irene as we've already told you, they are impact being the carolinas, rain is expected to fall there throughout the day and shelters are open to folks who are evacuating north carolina's coastal communities. jonathan serrie is live. >> reporter: as you can see behind me the surf is kicking up. as you pan over here you can see work crews at the hotel where we're staying boarding up the windows. we first noticed them when we were eating breakfast in the restaurant. it was a similar scene at a seafood restaurant when we were ordering dinner last night we noticed the boards going up as well.

this scenario is being played out over and over again at businesses all up and down the north carolina coast as people prepare for this oncoming storm. as far as evacuations, as of today there is a mandatory evacuation in place not only for visitors to these island communities but also for residents. and thousands are already heeding the warnings although there are a few that are deciding to stay behind. one of the big reasons people stay behind are pets. disaster shelters traditionally do not allow animals in. they have opened up five dozen shelters on the mainland, and a handful are taking domesticated animals, dogs and cats. there is an option for many of these people who would have stayed behind to look after pets. as we go back to the live shot

you can see the heavy surf. it was raining a little bit this morning, the rain holding off now. you see the ominous clouds on the horizon we anticipate we will get a drenching as we go into the day and the first major feeder band of this storm slowly comes ashore. rick back to you. rick: jonathan serrie live in north carolina, atlantic beach. thank you very much. our military is also preparing for the worst. the navy ordering dozen of its ships and subs out to sea to protect them of the hurricane and sending planes away from its massive naval complex in norfolk, virginia. also taking precautions the coast guard. >> we will be one of the last units out of here tomorrow. we have to shore up everything that is loose. people don't realize the strength of hurricane winds. a light object becomes a missile. there won't be anything left, everything will be evacuated to safe-havens. rick: joining us now on the form is rear admiral mark benzal commander of the mid-atlantic

region. we saw pictures of the fleet being moved out to sea yesterday. is all of that done? >> yes it is, rick. we've got the ships out to sea or in safe-havens up river in norfolk. rick: why are they safer out in the open water, sir? >> they ride out the storm much better. we can get them far enough away from the high seas that they would not take the pounding that they would in the harbors here next to the pier, so it's much safer for them to be at sea. rick: relocating these ships out to sea doesn't affect our military readiness does it? >> not at all. the ships are ready to do anything we need them to do including after the storm perform humanitarian relief or disaster relief. rick: what are you prepared to do after the storm in tpherpls oin terms of helping out. >> the ships we've sent to sea have full capability including heavy and medium helicopters if

we were asked to by fema to come and help out. rick: are there any exercises or drills that can be carried out while they are out to sea, any way to put the situation into a positive. >> we looked very carefully at that. the mission in this one, rick is to stay out of the way of irene. we are focused on that. irene is a very dangerous storm and so our mission is to make sure that our ships are safe. rick: rear admiral mark benzal is commander of the mid-atlantic region. thank you very much, sir. >> thank you. rick: we had a couple of technical issues that you didn't know about at the beginning of the show. jenna lee is in washington today. we couldn't hear you for a couple of minutes. you're back. jenna: i promise i showed up to school on time. i was ready to go. no weather to blame this on,

maybe a new tkpwrep gremlins in the system. we're ready to go. a really interesting conversation about the navy and the preparedness for this and what is next. new york city is in the crosshairs of hurricane irene and it could disrupt the nation's largest mass transit system as well. mayor michael bloomberg is going to shut down the entire system some time tomorrow before the hurricane's riva arrival. heather, what could happen? >> it means a lot of delays and a lot of people that aren't going to be able to go a whole lot of places. if irene hits as a category 2 it could drive a 20-foot storm surge into low-lying areas of new york city. coupled with heavy rainfall and flooding could overwhelm the drainage systems, po

potentially halting 468 subway stations serving manhattan, brooklyn, queens and the bronx. >> if the projections hold right now the mta would expect to suspend services on all of our services for a period of time. >> reporter: so right now the city's plan is to shut down the subway system as early as saturday afternoon, just a plan right now. that is if winds reach 39 miles perdue hour, all rail and bus service would be suspended. each subway station will be searched to make sure no one is left behind and then the gates, or the barricade tape will go up blocking entrances and exits. so you don't want to be down there. if a category one hurricane hits we will also be affected, numerous subway tunnels still guaranteed to flood including under river tunnels and most of the lines that run through lower manhattans and the rock aways. the port authority of new york and new jersey says it will have crews on stand by to deploy extra pumps and stand bags in

case of flooding, jenna. jenna: a lot of different scenarios to entertain, this is just one of them. heather thank you so much for that. we appreciate it. this is a story we're watching closely here. something else we'd like to bring to your attention of course is sometimes the best way for us to tell a story on the news is with your images, if you want to send us any pictures or video of what you're seeing in your area you can do so at foxnews.com. we try to get the images on the air. we got are great ones yesterday and were able to put them up during the show. we have to remember that safety comes first always. rick: always. good advice. we'll see you in a couple of seconds. the man accused in the tucson center massacre at the center of a courtroom battle today. what a judge could decide in the jerod laufner.

and we'll continue to watch the path of irene. >> it's just crazy, it's unbelievable. >> it's panic. forget it. [ male announcer ] there's more barbeque time in every bag of kingsford charcoal. kingsford. slow down and grill. how'd you learn to do that? what'd you use? every project we finish comes with a story built-in.

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rick: welcome back. president obama is facing some of the lowest approvement ratings of his presidency. consumer confidence is near an all time low. now some are looking at the white house reaction to all of this and seeing a crisis incompetency. it's focus of a "wall street journal" op.edu piece by the chairman of the u.s. report. and he joins us live. why have so many people who supported president obama in 2008 like yourself now seemingly have lost confidence in him. >> i think it's a question of performance and competence. there is a sense that this man has not been equal to the job. if you look at the major issues facing the country, and the major one now is clearly the economy, i think they had the

wrong stimulus program, and wrongly directed. it was too small. i think the healthcare program was a diversion for the country, he he should have concentrated on the economy and jobs. with the debt fiasco, he never put forth his own program he said he was going to inch size on raising taxes for billions and millionaires, so you're left with a feeling that he's someone that doesn't know what he is doing. he didn't want to take the political risk. rick: let me play deaf till's advocate for a minute. he ran promising healthcare law and he delivered on that. he has lowered taxes over the course of his presidency. he okayed the mission that got osama bin laden, moammar qaddafi

is not far behind doesn't that matter. >> the real unemployment rate is 19 percent, that's what matters. it's a question of which numbers you pick to measure it by. if you measure it according to people who have been out of a job nor six months and have applied for a job within the last six months -- excuse me applied for a job within the last six months rather than in the last four weeks which makes sense that's the number you ought to use that's 16.2%. if you deal with labor force participation you take into account the number of people who have left the labor force it's 19%. that is something which we haven't experienced in our lifetimes and everybody feels that. secondly, the other thing that people feel is a huge decline in the value of their homes. their home equity was the largest as set on the balance sheet of the average american family and they have lost a fortune on it on average two-thirds of the home equity has been wiped out. something is going wrong here. we have a huge number of foreclosures on homes and people luigs their homes and everything like that. we are in a -- you pointed out

how bad the consumer confidence is, it's not just consumer confidence but business confidence is also bad, and that comes from a sense that we don't have the kind of leadership in this country to pull us out of this thing. rick: is there something he can do within the next year to regain your confidence? >> yes, there is. if he fights very hard, for example, for something like tax reform which i think is something that could have been done with the republicans, and the democrats, okay, where you eliminate a lot of these various benefits, special earmarks, what the lobbyists have done for so many people in so many industries, where they get special benefits. wipe them out, use that money to lower the tax rates and simplify the tax returns. you know we spend 8 billion hours a year preparing our tax returns. that's preposterous. that has a chance for bi-partisan support but it's going to take real leadership from the president. that would have a big effect on the economy and wouldn't cost us

any money in terms of our fiscal problems. we must do something about the fiscal deficit. it's going to break the back of this country's economy, i don't know when, but at some point. he has to take a major step in that. he can't turn it over to the super committee, it's not adequate. he's got to go for much more than that. there are other things he can do but the big ones are the ones that i've mentioned. rick: at the end of the day where else do the democrats go? if you are an artkapb ardant democrat maybe you stay home information midterm election, but the presidential race they come out and vote. >> there is no doubt but that he will be the democratic tphopl fee. there is no doubt about that. when you have 26 of the country having confidence in the way they have run the economy out of washington and the executive branch he's in real political trouble. there is going to be a look for somebody else who may be able to provide more intelligent

leadership and stronger leadership. rick: a third party candidacy. >> i believe it will be a republican without any question. there will be very strong republicans competing for the election. i think it will be very duff for the democrats in the next election cycle. rick: who poses the toughest challenge to the president. >> i would say jeb bush, but i think chris christie would be strong. i think governor perry would be strong. mitt romney would be strong. i don't know who the republicans will nominate. either of these three will be the real alternative. the issue will be the president and his management of the economy. rick: thank you so much for your incite. good to meet you in person, sir. >> thank you. jenna: we have to take you to breaking news out of nebraska where we are getting word of a train derailment, 175 people on board this amtrak train, and again the information is spotty at this time but we do hear from a amtrak spokesperson that there

appears to have been a vehicle of some sort on the traction. again the reports are just coming in. no reports of injuries, but we are hearing from our local affiliate in nebraska that eyewitnesses are saying that there are ambulances on the scene and that train passengers are being taken to local hospitals. again we don't know the extent of any injuries if there are any. witnesses are saying at least three cars are off the track. developing situation in nebraska, a train derailment 175 people on board. this is our other big story of the day, rain from hurricane irene already falling on the carolinas, residents as far north as new england prepare for the storm's impact. in just a few minutes in fact the president is set to deliver a statement on storm preparations. we'll bring it to you when that happens. also, he's accused of killing six people in a shooting rampage that left congresswoman gabrielle giffords fighting for her life. will jerod laughner ever go to trial? what a court hearing today could determine next are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement

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back to the monster storm taking aim at the u.s. east coast. nasa satellites are providing very valuable data to forecasters that are tracking hurricane irene and we know so many of you have questions about where the storm is actually headed. there is dramatic images as well as the huge storm from space, and it really gives us perspective at what we're dealing with here. >> reporter: i'll tell you, what i was able to do this morning is actually listen to the audio that is captured behind the video by nasa. and it's typically a narration but if you listen to detail you can understand what has triggered over the last 72 to 92 hours possible massive evacuations.

it's because the you size of the storm taken in images 230 miles from earth was so spectacular the narration of nasa scientists in the background of them gasping for air at the size of this. we'll health you know as they are giving detail and instructions to all of us back here on how,hy they are taking it very, very seriously. these images were taken between wednesday morning and wednesday afternoon. they can be heard to say, this thing is coming together and this is tight. they could not see the formation of a clear eye. that is what you're hearing scientists and meteorologists saying this morning. the eye is not as tight as they expect in a storm this hrafrpblg. it could still move and they are watching it very closely. these pictures give you that look from a vantage point that we can't give you on earth to

let you know what the big scientists are thinking as they plan. back to you. jenna: thank you so much for that. we'll get brand-new images from the hurricane in space around 2:45 eastern time. of course we'll bring those to you live. again, brand-new perspective on the storm, we'll be covering that, a big story for us today on fox news, rick. rick: jenna right now a courtroom battle is getting underway over the tucson shooting suspect jerod laughner. he of course is accused in that rampage back in january. six people were killed. 13 others injured including gabrielle giffords. now the prosecution is accusing the defense of breaking court rules. casey stegall live in san diego with this. >> reporter: the reason why we're reporting from san diego today and not arizona is because you remember arizona's top federal judge john role was killed on that january 8th morning and all of the other judges in the state of arizona recused themselves. judge larry burns here from the

southern california district is now presiding over this case. that is why we're in san diego. prosecutors say that jerod laughner's attorneys have issued multiple subpoenas over the last several weeks, subpoenas that they claim are in violation of the court's rules, subpoenas for things like medical records, birth records, death records for some of jerod laughner's extended family, possibly looking into mental illness history with his family. now the accused gunman's attorneys say that they did in fact get approval from the court, however the federal judge today is being asked for some of those subpoenas to be thrown out. also at issue and up for discussion today, the controversial topic of medication. you may remember after laughner was deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial for these crimes back in may a federal judge ruled that he must forcefully be given psychotropic drugs to try

and make him well enough for trial. listen. >> so there's this real debate on should he have forced medication in order to make him functional which ultimately could allow him to assist at the time of trial and also take care of him. in addition to that there at least have been some reports that he is dangerous to himself, and to others. and as a result of that, again they want him on medication. >> reporter: now, jerod laughner will not be present for this court hearing today, he remains at that federal mental healthcare facility in missouri where he is being treated. he is supposed to be reevaluated next month to see if the drugs are in fact doing their job, and he is then well enough to understand the charges against him so that this trial can get underway. rick. rick: casey stegall live for us today in san diego. casey, thanks. jenna. jenna: thanks, rick. fox news alert the president just making some comments about the hurricane, the pending hurricane just moments ago. let's go ahead and particular a

listen to that audio. >> we are bringing all federal resources to bare and deploying them properly to cope with the storm and also it's aftermath. i've spoken this morning with governors and mayor of major metropolitan areas along the eastern see boards to let them know this administration is in full support of their efforts and is fully ready to support their response efforts. we'll continue to stay in close contact with them. i cannot stress this highly enough. if you are in the projected path of this hurricane you have to take precautions now. don't wait. don't delay. we all hope for the best, but we have to be prepared for the worst. all of us have to take this storm seriously. you need to listen to your state and local officials, and if you are given an evacuation order, please follow it. just to under score this point we ordered an aircraft carrier

group out to sea to avoid this storm yesterday, so if you're in the way of this hurricane you should be preparing now. if you aren't sure how to prepare your families, or your home, or your business for a hurricane, or any other emergency then you can visit ready.gov. that's ready.gov, or listo.gov. now since last weekend fema has been deploying its incident management assistance teams to staging areas and communities up and down the coast. fema has millions of liters of water, millions of meals and cots and blankets along with other supplies prepositioned across the eastern she board. the american red cross has begun preparing shelters in california and other states. this is being coordinated with our state and local partners and they stand ready to be deployed

as necessary. again, if you are instructed to evacuate please do so. it's going to take time for first responders to begin rescue operations and to get the resources we've prepositioned to people in need. so the more you can do to be prepared now, making a plan, make a supply kit, know your evacuation route, follow instructions of your local officials, the quicker we can focus our resources after the storm on those who need help the most. to sum up, all indications pont to this being a historic hurricane, although we can't predict with perfect certainty the impact of irene over the next few days, the federal government has spent the better part of last week working closely with communities and officials who could be affected by the storm to see that we are prepared. now is the time for the residents in these communities in the hours that remain to do

and craig few gat the director of fema will be keeping people closely posted in the next 24, 48 hours. thank you very much. jenna: that is the president, again talking a little bit about hurricane preparedness with a recorded statement for us today as well the entire east coast waits to see what will happen with hurricane irene. the president says hope for the best, prepare for the worst. we'll have much more coverage on hurricane irene coming up in just a few moments. rick. rick: thank you very much. we continue to watch the storm as it approaches landfall in the united states. it's going to happen some time tomorrow. we've been talking about the winds, we've been talking about the rain and the conditions that are already beginning to form along the path. 65million people are in the path from north carolina to maine and that's one fifth of the country's population. we have heard experts call this a nightmare scenario. john roberts is live from kill

devil hills in north carolina where the winds and rain are already picking up, john. >> reporter: good to see you there are about 200,000 fewer people on the outer banks than yesterday morning. they've all heeded the warnings. the hurricane is going to come up from behind us. it's unusual here pause we stick out like a thumb on the edge of north carolina. the hurricane is going to come up behind us then the winds will wrap around and that's when you'll see all the storm surplg come in from the oceanside. we're going to get a surge side from the bay side as well, the sounds side. you can see some surfers out here taking advantage of the waves today, many people who are stragglers sort of putting in one last day of vacation before they get out of dodge. the mayor of kill devil hills, that's where we're broadcasting, ray you've heard the latest advisories up to 105 miles an hour winds. what are your thoughts this

morning. >> pretty characteristic of a hurricane, you can never predict them, still a very dangerous storm. glad to see that most of our population is heeding the warnings. we're experiencing the classic calm before the storm. as you notice you can smell the salt air, one of the key indicators, the humidity has increased, you notice the change in the clouds and a little bit later today the salt spray will be over the back side of the island and my house will disappear. >> reporter: it doesn't mean you are going to come and arrest them and don't so. what is your advice to people who don't go. >> i've posted a note. be prepared. if you decide to stay, it's a personal decision. be prepared for three to five days of self-sufficient see. >> reporter: you're expecting power to go out for a few days, probably all the lines will come down. what else are you expecting in terms of damage as irene comes to shore. >> i suspect you'll see the power outages, trees down, signs

down, infrastructure damage. short of that i'm not expecting any real structural damage to wood frame or concrete structures but it will be a big mess. >> reporter: thanks so much for joining us. we should point out that this is a massive storm, hurricane winds extend out 90 miles from the center. tropical force storm winds 290 miles. on its current track if that doesn't change the eye of the hurricane should pass about a quarter mile to the west of us. so it's going to be a rough ride here on saturday. rick: john i wonder about the roadways headed out of town and whether you're seeing any gridlock or traffic problems as people try to get out of there? >> reporter: it's a remarkable thing, people remember back years ago to other hurricanes when there were traffic jams that lasted hours upon hours, people were frustrated trying to get out of town. when the call came out from th the mayor, people took heed and

traffic now is a trickle. everybody who was going to leave pretty much has left. the stragglers will wait for the rest of the day. rick: good news. we'll be checking back with you. jenna: that is our big story domestically. we can't forget what is happening overseas. we're hearing reports that the fighting inside of tripoli is getting more and more intense over the last several hours. in the meantime in syria more protests against the president there, president assad. some say he will be the next middle eastern leader to fall. questions remain about how the u.s. should proceed in syria if at all and how our actions inside libya have set a precedent or not for our mideast strategy. michael sing is the managing director at the washington institute for near east policy. michael, just with the events over the last week, what does that really say, our role in libya, what does it say about our broader strategy in the

middle east. >> i'm not sure it says a whole lot about our broader strategy. each one of these situations is different and they'll proceed differently from place to place. jenna: is this a good thing? >> it leads you to wonder, what are the actual principles or objectives that are guiding the administration's strategy. case by jay's tactics are one thing. case-by-case strategy is another. a lot of people will look at libya, a loot of people in the middle east, well there was military intervention by the west there and it succeeded for now. why is there no movement towards intervention in syria when the same thing is happening there. jenna: you say for now. >> that's right. what we're seeing in libya, tripoli fell, that means the regime has essentially fallen. there is a big question of what happens now. there are pockets of resistance in tripoli itself. there are whole cities, sirt, for example, that the rebels went around that are moammar qaddafi stronghold. we don't know what situation this will turn into.

jenna: back in march when this started the nato collation intervention we talked about contradictions, why were we getting in libya, what we were doing with syria. do you think you will see direct u.s. involvement somewhere else in the middle east, whether it's syria or other places. >> i think the obama administration is very keen to avoid that. jenna: should we be. >> they talk about how they certainly don't want to go into syria and syria is not calling for it. they may trip over their own rhetoric. they are raising libya as a model of success. if they start asking for intervention in syria they would be hardpressed to explain why it won't work there or other places. i think at this point, jenna the syrian opposition and syrian people don't want intervention in syria. the arab league hasn't called for it and probably will never call for it. they have their minds on other things. as what happens in syria goes on you may see arising chorus of

voices inside syria saying we would like intervention by nato. jenna: as far as oura tension on libya we hear rumors of what is happening in iran. we still don't know what is happening in egypt. is the attention that is focused on libya appropriate as far as what we're dealing with, this revolution or evolution in the middle east. >> foreign policy is crisis driven. uri acting to whatever is happening in the region and as they bubble up. that has been the story in the middle east this year. it's important to anticipate threats not just react to crisis as they happen. we haven't heard much about iran, all the while iran has been expanding its nuclear program and getting closer and closer to nuclear weapons capability. that is a story we can't lose sight of in this country. jenna: there are certain developments today, over the next several weeks we'll be watching this story. thank you, michael for coming

in. nice to have you. rick. rick: up and down the east coast as we've been talking about residents are getting ready for hurricane irene and whatever she may bring. the storm's financial impact could last way beyond this weekend. the "wall street journal" says hurricane irene could be an economic worst case scenario. lori rock man joining us live. i don't know where they get the projections from the journal. clearly this is the most heavily populated area to be faced with this kind of storm, with this kind of potential. >> reporter: right, rick and the idea that the economy might already be in a recession before the storm hits the economicis say that hurricane irene could be the tipping point. you mentioned new york city, it is densely populated. munich read the big insurance company is the firm that came out this morning and told the journal it expects one hundred billion dollars in insured property damages. that doesn't include loss of worker productivity and most importantly the loss of life. but we've heard mayor bloomberg

closing mass transit in the city. you have the risk of the subway system coming underwater, ravaged neighborhoods, downed power lines. it's shaping up to be a very, very serious situation. rick: there is a flip side to this as you pointed out to me. people going to home depot to by 2x 4s and plywood to board up their windows. people going to supermarkets to stock up. that too could offset it. >> reporter: people rushing to the grocery store, lower prices for gas and other energy needs because of what economists called demand destruction. lower demand so prices fall. again the economists saying, a hundred billion dollars in expected damages, those little -- that little bit of a spending increase will nowhere near offset hurricane irene and the potential blow it could have to our economy. rick: the psychological aspect of this. forget about the logistics of

people trying to get to work on monday morning with potentially having roads being flooded out or mass transit being down. people are already on edge, this is the kind of thing you said it could be the tipping point. >> reporter: exactly. the idea that the economy right now is so fragile, it's all about psychology, it's all about confidence, all about people, investors, the stock markets, the textbook definition of a recession is two consecutive financial quarters of negative growth. we're not there yet, we're close, we're at about 1% growth. the fact that people are so squared they are going to ratchet in and not spend money and not go out and take risks and mak make investments that could put us over the edge into a formal textbook recession although it already feels like one. rick: maybe if the storm is not as bad as predicted or projected that could have the opposite effect and give people a little bit of a boost. >> reporter: i certainly hopeful. rick: i'm an apartment ta miss. >> reporter: you have to be

glass half full. jenna: this is another story we're watching today a train derailment in nebraska. amtrak says 178 passengers were on that train, a very small number of those passengers have been taken to the local hospital. we've been piecing together some reports of what exactly happened here. apparently what amtrak is saying is that the train hit a agricultural vehicle. we don't know what type of vehicle that is. but that's what happened today that caused the train derailment. a small number of folks taken to the hospital. we'll stay on it as we hear more. in the meantime rain from hurricane irene already falling in north carolina. tropical storm strength winds kicking in. we expect this afternoon, that's just the beginning of what the president says is a historic storm. live team fox coverage all day right here. [ music playing, indistinct conversations ]

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jenna: while we remain on

hurricane watch, fox news is america's election headquarters, and while a new poll shows republican voters are warming up to the field of republican candidates, the upcoming election still is, of course, anyone's game. and with more anxiety in the markets as well as new numbers out today showing weaker than expected economic growth, it could prove tough to be an incumbent of any sort, but especially the president in this upcoming election. our next guest says democrats have legitimate reasons to be worried about president obama. the executive ed tore of the -- editor of "the wall street journal," jerry, we had an interesting tracking trends poll that showed where the president was in relation to where reagan was and where carter was during the same time during their terms, and we're going to put that up there for our viewers to see. if you take a look at that, it looks like the president could go either way as far as its trend. so why should democrats be worried? >> well, that's exactly the point. the first reason is it hasn't been a good summer economically, and that's not a good time to

have bad economic news if you're the incumbent president. this is about the time where if you're in president obama's position, you want the economic news to be turning upward, and the approval ratings are kind of tracking the economy, they're heading down. now, the interesting thing, and you mentioned the graph looks at both president reagan and carter, could go either of two directions. president reagan went through a very bad economic time the first three years, and he won a smashing re-election in 1984. jimmy carter never got the turn around. he was at about this point, and it sunk further. so that's the question. but i think the key for democrats is they're at about the point in the election cycle where it needs to turn around if it's going to get better by election day. jenna: one of the things we see, though s complete dissatisfaction with any member of the congress with republicans, so should republicans spend equal energy just based on any -- >> well, that's a really good point because president obama's job approval right now is about

40% which isn't good, but it's not terrible. bill clinton was lower in his first term at one point, ronald reagan was lower, they both won re-election. the job approval for congress is down in the teens, and if people see that as the republican congress, and it's divided, obviously, between the two parties, but nonetheless, if republicans are seen as being part of the problem in washington, this isn't going to be much prettier for them either. jenna: do you expect a third party candidate to come up? >> that an interesting question. i see the sentiment for a third party candidate, but i don't see the person who could fill that role because it's a tough thing to do, and it's never worked out particularly well for anybody. jenna: i was taking a jog this morning, and i was thinking about legacy because that east what we're -- that's really legacy. all of these presidents have a legacy, and the president still doesn't have his yet. is there anything he can do to change what he's already established over the last several years in his term?

is there a opportunity that change will still come? >> sure. well, i think what's important for president obama is not that the economy be good by election day next year, it won't be. the hole is too deep to climb out that quickly. he needs to create a sense that it's improving. ronald reagan won re-election with unemployment still at 7.4% which is very high by historical standards, but people saw it was on the way down, and they thought the economy was improving. so i think for president obama the key is establishing a sense that the economy's getting better even if it's not really good yet by next november. ironically, just as a footnote, things are going reasonably well for him on the foreign policy front. usama bin laden's dead, gadhafi's on his way out, that's different from jimmy carter. at this point in jimmy carter's presidency, he not only had a big economic problem, he had big international embarrassments as well, so if you're looking for a silver lining as a democrat, that's probably one. jenna: we'll take any we can get.

jerry, thank you so much for coming in. rick, back to you. rick: well, it has already destroyed hundreds of homes in the bahamas, and right now what looks like what could be a nightmare scenario in this country, hurricane irene setting its sights on the east coast. 65 million americans are on the storm's path, and we've got reporters up and down the coast. we'll talk with someone who says he's not evacuating coming up.

rick: welcome back. former vice president dick cheney about to release his highly-anticipated memoir detailing his many years in washington and also in the bush white house, of course. but already we're learning a few details. wendall goler's live in washington with more. >> reporter: hey, rick. the former vice president says his book will make heads explode in washington, but it appears to

be a fairly predictable defense of the bush administration and the role he played in it which was not, he says, that of a behind the scenes decision maker. the book is called "in my time," it'll be released next week. mr. cheney says the terrorist surveillance program that the administration put together was one of the most important success stories in the history of u.s. intelligence. he defends the waterboarding and the other harsh interrogation practices that president obama ended and writes, quote, if i had to do it all over again, i would in a heartbeat. cheney blames the cia for the bad intelligence used to justify the iraq war, and he blames former secretary of state condoleezza rice for getting mr. bush to apologize for claiming in the his 2003 state of the union address that iraq had sought significant quantities of uranium from africa. cheney claims rice broke down in tears admitting that the apology had been wrong. colin powell has blamed cheney for much of what powell felt

went wrong in the bush administration, and cheney returns the favor saying that powell complained about administration policies to the media and to his friends in if congress instead of taking his complaints directly to president bush. cheney says that after mr. bush was reelected in 2004, quote, getting a new secretary of state was a top priority and that powell's resignation was for the best. there's also some personal information about cheney's heart problems. he says by the summer of last year he was rapidly descending into end stage heart failure, and after surgery to implant a battery-operated heart pump, he was unconscious literally for weeks, but cheney says he is now doing well and that he has, quote, gotten used to the various contraptions that are always with me. rick? is. rick: we're glad he's well, and i read he was dreaming of being in an italian villa during that time as well. >> reporter: during that time, yes. vivid dreams, he says, of being in an italian villa. no bert dream to have -- better dream to have -- rick: i was going to say, sounds

pretty good to me. thanks, wendall. jenna: sounds good to all 65 million of us along the east coast. listen, this doesn't normally happen this time of year, but all bets are off in atlantic city, new jersey, where the hurricane is forcing casinos to close their doors. buses are rushing residents and tourists to higher ground for safety. >> property is property, lives are lives. >> it is what it is. sounds like it's going to be a deluge, but we'll get out of there in time. >> i know that it can be, you know, horrific, or it could not be. it can change. the eye can change, so we'll see. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made.

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jenna: we start off with this folk news alert, the east coast and tens of millions of folks who call it home awaiting the arrival of hurricane irene. we've been talking about it all week, and the weekend is here for us and the storm to come. we're so glad you're with us, everybody, i'm jenna lee in washington today, and you're lonely in the studio, aren't you, rick? rick: you're usually right here next to me, we miss you.

i'm rick folbaum, and irene's track puts her on course for the north carolina coast sometime in the next 24 hours. we have got reporters, live cameras as well keeping an eye on the path of the storm. check out flagler beach, florida. there's the scene right there, jonathan serrie is standing by. kill devil hills is in north carolina, of course, john roberts is there. the waves may look calm right now, but they won't for long. and virginia beach near so many naval installations, folks there getting some last rays of sunshine, the last rays they might see in a while. that's elizabeth pram. meantime, new york city, rockaway beach in if queens, we're already seeing massive surf there, there could be some issues with the airports nearby. janice dean is in the extreme weather center keeping track of everything. >> reporter: not only airports, they're talking about shutting down the subway system as well here in new york city. of course, we're awaiting mta's decision on that.

so this is a category two storm, they've downgraded it a little bit, but the takeaway message is exactly the same as it was yesterday as a category three storm. this is going to cause some major damage all up and down the coastline in terms of storm surge, in terms of flooding and destructive, damaging winds for a duration of time. we're going to be dealing with this for most of the weekend for a lot of folks. so still a category storm, 105 mile-per-hour sustained winds, and this is a very large, lumbering system, so it's going to take some time for the storm to weaken. it's got, you know, a lot of power to it, a lot of juice, a lot of tropical moisture here, so it's going to be with us for the next several days. hurricane advisories up for a very large section of the country, 65 million people could feel the effects of irene. so from north carolina, the border of north and south carolina all the way up towards new england including martha's vineyard, you are under a hurricane watch meaning the conditions are going to start to deteriorate in the next 36

hours. so there's a track as of 11:00. we get an intermediate advisory at 2:00, and they'll give us the update on the winds. category two making landfall, our best guest mitt right now, around moorehead city and a second landfall across wen new york on -- western new york on sunday morning. rick, back to you. rick: all right, janice, thank you very much. jenna? jenna: well, rick, the governor of maryland declaring a state of emergency warning folks to get ready for this storm. >> in conjunction with the mayor of ocean city, we are ordering a mandatory evacuation of the barrier island of ocean city. it is our goal to make sure that ocean city is evacuated by 5 p.m. on friday. so people should not waste time. this is not a time to get out

the camera and sit on the beach and take pictures of the waves. jenna: well, a lot of folks are already heeding that warning as this large hurricane takes aim at the maryland shore. our very own doug mckelway has not taken that warning, he's there with a camera, aren't you, doug? waiting and watching to see what's going to happen. and what is the latest at ocean city? >> i'm breaking up a little bit, jenna, but i think i heard what you said. right now it's just as calm as it could possibly be, what a contrast to what we expect to see. just to pick up on what janice was saying, according to noaa, the hurricane-force winds from this storm extend 90 miles out from the center of the storm, and storm force winds extend 290 miles out from the center of this storm. so the potential for irene to cause major damage all the way up the east coast is intense, indeed, and that's one of the reasons that governor o'malley was calling for the evacuation. people have been heeding that

very, very much. police and lifeguards have been going door to door, knocking on doors. we've seen a lot of people here disassembling things that could fall and turn into missiles in the event of very strong winds here. as i said, the evacuations began last night and, basically, the town is a ghost town right now. no sense of panic, very, very calm, people are resigned to leaving although they're very unhappy about it. not everybody left. we talked to three boys from new jersey who plan to stay. >> we're from jersey, so we paid from saturday to saturday. so i'm getting my full seven days. so i'm staying. >> we're staying tonight, and we're actually going to party a little bit tonight and leave tomorrow morning. that's our plan. >> i'm leaving saturday morning. i'm -- [laughter] >> you're out of your mind then. >> i'm taking off tomorrow. if they're telling me that they're taking names and next of kin, i am done. i'm out. >> reporter: well, a lot of people are gone, a lot of people are out. let me make a prediction, jenna,

a week from now it's a very predictable thing that a lot of people, a lot of geologists, a lot of meteorologists are going to be questioning the wisdom of building so many high-priced properties right on the beachfront like this. they've cone it for years -- done it for years, we're going to find out tomorrow whether those admonitions are going to be heard loudly and clearly again. jenna: doug, thank you very much. rick? is. rick: the threat from this monster storm prompting tens of thousands of people along the east coast to head inland for safety despite what we just heard from those guys in maryland. in north carolina shelters are taking in hundreds of evacuees as folks are leaving the outer banks. further up the east coast evacuations underway. he's how one new jersey driver describes the scene. >> madhouse. the world's coming to an end, it looks like. i mean, it's lack of preparation, but i think because of the panic. rick: mandatory evacuation orders are in place in parts of south jersey, especially along

the shore. and in just a few minutes we'll speak to one man who's refusing to lee his home -- leave his home near atlantic city, we'll find out what he plans to do when the worst of this storm hits. and we have new pictures of the heavy damage irene has left behind in the bahamas and puerto rico as well. take a look at this churchyard in the bahamas. canopy shreds, huge chunks of debris piled up. they're up to their knees in this flood water in puerto rico. many homes there badly damaged or destroyed, at least one person is confirmed dead as are two others in the dominican republic. jenna? jenna: well, those images certainly are a good warning, rick. and when you've been through a hurricane before or maybe this is your first big hurricane, you should know what it takes to survive if you find yourself caught in the middle of this storm. ross mcfadden is a survival export, and hopefully none of us get caught, but we want to be prepared for what's coming. what's the number one thing that

folks should do when they hear a hurricane warning or even a tropical storm warning somewhere near where they live? >> well, the number one thing they should do is have a plan already set into place because preparation is going to be your key to survival. and when i say a plan, that means a plan for if you stay and if you go, and you need to let friends and family know exactly what your plan is. when you get out on the highway, for instance -- go ahead, jenna. jenna: sorry to interrupt, but you're actually going to the next place i'd like to go because we hear about these, you know, eventually folks saying we're going to have to evacuate, right? we're hearing officials say this is a possibility, but there are certain areas of the east coast where they haven't actually said that yet. at the same time, we're also being told that roads could be clogged, that subway systems are going to be down, so if you're in the this situation and deciding whether to go or to stay, it's tough to know what information to trust. >> well, it is. and you should already have thought about that, and that really is another key to

surviving is thinking these things through ahead of time and just making a disaster preparedness kit, a little survival kit and throwing together some things that you know are going to keep you alive if you stay. and if you decide you're going to go, don't wait until the last minute because once you're on the highway, you're going to find out a lot of other people have made the same plans you have, and you're stuck on the highway in high winds and dangerous situations. jenna: most folks know about flash lights or water, but what is some items that you think that we might not include in a kit that we should have? >> okay. um, some simple things. first of all, with a survival kit you're going to want to make sure it's portable, you can take it with you. you don't want big, large, bulky items. key things, you've got to take care of your personal protection, that requires shelter, clothing and, of course, fire. and if you can do those three things for yourself, you'll be keeping yourself alive a lot longer. plastic bags are one of the

number one things you can put into your survival kit because they can provide you -- jenna: so garbage bags? >> garbage bags, exactly. uh-huh, large plastic garbage bags. -and-a-half n and why is that? >> you can make a shelter out of them, clothing out of them, really your imagination is what limits you on what you can do. you'd be surprised what you can do. jenna: keeps you warm, keeps you dry, something maybe we should all have in our sur veefl kit. ross, thank you so very much, we appreciate the 5d vice. about 20% of the country potentially effected by this storm. ross, thank you. >> hey, you're very welcome. thank you, jenna. rick: i have to get some plastic bags, i guess. there are still some people deciding to ride this storm out and to stay in their homes. new jersey governor chris christie warning stronger measures will be taken if necessary to keep people safe. >> if we need to take it from a

voluntary to a mandatory, then what they can take from that is that, you know, they have the get out. it's not optional. they have to leave. and we will take steps to make sure they leave. rick: joining us now on the phone is irv straw, riding out the storm in his home neither ocean city. irv, didn't you hear what the governor said? >> yes, i sure did, and i certainly understand him, and i'm paying very, very strict attention to that. i'm not in a home that's capable of being washed off the shore. i'm in a condominium, a 15-story building condominium unit, and so it's a little different from a home that's going to be washed off, at least i feel that way. rick: your granddaughter, kathleen, is one of our best producers here at fox, and she tells me you said to her that if she could go into a war zone,

that you could stick it out down on the shore, right? [laughter] >> that's right. she's been in afghanistan and iraq and many other places, and, of course, so have i, but not quite as serious as that. that's for sure. rick: well, we're looking at pictures of people who have gone and stocked up on stuff. what is your plan? we keep hearing that that's the important thing even if you're going to try to stick it out, you've got to have a plan. what are you doing to get ready? >> well, we are very well stocked up here, very, very definitely stocked up with food and plans and candles and so forth and so on. but we're still taking the position that, and we're taking very, very seriously the position of the governor and, you know, we're not just -- we're looking very carefully at a period of time here. we still have time to take off in our automobile, and we still have a period of time. as you know, these storms have a

chance of taking off to sea and so on. and i realize this has an 800-mile swing. rick: yeah. >> so that's pretty broad, and we're tng consideration. rick: is your wife onboard with this plan? i know you guys have been married, kathleen said about 60 years -- >> as a matter of fact, 62 years tomorrow. [laughter] rick: congratulations. >> thank you. rick: well, an early happy anniversary to erv and ella straw joining us on the phone from ocean city, new jersey. we wish you the very best and be in touch and let us know how things are going down there. >> is well, thank you. and as a matter of fact, i will be deferring to her final decision. if she decides that, hey, we're going to take off tomorrow evening at such and such an hour, i will be following that -- rick: you're a smart man. that's how you've been married

for 62 years, erv. thanks very much. great to talk to you. jenna, over to you. jenna: that was a key question, rick, is your wife onboard with that? that was key, very key. we'll see what erv decides. happy anniversary to him. wal also have some brand new numbers out on the economy. you see wall street right now after earlier losses rallying a bit, 150 points plus. we're going to look at key differences between president obama's economic policies and ronald reagan's. also, mexico declares three days of mourning after a casino leaves 52 dead. [ music playing, indistinct conversations ] the charcoal went out already? [ sighs ] forget it. [ male announcer ] there's more barbeque time in every bag of kingsford charcoal. kingsford. slow down and grill. whose non-stop day starts with back pain...

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rick: and here are some of the stories making headlines this friday. a mandatory evacuation now in effect in flood-prone areas of newport news, virginia. the brunt of hurricane irene is expected to hit that area. gunman torching a crowded casino

in northern mexico, at least 53 people were killed. and the nearly two-year search for susan powell heating up. detectives looking for new evidence in her husband's home after another search took investigators to nevada. josh powell is the only person of interest in his wife's disappearance, but he has not been charged or detained. jenna: well, as economists keep an eye on the possibility, maybe, of a double-dip recession, a new reading shows growth even weaker than previously thought in the second quarter of this year. the gdp measures that, it's rising at a rate of 1% from the april to june period, that's down from an earlier estimate that was slightly higher, not by much, but that 1% reading, again, is lower. steve moore with "the wall street journal," what is 1%gdp, what does that say about our economy? >> hey, jenna, welcome to washington. jenna: we've had enough, steve. >> it is disappointing, 1%

growth is anemic given the deep recession we've just lived through, and by the way, this year so far we're growing at less than 1%, so this is barely treading water, and that's not going to create the kind of jobs we need. so this is a disappointing number, and it suggest we're getting close to a potential double-dip recession. jenna: obamanomics versus ray gone mommics, and is we hear this comparison made a lot. >> i hope he read my column. jenna: i don't know, but he did say he was reading about reagan during his christmas vacation -- >> that's the best news i've heard in a long time. jenna: is there a lot in common, is it even fair to compare the two? is. >> no, there are a lot of comparisons. they both were tremendously popular when they came into office, both inherited terrible economic crises. reagan inherited the crisis from carter, and, obviously, obama came in during the midst of the

housing crisis, and they both put in plans that were entirely different. reagan cut taxes, deregulated the economy, got inflation under control. obama did this big trillion dollar spending, and what's interesting is if you look at where the economy is today versus where it was at the same point under the reagan tenure, the economy was growing at 6% under reagan, and it's growing at less than 1% right now. that's an incredible contrast. jenna: some would suggest the reaganomics set us up for the crisis that we came into in just the last few years. >> what happened in '82, '83 was we had what bob bartly used to say was a seven-year boom. and it really was. i actually think it was a 20-year boom. the dow jones, think about this, the dow jones in 1982 was at 800, 20 years later it was at 11,000. so this was an incredible boom we lived through.

jenna: one of the things we hear from the administration often is that this is the worst crisis since the great depression. they don't say this is the worst crisis since reagan. >> yeah, exactly. jenna: so there's obviously this separation of saying, listen, we haven't seen anything like this in our economy in almost 100 years, are they right or they wrong? >> i lived through the 1970s -- jenna: i was going to say, if you lived through the depression -- [laughter] >> 20% mortgage interest rates in 1980, 14% inflation, the country was deindustrializing, and asset prices in the 1970s lost -- stock market lost 60 percent of its value, that's a bear market. so i think the similarities, i mean, were very similar between what obama and reagan inherited. the difference is when people say this time it's different -- jenna: right. >> -- the point i made in my article, obama's using an economic formula that isn't working. jenna: i'm going to have to run, but would reaganomics work? >> yes. we've been saying that for two years. vice president biden said today,

more stimulus. more of the same that hasn't worked. get your crash helmet on. jenna: i'll heed your warning on that, and we expect some sort of plan from the president after labor day. >> have a good weekend. jenna: rick? rick: coming up, hurricane irene can pack a major wallop as it moves up the east coast, so could it damage the washington monument which was already weakened from the earthquake that happened earlier in the week. and the latest from libya, where's gadhafi? don't go away. hey, the new guy is loaded with protein!

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jenna: welcome back, everybody. you might have just heard steve moore suggest to me to get a crash helmet since i'm in d.c. today, and this is the reason why. just cays after an -- days after an earthquake shook the capital, washington, d.c. is bracing for irene, and there's some new concerns about what the storm may do to structures like the

washington monument which is, by the way, already damaged by the quake. harris, i was just out at the national monument this morning, and i can tell you, they definitely have it blocked off. you can't get close to the base of it. >> reporter: yeah. we're just getting some information because we were wondering what they were going to do to keep people away from it. after all, it's 91,000 tons and 555 feet. so, jenna, as you mentioned in an e-mail to me, if the thing fell, it would be a big problem, obviously, because it's so big. they have put some temporary sealant in this four foot long crack from the recent 5.8-magnitude quake that hit this week, and they're thinking that should be enough to get the monument to hold because it's been through hurricanes before. and even if reach of hurricane irene were to get there, they're saying that the high winds and the rain of the past have proven that the monument can withstand it with, i guess, the support now of this temporary sealant. there will not be a tarp

installed. so the sectioning off, jenna, that you witnessed this morning is really what they're planning to do, just keep people back. but they're not going to try to cover the monument. so that's the very latest. we're getting some views now. four peat long, one -- four feet long, one inch wide crack that they placed sealant in. jenna: harris, it has been through hurricanes before, we have to remember that, and it's stood tall. harris, thank you so much. rick? is. rick: to libya, now, where rebel forces are hunting for the elusive moammar gadhafi and seeking to clear out pockets where there's still supporters. steve harrigan streaming live from tripoli. steve? >> reporter: rick, the next battle could be shaping up in gadhafi's hometown about 200 miles away from here to the east. there is speculation that gadhafi or family members have gone there but no hard proof. nato war planes are also beginning to bomb there, british war planes have bombed some bunkers there, and we've seen

rebel fighters loading up and heading for what could be a last stand. his flag is still flying, but from a spokesman, gadhafi has said he intends to keep fighting for weeks, months and is years ahead. here in tripoli still some fighting in pockets, but to a large extent the rebels do control the scene here. some gruesome pictures around the compound area, some bodies still out on the street. rebels say they were mercenaries who fought for the gadhafi regime. as far as the new government here, they are moving gradually from benghazi to tripoli. they've got their work cut out for them as the euphoria of victory begins to fade. this is a city of two million with no water, no electricity and a populace very weary of the fighting. rick, back to you. rick: steve harrigan, thanks. jenna: other news, a big development in the long debate over the safety of childhood vaccines. the results are in from the first comprehensive study in years. we have that just ahead.

and atlantic city is gassing up and getting out as hurricane irene approaches. the latest on the evacuation efforts there. >> the back of our house is 14 feet off the water, so if we've got to go, we'll go. >> no question about it. this is not a storm -- with diabetes, it's tough to keep life balanced. i don't always have time to eat like i should. that's why i like glucerna shakes. they have slowly digestible carbs to help minimize blood sugar spikes, which can help lower a1c. [ ma announcer ] glucerna. helping people with diabetes find balance.

jenna: welcome back, everybody. atlantic city, new jersey, certainly not gambling with hurricane irene. ofof course, atlantic city known

for the casinos. mandatory evacuations are underway there and in surrounding areas as well. the city's 11 casinos are closing down today marking only the third time in this area that this has been done in about 30 years. rick leventhal is live from atlantic city with more for us today. rick? >> who, spanks? yes. jenna: i don't know if rick can hear us. i don't know if we can blame that on the weather, if rick folbaum's with me, maybe we can talk a little more about that. rick, can you hear me as well? is. rick: i hear you fine. look like they didn't tell rick he was going to have a live shot. jenna: that happens to the best of us. rick: listen, it happens sometimes. i can tell you from my own personal experience because i have family that's right near atlantic city, they have all been evacuated and are on their way out of that area. at first the evacuations were voluntary, but then they decided especially along the coast to make them mandatory, so i'm glad

that my family is paying attention to that. as we heard a little while ago, not everybody is leaving. some people are going to try to stick this thing out, so we'll wait and see happens. but, certainly, to shut down the ca so e knows in atlantic city, you know it's a big deal. let's check in with janice dean at the extreme weather center with the latest on the storm's track. >> reporter: i'm really glad you told us that story about your family, that is what i like to hear as a forecaster, that people are taking this storm very seriously because we are dealing with a very dangerous, potentially deadly storm if people do nod heed those -- do not heed those warnings. tropical force winds extending almost 300 miles away from the center of this storm. this is a very large, lumbering system as it moves up the coast, and a lot of real estate is going to feel the power of irene over the next 24-48 hours. you know we talk about those commuter models that make up that cone of uncertainty, this

is the gfs model, and as we go further out in time, we think perhaps a landfall in and around the morehead city region somewhere saturday morning between 8 and 10 a.m. as a powerful category two storm still and then making a secondary landfall perhaps western long island here on sunday morning. so that timeline has shifted certainly from yesterday, that's why t really important to pay -- it's really important to pay attention to the national hurricane center. but we do think this has the potential to be a strong category one. and, of course, you're going to feel those winds plus the heavy rain, the battering storm surge for, really, hours before landfall and after landfall. once this does make landfall across portions of the northeast, it is going to scoot very quickly up towards new england and then eastern canada. taking a look at the precipitation, this could be one of the legacies of irene is the incredible rainfall over saturated ground anywhere from

8-12 inches from the outer banks, 6-10 inches for jersey, new york, and connecticut, and the ground is saturated here. it's just going to be like runoff because it's like a sponge. the sponge is full of water, and there's nowhere else to go with what's happening, and it's just going to flood the streets and, perhaps, flood homes, and people really need to take those precautions. rick, back to you. rick: well, hopefully, they are. janice, thank you very much. jenna, over to you. jenna: dr. marty mccarry is here, professor of public health and health policy at johns hopkins. we're going to talk about a new study on vaccines in the just a moment, doctor, but we wanted to talk a little bit about from a health professional's standpoint, when you hear this sort of story, 65 million potentially affected by this storm, what are you most concerned about? >> >> well, the common things we see with these big disasters are that people don't anticipate that the power will go out and that the water supply may no longer be clean. people have to remember that the

sanitation facilities, they operate on power, and after a day sometimes you need to rely on your own water supply. so having that is really critical. hypo and hypothermia, these are things that the elderly and children really need to watch out for. and food safety. i mean, let's face it, refrigerators go out, and is after a couple hours that food may no longer be clean. jenna: it's interesting you mentioned power outages because harris and i were just talking about that being one of the main concerns in some of these major metropolitan areas. what is safe? how long can you leave your food in a refrigerator and still have it safe to eat? >> it's generally felt that when food reaches 40 degrees, food that needs to be kept refrigerated, then you shouldn't eat it or about two to three hours at a normal room temperature if it's left and not quickly put back in the refrigerator, that's a warning sign that bacteria's moved in. common illnesses we see are from rice, reheated food. these are things that people should really watch out for

because they don't often appreciate it. the food may not smell bad. jenna: might be good time for packaged food, maybe one of the good times not to turn to produce. >> the one time. [laughter] jenna: doc, let's have a little bit about this study out by the institute of medicine. it's the first review that the institute of medicine, a comprehensive review of the studies on vaccines in about 17 years. it found, the findings seem to be that vaccines generally are okay. what are your thoughts on this sort of come prehence e review? >> yeah, you know, vaccines have been a big question ever since last year, there was a fraudulent study out there, some celebrities have really been bringing a lot of attention to this, people with allergies. the institute of medicine, jenna, is not necessarily loyal to doctors in the meddle community. this is -- medical community. this is a group that said that medical mistakes are common, doctors kill patients in the hundreds of thousands, doctors work too long, and this is the same group now that's saying vaccines are safe.

jenna: do you trust them? >> i trust them. they're very objective, they don't have any special interests that they cater to -- jenna: and that was your point about the doctors, it's not necessarily favoring one group or the other. >> exactly. they don't feel they have to defend modern medicine. jenna: because there's all those ties to autism or diabetes -- excuse me, i should say speculation. we hear potentially these vaccines could be damaging. when you look at a 17-year review, you say to yourself, well, it's not a 50-year review. >> that's a good point. and it's good to question recommendations when a doctor makes a recommendation. chickenpox, hpv, those are worth questioning. the measles, mumps, rue bella, the diphtheria, pertussis shots, these are well proven, they've been given for decades, they've got an amazing safety profile, and if anything, research came out last year that kids are dying because they're not getting these. jenna: obviously, a story we're going to be watching quite a bit

of as it evolves. this is nice to have you. a lot to cover today, rick, certainly a lot going on in the world. rick: that's for sure, jenna. and coming up, they have both been governors, they're both running for president, and now rick perry and mitt romney apparently have something else in common: donald trump. we'll explain. and, of course, we continue to track irene as this storm threatens up to 65 million americans. >> we've got to shore up everything that's loose. people don't realize the strength of hurricane winds. a light object becomes a missile. [ music playing, indistinct conversations ] the charcoal went out already? [ sighs ] forget it. [ male announcer ] there's more barbeque time in every bag of kingsford charcoal. kingsford. slow down and grill.

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has been done in 30 years, and rick leventhal is joining us live from atlantic city. rick, still a few people out there right now. >> reporter: yeah, a few. pretty quiet, though, for a friday in august. this would normally be one of the busiest weekends of the year for these casinos. they're going to lose millions of dollars each because they're shutting down. in fact, the casino gaming operations are closing at 4:00 this afternoon, and all the hotel guests are being told to get out by six. some of the businesses already boarded up. there is a mandatory evacuation order in effect. we drove around atlantic city earlier today, and we saw some lines at some gas stations, we talked to some people who are kind of upset because they're down here on vacation, and they're being forced to pack up and get out. many of the atms have been emptied of cash because people are trying to get whatever supplies they can gather and hit the highway. we've seen some of the casinos boarding up their fronts, sandbags put in place.

despite the mandatory evacuation order, people can stay, but they're being told if you do stay, you do so at your own risk. there will be emergency officials here, police and firefighters, but once the storm gets bad, they don't plan to answer calls, so anyone who stays back and tries to hunker down is on their own. that's the word from the atlantic county office of emergency management. there are some people planning to stay, but most of the people that we've spoken with, jenna, are getting out if not right now, then sometime today. jenna: interesting to hear that the casinos are out of money because people have actually taken that money out, not because they've lost it like maybe previous times. [laughter] very interesting to see this in atlantic city, rick. thank you very much. rick leventhal in atlantic city for us today. rick folbaum, back to you in the studio. rick: that longs very much. when we -- thanks very much. when we come back, we continue to watch the path of hurricane irene. north carolina seems to be the first stop as the category two hurricane makes its way up the

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megyn: hey, everybody, i'm megyn kelly. natgeo releasing a new story about president bush. andy card takes us through some extraordinary excerpts in a must-see segment. also, as the gadhafi regime falls, is it time for president obama's critics to acknowledge his success in the arab world? speaking of gadhafi, guess which member of the president's cabinet the dictator had a major league crush on? all you need to know with with the monster storm approaching,

see you in ten minutes. >> we've done probably a dozen or so rescues today, had some injuries due to the high surf and most of all of the rescues were rip current related. jenna: a busy day. hurricane irene is churning up waters all ahong the eastern seaboard as beaches are under alert. elizabeth program is live at virginia beach, virginia. elizabeth, what's the situation there now? >> reporter: well, jenna, it looks like a beautiful beach day, but the fact of the matter is these conditions are going to detier wait, and they're going to be doing so quickly. we're only about 10, 15 miles from the north carolina border where we now hundreds of thousands of residents have evacuated. here in virginia beach there's a mandatory and a voluntary evacuation order. hotel residents are being told they have to leave by tomorrow.

the state authorities say they want people out sooner rather than later because of traffic concerns if those conditions do deteriorate, it's going to cause major traffic jams which means people need to get out sooner rather than later. we expect the storm to touch down here around tomorrow. jenna, back to you. jenna: elizabeth, thank you so much for that. elizabeth prann, and i'm just getting word that the president will be departing martha's vineyard this evening, a little earlier than expected. he was expected to be back in washington, d.c. for the opening, the official opening of the martin luther king jr. memorial this sunday. that memorial or that opening has been delayed because of the storm. but, again, i'm just hearing there some of our white house producers that the president wants to leave the vineyard this evening. a little bit north from where elizabeth was. it look like he's changing his traveling plans as so many

americans are doing. rick: while politics is in full swing, and a brand new poll showing that 63% of re-- 64% of republicans are satisfied with the field of presidential candidates, and that's compared with just half back in june. they're showing more interest as well. the ap/gfk poll finds 52% of republicans and gop-leaning independents have a great teal of interest in the candidates -- great deal of interest in the candidates. meantime, two with of the top tier candidates showing some interest in donald trump. why are they doing that? paul gigot of "the wall street journal," thanks very much for coming in. >> good to be here. rick: okay, so, let's talk about the poll numbers. does this mean now that we'll stop hearing about chris christie, paul ryan, we won't hear about jeb bush possibly being urged to enter into the race? >> no, i don't think so. [laughter] i mean, this is still 64% still historically low at this stage in the process.

you'd expect it to be in the 80s at this stage. so 64% in still low. the increase, though, i think is due in part to rick perry getting in the race. texas governor, major political figure, ten-year governor. people are saying, oh, well, there's another serious candidate who's got in. but i don't think -- you'll still hear talk about christy in particular and maybe others because 64% is still not that much enthusiasm. rick: is that all it is, talk? or could you actually envision someone like the new jersey governor -- >> i don't rule out that he could still get in. he's always said no, but i don't think that if he's looked at the polls and if they stay at 64% or so, that level, i think -- and obama, president obama's is down at 38, 40, i think you could see somebody else get in. rick: now, our colleague here at fox, bret baier, confirming some reports about mitt romney and rick perry reaching out and talking to donald trump. and bret was able to confirm at least four conversations between rick perry and trump.

what's going on? is why are they so interested in talking to donald trump? >> i think they certainly would like his support. donald has a tendency to get on the air, and if he doesn't like you, he can be lacerating in his criticism, and i think they'd like to deflect some of that. but if one of them wins the nomination, they do not want a third party candidate getting into the race. nobody knows how it would effect the race, but it might not help a republican candidate, particularly if trump or somebody else might divide the vote opposing an incumbent president. so why not reach out and get to know him and hope to if not get his support, neutralize any opposition. rick: so it's smart politics. >> i think that's right. rick: and john boehner wrote a letter to the president about regulations, and i think the voters are going to be hearing a lot from republicans between now and election day 2012 about regulations and the need to eliminate regulations and the way that it really kind of

clamps down on especially small business owners. what's the speaker talking about? >> well, what he is hearing from small business and large business alike is that regulations and the wave of regulation cascading through the federal government in the last couple of years and going ahead is really hurting their business, it's creating uncertainty for them, it's raising costs for them, and the political pressure is building really a great deal to try to do something ab it. so republicans are trying to respond to that, and they're going to have, propose a bill, they're going to work on a bill that would require congressional permission to be able to move aled with rules -- ahead with rules that cost more than $100 million. and that is part of that review. rick: and it seems like the white house already at least talking about potentially trying to eliminate some regulations, i'm sure taking their lead from republicans in that. >> and the president wrote an op-ed in "the wall street journal" in january saying we're going to have a review, and they've been doing that and taking out some of the small regulations, but there's still enormously costly regulations because of dodd-frank, the

financial bill, because of the health care reform, the epa, the environmental protection agency, is going with six major reviews which are hugely expensive. there have never been two such reviews in any other administration. rick: paul gigot with "the wall street journal," he edits the editorial page there, and you host the weekend ed editorial, the journal editorial report which will be on at some point this weekend. you, of course, keep it right here on fox to watch paul. thank you very much, good to see you. jenna, over to you. jenna: we will have that special coverage, as i just mentioned, rick, the president wants to get back to d.c. because of this hurricane. and it is going to be a stormy weekend ahead in the east. again, 20% of the country's population affected by the storm. it's a big one. we're going to have the latest updates on hurricane irene and a live update from the fox weather center in just a few minutes.

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